Problem changing home setting for initial browser window

[jacksson]

My wife has been using Google.com as her search engine when she brings Firefox up. Today I downloaded the OpenOffice.org suite for her and it (somehow) placed their search engine on her browser home page setting. It is search.us.com and it won't go away. So far I have gone into the tools menu for Firefox and changed the homepage setting many times, I have opened up her google page and told the tools option to use the 'current page' a few times. I have typed in the URL for Google.com and dragged the little box by the URL over to the home box at the right side of the search box (up at the top) and told the query that google was desired as the home page. I started getting desperate and went to control panel and uninstalled the search.us.com program (it doesn't appear there any more); I don't know where it is hiding now. I then did a system restore back to earlier in the day. Nothing works. I then tried Internet Explorer and it came up with the search.us.com engine, but when I told it that I wanted to change the home setting it let me do that and kept the new homepage. I hate to drop Firefox, but I am heading in that direction. Has anyone got any advice about how to solve the problem?

[DanRaisch]

Have you tried starting Firefox in Mozilla Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
Do you have the same problem if you create a new profile and test it with no extensions or non-default themes installed?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager
and
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_ne ... on_Windows

Also see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox

[malliz]

Try typing about:config into the address bar hit enter accept the warning and filter for
browser.startup.homepage
Right click on it and select reset

[JayhawksRock]

In addition to malliz suggestion, while in about:config, enter or copy and paste browser.search in the top search area and for any line showing status as "user set" right click and choose reset

[jacksson]

Well, I did all of the above and learned a lot, especially the value of about:config. But, nothing could prevent this search engine from reinstating itself. I had uninstalled it using the control panel, but later when I went back it was there again and I couldn't get the uninstall function to do anything with it; it was kind of dim, but there. The engine is named search.us.com and the producer is named Freshy. ??? Finally I engaged my brain, remembering that I had installed OpenOffice early this morning and earlier when I had restored the computer, I had gone back to about 9:30 A.M. which was several hours after I had downloaded OpenOffice. So, the final result was, I went back two days for a restore point and everything is working fine now. Thanks to all of your for the help. Whew. BTW, my wife didn't want a word processor, she is happy with notepad, so I will not re-download OpenOffice.

[dfoulkes]

Interesting... I use Openoffice and have never had a problem with getting unwanted stuff... did you download the app. from the Apache OpenOffice site? ... when the software opened did it have Apache at the beginning?