Web Browsers

[ViperX11]

There's only Personal web pages under the internet settings. I assume this is what's causing my browsers to direct to ask.com.

[Queen-Evie]

If you don't see it, it's probably already disabled OR you are not signing in as the PRIMARY account holder.

Sign in. Under Internet Settings, next to Personal Web Pages, do you see an button that says EDIT?

If yes, you are signed in as the PRIMARY account and it has been disabled. Redirects could mean your system is infected if it is disabled. It might help if you provide more details about the redirect if you did sign in as the primary.

If not, you are signed in as restricted SECONDARY account. In order to turn it off the primary account holder has to sign in and do it.

[ViperX11]

I guess mine has been disabled then. I get redirected whenever I type in an incorrect url. I did various virus scans and nothing has shown up. I also used hijackthis and removed all the ones with ask.com.

[Queen-Evie]

It sounds as if your default search engine has been set to ask.com

What browser and operating system are you using?

[ViperX11]

Firefox and Windows 7 64 bit.

[Queen-Evie]

You could try this to change it http://www.firefoxfacts.com/2008/01/13/change-default-search-in-firefox/

I do not use Firefox, so I have no clue if this will work. Maybe someone who does use Firefox will offer something else if it doesn't work.

[ViperX11]

That's not it. I get redirected when I type in the address bar, not the search bar. Only when I mistype though.

[Queen-Evie]

It's normal  to get redirected to a search engine when an incorrect URL is typed into the address bar.

I get sent to dogpile.com when I mistype.

[ComcastChrisG]

Comcast disabled the Domain Helper feature when DNSSEC was deployed in early January 2012. What are your DNS resolver IPs and what browser are you using?

Thanks,

Chris

[lead5alpha]

By default the location (url) bar in firefox should be set to return google results.   Here is how to reset it to the default:

Make sure that the keyword.URL preference is set to the search site you want and that it's turned on.

1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.

   • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
2. In the Search field box at the top, type keyword.
3. Make sure the preference keyword.URL is set to the site you want to use. To reset it to the default, right-click on the preference and select Reset.
4. Make sure the preference keyword.enabled is set to true. If it is not, double-click on it to set it to true.

You can turn the feature off by this change:

1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.

   • The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear. Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page.
2. In the Search field, type keyword.enabled.
3. Double-click the keyword.enabled preference to set its value to false.

[wlovett]

Just a note....

When you type in a value for the Keyword.URL, it's probably not going to be just www.google.com.  You'll want to put something like "http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=" into the field.

To find out your value, go to www.google.com and type in something like "comcast sucks eggs and customer support doesn't have a clue about this problem".  You'll then see the long URL string that is returned with the google results. 

For example ...

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=comcast+sucks+eggs&oq=comcast+sucks+eggs&gs_l=serp.3.....

Copy and past the first relevent bit.  "http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q="  as the value.

Hope this helps someone down the road.

[chickentender]

Bless you, lead5alpha.... I was going to throw a chair out my window. No toolbars. No DNS jacks. No anything xfinity left behind but THAT FF key. *THANK You*!!

[chickentender]

And Chris, or any Comcast employee monitoring this. PLEASE, pass his info onto your techs and create a FAQ or SOMETHING that people can easily find. When you uninstall something it should be uninstalled. I'm glad the DNS hijacking (aka Domain "Helper") practice and necessary opt-out has ceased, but seriously guys, this stuff is silly. I should not have had to spend this much time simply getting my machine back to normal after a home installation. Very, very irritating.