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Search Results Changing

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by simpleman2

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After search results show and I click to view one of them and then hit the back button to go back to the same search results they have somehow changed. What setting do I need to change to keep this from happening? See photos,...... (Search Results 1) in the original results and (Search Results 2) is what happens if I click on one of the results to read and then hit the back button to get back to the results.

After search results show and I click to view one of them and then hit the back button to go back to the same search results they have somehow changed. What setting do I need to change to keep this from happening? See photos,...... (Search Results 1) in the original results and (Search Results 2) is what happens if I click on one of the results to read and then hit the back button to get back to the results.
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simpleman2 said

I don't use tabs nor should I have to go thru the steps you mentioned, I never had to before. Firefox must have changed something.

If you turned off the setting to divert new windows to new tabs instead, the results links would open in separate new windows.

DuckDuckGo still works the old way for me in Firefox 115.0. When I run your search in the address bar, with DDG as the target search engine, I get results on:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=remove+tab+bar+in+mozilla+firefox&ia=web

I don't know why you get extra bits on your results URL:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=remove+tab+bar+in+mozilla+firefox&ia=web&natb=v384_6&cp=atbsc

Those extra parameters seem to be responsible for the right sidebar and change the results from primarily Mozilla support links to be mix of sites.

Are you submitting your search using the built-in DDG search engine, or a custom search engine URL, or an add-on search engine?

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All Replies (6)

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Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to the Firefox Support Forum. I understand that you're experiencing a problem where the search results change after clicking on a result and then using the back button. I'd be happy to help you with this.

To address this issue, you can try adjusting the browser settings related to caching. Clearing the cache and disabling the browser cache might resolve the problem. Here's how you can do it:

Clear the cache:

Click on the menu button (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner of the Firefox window. Select "Options" (or "Preferences" on macOS). Go to the "Privacy & Security" tab. Scroll down to the "Cookies and Site Data" section. Click on the "Clear Data" button. Check the box for "Cached Web Content" and any other data you want to clear. Click "Clear." Disable the browser cache:

Type "about:config" in the address bar and press Enter. Accept the warning message. In the search bar, type "browser.cache" to filter the preferences. Double-click on "browser.cache.disk.enable" to set it to "false." Double-click on "browser.cache.memory.enable" to set it to "false." After following these steps, please restart Firefox and see if the issue persists. If the problem continues, please let us know, and we'll further investigate the situation.

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask if you have any further questions or need additional assistance.

Best regards, Firefox Support Forum Volunteer

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That is strange. I noticed that there's an extra bit on the end of the URL, which I think means DuckDuckGo noted what you clicked and somehow revised the results based on that information.

You could consider changing your DDG settings so that results open in a new tab. To return to your results page, close the new tab and Firefox should shift back. I don't think DDG will change the results page in this scenario, but I haven't tested recently. To make that change, go to

https://duckduckgo.com/settings

and turn on "Open Links in a New Tab"

Any difference?

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suram080 said

Hello, Thank you for reaching out to the Firefox Support Forum. I understand that you're experiencing a problem where the search results change after clicking on a result and then using the back button. I'd be happy to help you with this. To address this issue, you can try adjusting the browser settings related to caching. Clearing the cache and disabling the browser cache might resolve the problem. Here's how you can do it: Clear the cache: Click on the menu button (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner of the Firefox window. Select "Options" (or "Preferences" on macOS). Go to the "Privacy & Security" tab. Scroll down to the "Cookies and Site Data" section. Click on the "Clear Data" button. Check the box for "Cached Web Content" and any other data you want to clear. Click "Clear." Disable the browser cache: Type "about:config" in the address bar and press Enter. Accept the warning message. In the search bar, type "browser.cache" to filter the preferences. Double-click on "browser.cache.disk.enable" to set it to "false." Double-click on "browser.cache.memory.enable" to set it to "false." After following these steps, please restart Firefox and see if the issue persists. If the problem continues, please let us know, and we'll further investigate the situation. I hope this helps! Feel free to ask if you have any further questions or need additional assistance. Best regards, Firefox Support Forum Volunteer

I'm not going to disable my browser cache that would slow down everything. I can't believe you even suggested that. This is not the correct way to resolve the issue.

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said

That is strange. I noticed that there's an extra bit on the end of the URL, which I think means DuckDuckGo noted what you clicked and somehow revised the results based on that information. You could consider changing your DDG settings so that results open in a new tab. To return to your results page, close the new tab and Firefox should shift back. I don't think DDG will change the results page in this scenario, but I haven't tested recently. To make that change, go to https://duckduckgo.com/settings and turn on "Open Links in a New Tab" Any difference?

I don't use tabs nor should I have to go thru the steps you mentioned, I never had to before. Firefox must have changed something. There should only be one set answer for this problem, there should not be a different answer depending on who responds to the question.

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simpleman2 said

I don't use tabs nor should I have to go thru the steps you mentioned, I never had to before. Firefox must have changed something.

If you turned off the setting to divert new windows to new tabs instead, the results links would open in separate new windows.

DuckDuckGo still works the old way for me in Firefox 115.0. When I run your search in the address bar, with DDG as the target search engine, I get results on:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=remove+tab+bar+in+mozilla+firefox&ia=web

I don't know why you get extra bits on your results URL:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=remove+tab+bar+in+mozilla+firefox&ia=web&natb=v384_6&cp=atbsc

Those extra parameters seem to be responsible for the right sidebar and change the results from primarily Mozilla support links to be mix of sites.

Are you submitting your search using the built-in DDG search engine, or a custom search engine URL, or an add-on search engine?

more options

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said

simpleman2 said

I don't use tabs nor should I have to go thru the steps you mentioned, I never had to before. Firefox must have changed something.

If you turned off the setting to divert new windows to new tabs instead, the results links would open in separate new windows.

DuckDuckGo still works the old way for me in Firefox 115.0. When I run your search in the address bar, with DDG as the target search engine, I get results on:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=remove+tab+bar+in+mozilla+firefox&ia=web

I don't know why you get extra bits on your results URL:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=remove+tab+bar+in+mozilla+firefox&ia=web&natb=v384_6&cp=atbsc

Those extra parameters seem to be responsible for the right sidebar and change the results from primarily Mozilla support links to be mix of sites.

Are you submitting your search using the built-in DDG search engine, or a custom search engine URL, or an add-on search engine?

I am now using the DDG search bar/engine and getting the same results when when returning to results after hitting the back button. Thanks for you help