Dec 29, '05 04:25:00AM • Contributed by: michaeldoc
To change the search engine URL ,you can open the folder that Firefox uses to store the search engine details and alter the .src file as follows:
- Quit Firefox.
- In the Finder, navigate to /Applications -> Firefox.app -> (Control-click and choose Show Package Contents) -> Contents -> MacOS -> searchplugins. This is where Firefox stores all its search engine files.
- Find the relevant .src file (the .png and .gif files are icons) and make a backup copy (put the copy elsewhere).
- Open the chosen .src file using the contextual menu's Open With -> Other option. Select any pure text editor (I used Text Edit).
- Find the line that contains the URL (in google.src, it was the seventh line, which reads action="http://www.google.com/search and change it accordingly (to action="http://www.google.com.au/search in my case).
- Reading the last line, updateCheckDays="1", I presumed that the engine might be updated automatically, so I changed this to "0", which I assume sets the updater not to update. This would prevent the hack being overwritten later, I guessed. Perhaps someone can tell me if this is so--I'm not sure if this bit is necessary or helpful.
- Save the file.
- Open Firefox and try out your new search engine.
