Setting Bing as Default Search Engine in Firefox

One of my gripes with Mozilla Firefox is that users cannot set Bing as their default search engine without installing an add-on to Firefox. Firefox offers several different search engines options from the get-go, including Google, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Answers.com, Creative Commons, eBay, and Wikipedia. However, there is no way to set Bing as the default search engine without installing an add-on, or visiting the “Customize your browser with Bing” page provided by Bing. So, without further ado, here are two viable ways to add Bing to Firefox.

 

Installing an Add-On from the Firefox add-on site. 

The first way is through installing the Bing add-on for Firefox. You can visit the Firefox add-ons page and search for Bing, or you can just go directly there and install the add-on. You can follow along with the screenshots below:

 

Once you get to the Bing Add-On site, click on “Continue to Download” as depicted in the above screenshot.

 

Click on “Accept and Install” once you get to this screenshot.

 

Ensure that “Start using it right away” is selected, then you don’t have to manually switch to Bing Search later.

 

That’s that. This process will only work with Firefox, however, and no other browser.

 

Enabling Bing Search via the “Customize your browser with Bing” website.

The other way, which is my preferred method is by visiting the “Customize your browser with Bing” webpage. This is also an office website from Microsoft. There are several different variants of the site, but as long as you get to one of them you can select your browser and go:

 

Select your browser from the drop-down box at the “Customize your browser with Bing” site, or you can select one of the links below for direct access to your browser:

 

Internet Explorer 7 or 8

Internet Explorer 6

Chrome

Firefox

Opera

Safari for Mac

 

Once you have the correct browser selected, click on “Make Bing your default search engine.” It will auto-install the same add-on as through the other method. You should see the following pop-up after clicking the link:

 

 

Once again, make sure you have “Start using it right away” selected, otherwise it will only add the feature, but won’t make Bing the default setting.

 

You can also use this page to set Bing as your homepage. If you choose to do so, click on “Make Bing your homepage” or follow the directions below the heading if there is no link.

 

Using either method will work for Firefox, however, the second method will work with most popular browsers.

 

Hope that works for everyone. If you run across issues feel free to leave a comment below, or e-mail me at tinkeringwithwindows at live dot com.

 

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