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I upgraded my Firefox to v7 (I am on Ubuntu if this matters). Before, I could type in the address bar "ebay" or "gmail" for example, and it would take me to those sites. After I upgraded, it redirects to Comcast's (my ISP) search page...

How do I restore the previous behavior?

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  • Disclaimer: Title was edited to reflect the OP’s actual problem.
    – kinokijuf
    Dec 30, 2013 at 22:42

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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It has nothing to do with Firefox. It's your ISP violating the DNS standard. Go to https://dns-opt-out.comcast.net/ to revert normal behavior.

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    I don't understand. This should be voted up higher than the other answers which don't answer correctly.
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Sep 19, 2012 at 11:56
  • Another option, in case the opt-out goes away, or you end up with another ISP that uses the same tricks, is to use a third-party DNS server, such as OpenDNS or Google Public DNS.
    – Stephanie
    Dec 28, 2013 at 12:38
  • @Stephanie OpenDNS does hijacking too.
    – kinokijuf
    Dec 28, 2013 at 13:14
  • Scratch OpenDNS then, sorry, Level3 (209.244.0.3 / 209.244.0.4) is another hijack-free (at least at this time) option.
    – Stephanie
    Dec 28, 2013 at 13:39
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Your question indicates you want to be able to search in the address bar like Chrome. The functionality I am proposing doesn't take you directly to the site but instead searches Google for the typed keywords. I don't know if there is a better way to do it in FF7 but here is how I did it before:

  1. Navigate to about:config in the address bar;
  2. Filter for keyword.URL and change it to http://www.google.com/?hl=en&source=hp&q=;

To navigate based on your browsing history and bookmarks in the address bar, go to Tools -> Options -> Privacy and in the Location Bar section select History & Bookmarks. When this is enabled and you have bookmarked or visited SO in the past, for instance, you'll get a suggestion drop-down with the SO website as one of the suggestions.

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    I think @kinokijuf's answer is what the asker was looking for.
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Sep 19, 2012 at 11:57
  • It would be lovely if people explained their down votes.
    – Garrett
    Sep 20, 2012 at 1:54
  • The widget is a plugin for Wordpress called Shareaholic. Just stay curious, if you come across something that interests you and you don't know it, research, learn, use, etc. As far as ettiqute goes, you should probably take a look at this page: superuser.com/privileges/vote-down
    – Garrett
    Sep 21, 2012 at 5:23
  • And I see your point. Considering that you've put a lot of effort in the answer, it didn't deserve a downvote. If I thought some other answer was better, then I should have upvoted it and left it at.
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Sep 21, 2012 at 7:05
  • Where did my comments go?
    – Yatharth Agarwal
    Sep 22, 2012 at 10:39
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Caveat: This solution doesn't take you directly to the site.

  • Click the Firefox Search Bar dropdown arrow and then Manage Search Engines

Firefox Manage Search Engines

  • Select Google from the list and click the Edit Keyword button

  • Enter "g", then click OK

Now you can search from the Firefox address bar by typing the letter "g", followed by a space, followed by your search term.

For example, g your-search-term-here. The hotkey CTRL+L moves your cursor directly to the Address Bar.

As an alternative, you can just press the hotkey CTRL+K to move your cursor directly to the Firefox Search Bar.

Hope that helps!

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