How To Disable Firefox 3.0 Smart Location Bar

Friday 20 June 2008 @ 1:24 pm

Entering the second day after Firefox 3.0 was released, mixed feedback was heard. Personally, I am satisfied with Firefox 3.0, except the Smart Location Bar, or so called Awesome Bar. I don’t like the autocomplete nature of this Smart Location Bar, as it lists out the possible bookmarked site or previously visited sites while I’m typing in the address. I know the purpose is to save my time and hassle to type the whole address but it’s annoying me more than helping because I need to choose from some irrelevant results listed. I guess some Firefox users who used Firefox 2.0 before the upgrade will feel the same too.

Disable Firefox 3.0 Smart Location Bar

If you are thinking of disabling this Smart Location Bar from automatically listing, do some tweaking to Firefox 3 then.

Note:

Please make sure you know what you are doing, when you are tweaking Firefox using about:config. Ok!

Follow the steps below will completely disable it :-

  • In the address field of Firefox 3.0, type about:config, then press Enter.
  • In the filter field, type browser.urlbar.
  • Click on the line with browser.urlbar.matchBehavior, change the value to 0 (zero).
  • Click on the line with browser.urlbar.maxRichResults, change the value to 0 (zero) also.
  • Now exit FireFox and open it again.

If you want it to behave like Firefox 2.0 then do the following :-

  • In the address field of Firefox 3.0, type about:config, then press Enter.
  • In the filter field, type browser.urlbar.
  • Double click on the line with browser.urlbar.matchOnlytyped, the value will automatically change to true.
  • Now exit FireFox and open it again.

Any feedback is welcome.
Enjoy using Firefox 3.0!


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21 Responses to 'How To Disable Firefox 3.0 Smart Location Bar'

  1. Miguel Madeira - June 20th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

    “If you want it to behave like Firefox 2.0 then do the following :-

    In the address field of Firefox 3.0, type about:config, then press Enter.
    In the filter field, type browser.urlbar.
    Double click on the line with browser.urlbar.matchOnlytyped, the value will automatically change to true.
    Now exit FireFox and open it again.”

    Don’t work – if I type “st” in the address bar, it continues to show all urls with “st” in their name, instead of only the urls who begin with “st”

  2. Miguel Madeira - June 20th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    “If you want it to behave like Firefox 2.0 then do the following :-

    In the address field of Firefox 3.0, type about:config, then press Enter.
    In the filter field, type browser.urlbar.
    Double click on the line with browser.urlbar.matchOnlytyped, the value will automatically change to true.
    Now exit FireFox and open it again.”

    Don’t work – if I type “st” in the address bar, it continues to show all urls with “st” in their name, instead of only the urls who begin with “st”

  3. @mmonyte - June 20th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

    I think that the awesome bar is a potential privacy issue. Therefore i have disabled it. I should not have to go through this procedure, it should be an option on preferences > privacy. Thanks for the help.

  4. @mmonyte - June 21st, 2008 at 5:18 am

    I think that the awesome bar is a potential privacy issue. Therefore i have disabled it. I should not have to go through this procedure, it should be an option on preferences > privacy. Thanks for the help.

  5. Reese - June 21st, 2008 at 12:39 am

    THANK YOU!
    i loved the old firefox and had to use IE for a while, didn’t know it got changed and seriously that smart location bar was annoying. more like a smart-ass bar

  6. Reese - June 21st, 2008 at 8:39 am

    THANK YOU!
    i loved the old firefox and had to use IE for a while, didn’t know it got changed and seriously that smart location bar was annoying. more like a smart-ass bar

  7. ::Schrödinger’s Blog:: » The Electric Version - June 22nd, 2008 at 4:41 am

    […] the config file. Detailed instructions are available, but I just didn’t feel like it today. You can, if you’re ambitious and […]

  8. jmadline - June 24th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

    YES!
    I totally agree with @mmonyte. In fact, that’s exactly the feedback I sent in to Firefox when I tried the beta. Seems like that’s a M$ thing to do. Wasn’t gonna upgrade, but I’ll upgrade now.
    Thanks again.

  9. jmadline - June 25th, 2008 at 3:49 am

    YES!
    I totally agree with @mmonyte. In fact, that’s exactly the feedback I sent in to Firefox when I tried the beta. Seems like that’s a M$ thing to do. Wasn’t gonna upgrade, but I’ll upgrade now.
    Thanks again.

  10. SapiensBryan - June 25th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

    Yea, I don’t like the browsing history showing up even I’m the only one using my PC. Therefore, I looked for a way to manual disable it. Thank for dropping by, everyone.

  11. SapiensBryan - June 25th, 2008 at 4:53 am

    Yea, I don’t like the browsing history showing up even I’m the only one using my PC. Therefore, I looked for a way to manual disable it. Thank for dropping by, everyone.

  12. Tips of Disable Firefox 3.0 Smart Location Bar « Ikool’s Blogbed - June 26th, 2008 at 2:13 am

    […] How To Disable Firefox 3.0 Smart Location Bar […]

  13. kahpeng - July 6th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    Anyway, I prefer the smart location bar, this helps me to search some URL that I already forget but I visited before :D

  14. kahpeng - July 6th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    Anyway, I prefer the smart location bar, this helps me to search some URL that I already forget but I visited before :D

  15. Deshabilitar la barra de búsqueda inteligente del Firefox 3.0 » El blog de KnxDT - July 13th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    […] Vía: Sapiens Brain […]

  16. Rahman Alwi - July 13th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    Great tips. The smart location bar sometimes could be a problem… nice tips

  17. Rahman Alwi - July 13th, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    Great tips. The smart location bar sometimes could be a problem… nice tips

  18. Chong - July 15th, 2008 at 5:51 am

    The Smart Location Bar might favour to some people and vice versa. However, it is great to know how to disbale it. Thanks this tip.

  19. Chong - July 15th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    The Smart Location Bar might favour to some people and vice versa. However, it is great to know how to disbale it. Thanks this tip.

  20. Puppies For Sale - November 4th, 2010 at 8:28 pm

    Iloved the old firefox and had to use IE for a while, didn’t know it got changed and seriously that smart location bar was annoying. more like a smart-ass bar.

  21. Hydrium - April 3rd, 2012 at 1:52 pm

     Help ->About ->Firefox says im using ver 11.0
    The Smart Location Bar is more annoying than ever – thanks for showing me how to disable it – i seriously thought it was some sort of spyware that had landed on my pc.

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