Privacy

For those who are offended by all the data collecting now taking effect with the "#1" search engine (and all their partners, there is an alternative.

Punch in Ixquick.com

It is a really good search engine that does not collect your data, and even states it is the world's most private search engine.
Works a hair slower, so as to protect its users, and is very good. You can easily download it to Firefox right from the page, or set it as your home page.

There is also a sister site: startpage.com Either one are a much more preferable option.

To get them to set as your standard search engine:
punch in about:config in the address bar
scroll down until you get to browser.search.selectedEngine user set string Google
click on Google and type in Ixquick HTTPS
close the page

Now, Ixquick will be your new search engine, and you can go up to the search engine space up in your toolbar, go to manage search engines, and move Ixquick to the top.
Next time you open a page, it will be there as your search engine.
Simple, and private :)

You can add startpage to the search engine choices by that site, as well. You do NOT have to go back thru the about:config process. You can just add it as an extra choice via the toolbar by directly downloading from startpage.com site if you want more than one safe search engine.