Published 2008-10-14

This tweak allows you to set Firefox Google Search in English independently from your computer language settings and your location and allows you to clear cookies in Firefox 3+.

This tutorial is valid for Windows XP with Firefox 3+.

It is likely that this also works on other Operating Systems and/or in older Firefox versions than 3.

To set Firefox Google Search in English you need to modify the file "google.xml", part of the Firefox installation.

First of all, close every Firefox instance.

Open the folder "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\" by clicking Start, then Run, in the Open box type the folder path and then click OK.

In other Operating Systems (Mac, Linux), you need to search for the Firefox "searchplugins" directory.

Copy the already present file "google.xml" to "google1.xml" in the same directory "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\".

This is to keep a back up copy of the original Firefox installation, in case you need to revert back to it.

Open the file "google.xml" with Notepad (or Leafpad in Linux).

It would look like this "google.xml" but the long key string for the "Image" tag is different for every Firefox installation.

Add this statement "<Param name="hl" value="en"/>" to the "Param" list.

The file modified will look like this "google.xml".

Save the file "google.xml" in the folder "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\" and close it.

Restart Firefox and see the results.

Unfortunately this process has to be repeated every time Firefox is updated.

Alternatively you can put this link Google International English in your Bookmarks or set it as your Home Page.