I'd like to think that by this stage everyone on the 'net would have attained an awesomeness level sufficient to be using Firefox, but regrettably I hear that there are still those who cling to Internet Explorer. So, for this (hopefully small) minority, allow me to illuminate one of the many magnificent features of Firefox: when you type something non-URLey into the URL bar and press enter, it does a Google search-by-name for the input and oftentimes takes you straight to the appropriate website - for instance, were you to type in 'ExeSoft' you'd find yourself transported right here (hoorah!).
Now, being an extremely lazy person even at the best of times, I've taken to using this feature as my sole means of navigating the intertubes, simply because I can't be arsed going into my bookmarks or Googling directly. And indeed, this was perfectly well until just recently when DISASTER STRUCK! There I was, happily lazing away, when suddenly my URL bar took me not to the desired page, nor even to a standard Google search, but instead to this horrendously garish mockery of outdated web design:
Sickening, no? Well, I ended up vomiting there and then. Now, much as pro tips on 'getting into bars' may well have proven extremely useful in my younger youth when such places were heavenly hoardings of forbidden fruit, this is something which I could quite easily have found myself had I been allowed proper use of the URL bar. But no! TalkTalk seem to feel that the URL bar wasn't helpful enough when it simply redirected me to the desired page, and so they've decided that as of now they're going to quite literally steal the internet request out of Firefox's hands and drag me by the scruff of my neck down to their internet marketing brothel to peruse their irrelevant sponsored results. And as marketing brothels go, this one's extremely down-market. The logo, for one thing, is ridiculous. It seems to vaguely resemble a Christmas tree which some imbecile has painted in various different colours before crushing, eating and regurgitating. Or something like that.
So, was Animatinator going to stand for this? Pah! Not he, not I, not anyone! So, after much perusing of the net (stealthily using the normal Google search engine whilst the TalkTalk guards were facing elsewhere), I've discovered that you can actually solve this problem by changing to a different DNS server address ([Start->Control Panel->Network and Internet->View network status and tasks->Change adapter settings->{right-click on your internet connection}->Properties->Internet Protocol Version 4->Properties] in Windows 7). The ones everyone seems to recommend are two Google ones: 8.8.8.8 (which unfortunately didn't work for me) and 8.8.4.4 (which did work). Basically, switching to one of these takes a knife to TalkTalk's (or whichever other oppressive, tyrannical ISP regime you subscribe to) slimy grip on the Firefox URL bar, leaving you free to exercise laziness at will!
And that, my friends, is the tale of my war with URL-bar-hackery. Goodnight!
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