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yzerman
Former Member
Message 1 of 17

Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

I use Firefox 3.6.3. I have used firefox since v1.5 of the product. I also use Gmail/Hotmail as my mail clients. I have used google exclusivly for searches since I discovered it almost 6 years ago. However when I logged in to my computer this morning and started browsing and did a search from the address bar, I was redirected to yahoo. I figured "Ok, hiccup". Repeated the search in the same manner, and again yahoo search is pulled up. At this point I am pissed, something downloaded to my computer from sites I trust and goto daily, and now I gotta clean this from my computer and reset the defaults on my browser.

So I goto about:config and search for the term Yahoo, and I see the following line (this is the one that allows searching from the address bar):

"keyword.URL user set string http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&p="

It is some "Search Scan" bs that is going on and now I dont know how to shut this off. Again this is from the browser address bar, not the Mcafee Secure Search addon at the bottom. I have used Mcafee for nearly a year, and NEVER has it hijacked my  browser's search settings until now. What gives? My subscription to Mcafee is about up, and if this is a policy that is going to be pushed by this company I will take my business to another company.

16 Replies
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 2 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

Moved this to SiteAdvisor because I think maybe you overlooked the options for Secure Search and also selected to make Yahoo as the default.

Click to the right of the SiteAdvisor Icon and select Options and then Secure Search where you can undo such options.

I've attached a picture of what I mean.

yzerman
Former Member
Message 3 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

I see my post was moved from Malware. I guess it isn't good policy to have Mcafee as the "hijacker" in your own malware forums.

Let me clarify: This was not an option that I enabled and gave Mcafee permission to do. Your software hijacked (changed without permission) my browser's default search engine.

The "SiteAdvisor" is an addon to firefox that lets me know if a site is secure, and has been since I installed Mcafee. Now you are saying it is it's own suite and by continuing to use it I gave it permission to change my browser settings?

Message was edited by: yzerman on 6/13/10 1:39:23 PM CDT

Message was edited by: yzerman on 6/13/10 1:41:41 PM CDT
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 4 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

Sorry if you disapprove of my moving the thread but although in this instance it may appear to be acting like malware it obviously isn't.

I just downloaded regular SA on my netbook to check it out.

You can change the default Firefox location bar search engine:  http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/how-to-change-your-firefox-location-bar-search-engine/

or here:  http://www.clickonf5.org/software/change-default-search-engine-firefox-browser/6862

Meanwhile I agree that SiteAdvisor is a tad aggressive with the way it alters settings and we have complained about it.  Whether or not they listen is another matter.

I'm bringing it up again at our Monday conference call with McAfee.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 5 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

toddm1919
Former Member
Message 6 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

I am having the same problem.  Unfortunately, the options posted in the last link are not the options in the new version (see attached picture).  Any other thoughts on how to get Mcafee to give back the address bar search?  I am using Windows XP with IE6.

mcafee.jpg

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 7 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

In that picture, you see the General tab above the one its on?

Click that and you'll see "Display Mode" - that has a drop-down menu for Standard (Toolbar view) or Compact (Title bar view) and some other settings.

Don't forget to "Save" after changing.

If that isn't the answer you are looking for then I suggest contacting Technical Support Chat via Useful Links at the top of this page unless you want to try an uninstall/reboot/reinstall routine.

Message was edited by: Ex_Brit on 20/06/10 8:52:51 EDT AM
toddm1919
Former Member
Message 8 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

Here is a picture of the general tab:

mcafee.jpg

I don't see the diplay option that you are talking about.

Thanks,

Todd

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 9 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

Ok I apologise, I was looking at my SiteAdvisor Plus settings.   I booted into my XP SP3 virtual machine and now looking at regular SiteAdvisor settings I'm not sure what to advise you except to contact Technical Support Chat via Useful Links at the top of this page if nothing in this thread helps.

By the way that XP should be SP3 I hope?  If not read here:  Tips on Installing XP SP3 and Microsoft Support Ending Soon For XP SP2 (or less)  also you should be using IE8 as it is much more safe than IE6, downloadable HERE.

Elpolloloco
Former Member
Message 10 of 17

Re: Mcafee hijacking browser default settings?

I know this is a bit late, but this thread comes up on google, so this answer is liable to be helpful to somebody.

I had the exact same problem. What I did is I first went and disabled SiteAdvisor in the add-ons section, in the tools menu, then I restarted firefox (I'm not sure if disabling it was necessary). I opened about:config, and, in the search function, typed "yahoo." Now, for me, there was a field that looked like it had been added (I don't know it's name because I can't replicate the conditions). It was one of two or three in bold, however, the other important one being keyword.url. Now, right-click keyword.url, and hit reset. Then right-click the other bold one (just read the field names if there are more than two bold--the one that's messing up the system has a descriptive field name, which lets you know exactly what it does--in the field is something relating to yahoo search engine). Reset that, and it should go blank.

Next, find the two other fields (browser.search.defaultenginename and browser.search.order1) and reset them to their defaults. This fixed the problem for me.

Sorry if that first part's a bit vague. If anyone knows more about this than me, especially the name of the field I was talking about (I found it on accident, after a fruitless forty minutes of technical support chat with someone who didn't listen at all to what I was saying), then, by all means, expound.

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