I want to know where Google Chrome stores its search engine settings for the Windows XP platform. The reason being; my search engine keeps being changed to SpeedBit and I've thought of just locking up the file to prevent Write access to it. It would only be read-only, on the system level so hopefully that should prevent the annoying search engine change that's happening.
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I'm sure there's a better solution to this than preventing write access. I have speedbit as well and I've never had problems with it changing my search engine (although I use win7).– gsgxMay 28, 2012 at 3:48
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Yes, I think on the older version of SpeedBit, there was an option to disable the search engine. However, on mine there isn't any. :( So best way is to do hacks around it.– PropellerMay 28, 2012 at 3:59
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@ShedoSurashu Speedbit is rogue software. You will not be able to fix this until you uninstall it completely. See my answer here for more information: http://superuser.com/questions/399662/speedbit-has-hijacked-my-firefox-home-page/399668#399668– iglvzxMay 28, 2012 at 4:10
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2Why don't you uninstall that junkyard speedbit.– avirkMay 28, 2012 at 4:12
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Well for one, it has proven to help with downloading files when I'm on Windows. It's just that I have that one single issue with it not letting me get rid of the SpeedBIT search. In any case, can you suggest an alternative?– PropellerMay 28, 2012 at 9:07
4 Answers
I don't know what version of chrome you are in. But in the latest version of Chrome, open a new tab and enter
chrome://chrome/settings/searchEngines
The command opens up your search engine manager. Find the speedbit search engine which must be listed there. Then hover over to the right of the window and you should see an "x" symbol. Click on that and it should remove speedbit from being your default. Then find Google,Yahoo or bing and hover to the right again. Before the "x" symbol you should see "make this default" button. Click on that and it should reset your search engine back to the one of your choice. I don't know whether this helps you or not. But this is what I was able to understand from your question.
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This won't work unfortunately because it keeps getting changed back to SpeedBIt whenever I restart. If it was this simple, I really wouldn't have bothered posting this question. May 29, 2012 at 10:24
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I am sorry that I could be of no help. I don't really understand how these things work. I am also a newbie to the world of computer problem solving. So I apologize if you think my solution was really silly.– AdhithyaJun 2, 2012 at 3:09
You can use some alternative to speedbit for your downloads like Free Download Manager or Orbit Downloader. However you can try to uninstall the speedbit and then give a try to install it through customize options.
After selecting the Custom Installation
option you can choose either to make it default downloader or not.
Now uncheck the checked box I think this is what which is installing the search engine on PC. Also see how to set custom search engine in Google Chrome.
Under Ubuntu Linux, I found the search engine settings stored in "~/.config/chromium/Default/Preferences".
Under Windows, it should be " C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Preferences"
C:\Documents and Settings(your windows account name)\Local Settings\Application Data\Chromium" and folder called "User Data" this is were it is located.
you can create a folder with a shortcut to this folder and set the browser how you want and then save the folder User Data in the folder with the shortcut to the chromium folder and then copy and paste each time you want to restore your settings back. Works for me after I use cccleaner with Iron