What's the searchplugins folder and why doesn't its content show up in the Manage Plugins menu?

Question

Today on my first Search bar attempt, my search page got redirected from Google to www.bigseekpro.com, which I had never heard of. I checked my Plugins and Addons, it didn't show up there. But my home page had also been hijacked, from the tabs I normally go to, to only go to this new page. I did find in C:\uerdatada\appdata\roaming\mozilla\firefox\profiles\cawypqyo.default a new folder created a few moments before, \searchplugins, and in this a file search.xml, which contained xml commands to redirect the search activity.
These look suspicious: the first command sets xmlsn:os to "http://a9.com", which I can't seem to find anything on with whois or tracert; bigseekpro.com itself traces to its registry at godaddy.com, but that's about all I'm finding.
If this is a legitimate place for Firefox to look for a plugin, why doesn't the Firefox plugin manager tell me it found something there? And why couldn't the Help articles on "Search not going where you want it to" also tell me about this?
Any ideas? Am I right to be highly suspicious of this behavior?

Answer 1

Search engine plugins are kept separate from Add-ons (Extensions, Plugins, Appearance). Search plugins, both the default search engines supplied with Firefox and those that you install will be shown in the Search Bar (see [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Search_Bar Search Bar]).
The folder '''''searchplugins''''' in your Profile folder ('''the path you mentioned''') is for search engines '''''added by you or something that you have installed'''''. You can remove any found in the Profile folder in the '''''searchplugins''''' sub-folder. The items there '''''may''''' make/have made changes to other search functions in Firefox.
*Are searches from your '''Location Bar''' going to the place and/or search engine you expect?
*Are searches from your '''Search Bar''' going to the place and/or search engine you expect?
'''''The default search engines included with Firefox''''' are not in that folder in your Profile, but are located in a folder by the same name in the Programs folder where Firefox itself is installed. See [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Installation_directory Finding the Installation directory]
'''If this reply solves your problem, please click "Solved It" next to this reply when <u>signed-in</u> to the forum.'''
Not related to your question, but...
You need to update some plug-ins:
*Plug-in check: https://www-trunk.stage.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
*Adobe Shockwave for Director Netscape plug-in: [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using%20the%20Shockwave%20plugin%20with%20Firefox#w_installing-shockwave Installing ('''''or Updating''''') the Shockwave plugin with Firefox]
*Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape: [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using%20the%20Adobe%20Reader%20plugin%20with%20Firefox#w_installing-and-updating-adobe-reader Installing/Updating Adobe Reader in Firefox]
*Shockwave Flash (Adobe Flash or Flash): [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing%20the%20Flash%20plugin#w_updating-flash Updating Flash in Firefox]
*Next Generation Java Plug-in for Mozilla browsers: [https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using%20the%20Java%20plugin%20with%20Firefox#w_installing-or-updating-java Installing or Updating Java in Firefox]