pf » How to Remove Search Plugins in Firefox

April 08, 2005

How to Remove Search Plugins in Firefox

Search Plugin's in firefox are a pretty cool feature, especially since they are so easy to make. However if you want to remove an installed search plugin I can't find any way to do this inside firefox. It should be in the extensions manager, or something like it.

You can remove them manually by going to your Firefox program directory, eg: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ and deleting the .src and .png or .gif files located in the searchplugins sub folder.

Permalink | Add Comment |

add to del.icio.us | Tags: firefox, search, searchplugins, mozilla

Related Entries

Bookmarklets and Search Plugins for javadocs.org - May 12, 2004
FireFox 1.5.0.1 - February 13, 2006
The Proper Content Type for XML Feeds - June 13, 2005
GreaseMonkey User Scripts - May 11, 2005
Firefox Tip: Begin Finding when you begin typing - April 27, 2005

This entry was:

Trackbacks

Trackback Address: 316/E8D97117CE54758E86D86000AC3E664D

Comments

On 04/08/2005 at 6:04:34 PM MDT John Dowdell wrote:

Thanks, I had been wondering about that too, Pete... after adding a few, it really becomes necessary to delete some, and it felt counterinstinctive to prowl around directories to do so... good to know that you came to the same conclusion, thanks.

On 04/09/2005 at 5:15:16 AM MDT Jake Howlett wrote:

The trouble is that they come back when you upgrade to Firefox 1.0.x and you have to do it all over again every couple of weeks.

On 04/09/2005 at 3:08:28 PM MDT Pete Freitag wrote:

Jake, I would suspect that is a bug then, the upgrade script shouldn't touch the searchplugins folder I wouldn't think.

You could probably report that to bugzilla.

On 04/17/2005 at 10:59:35 PM MDT sue wrote:

Pete, I don't think it's a bug - it's more likely that the firefox people have set up some kind of partnership with some sites. E.g. I constantly (i.e. with every upgrade) have to remove the search option for eBay. Seems to be a financial interest. Not that I mind in general, but it tends to get really annoying, especially if you can't stand that club.

On 04/17/2005 at 11:04:12 PM MDT Sue wrote:

Hey, I just came up with an idea that might be worth trying: I set the searchplugins sub folder to read-only. Let's see if that will keep the odd ones out in the next upgrade. :-) Oh, of course, you'll have to remember to remove the read-only attribute when you want to add a search plugin. Good luck!

On 03/24/2006 at 9:10:10 PM MST str wrote:

i removed the files but the engines are still in the list!

On 01/04/2008 at 12:31:05 AM MST Alison wrote:

In order to access fire fox plug ins, you click on the tools section on your fire fox browser and the click on add ons. That will list all of the plug ins and also has the option to disable or uninstall plug ins.