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Default search engine keeps switching to Yahoo

I use Firefox, Chrome & Safari as network browsers. Suddenly, all of them are defaulting to Yahoo as the search engine. If I go into prefences and change it back to Google, it switches back to Yahoo immediately. It also switches my home page to Yahoo on all three browsers.


I recently installed new 3D software critical to my workflow, so I'm guessing that that has something to do with it, but I have no idea how to track this down.


Any help?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on May 7, 2013 12:44 PM

Reply
21 replies

Jul 18, 2017 9:39 AM in response to lhitch

My problems went away when I uninstalled "Start Search"

Safari > Preference > Start Search > Uninstall


This was an extension that looked similar to the Safari Logo. It was a compass in a square box instead of round like Safari.

I'm sure it has other names, but you can check the extensions by deselecting one at a time then opening a new page in Safari. Yahoo is GONE! :-)

May 7, 2013 1:01 PM in response to lhitch

1. hold down the option key

2. in the Go menu in the Finder, scroll down to Library

3. in the Library folder, find the Preferences folder

4. in the Preferences folder, find com.apple.safari.plist and drag it to the trash

5. restart

6. you will need to enter new safari preferences, including your default search engine.

7. see if the problem is fixed.

8. if it isn't, repeat the above with the prefs files for firefox and chrome (you'll have to find those yourself).

May 7, 2013 6:49 PM in response to lhitch

Problems such as yours are sometimes caused by files that should belong to you but are locked or have wrong permissions. This procedure will check for such files. It makes no changes and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.

First, empty the Trash.

Triple-click the line below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):

find ~ $TMPDIR.. \( -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 -o -acl \) 2> /dev/null | wc -l

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.

The output of this command, on a line directly below what you entered, will be a number such as "41." Please post it in a reply.

Nov 9, 2013 6:19 AM in response to lhitch

For the time being, I have fixed the problem. I first cleared my cache (Found in Safari>Preferences> Privacy) However now i get a warning whenever I open certain websites about 'ShockWavePlayer' and 'Opening safari in 32bit mode' so keep that in mind. I also set 'www.google.com/co.uk' as my homepage (Safari>Preferances>General). I am using Safari 7.0 with Lion (apparently) and mavericks installed.

Mar 4, 2014 9:54 AM in response to Projectorize

I've seen this a few times now, and it has nothing to do with Apple. Often people have somehow picked up the SearchMe extension, along with a bunch of other adware that changes your default search engine to Yahoo among other things. Avoid installing toolbars and stuff like that. Pay close attention to what extensions get installed in your internetPlugins.

Jan 7, 2015 4:07 AM in response to lhitch

There are more and more sites, some of them somewhat dodgy, like torrent sites, that install extensions in your browser that will redirect you towards Yahoo.


Whatever your browser, go into the extensions folder (Normally under preferences) and delete any extensions - particularly "searchme", that you don't recognise.


Safari

User uploaded file

Firefox

Tools - Add-ons

User uploaded file

Chrome

Preferences - advanced

User uploaded file


If you don't delete them, your browser may revert back to Yahoo down the road - changing your default search engine back to whatever you use won't always help.

Default search engine keeps switching to Yahoo

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