Uh oh, the horrible Google “Autocomplete” function is back (aka: dumb flickery search-suggestions which appear as you type in a search query). The proven option of blocking it by adding clients1.google.com to the list of blocked sites in Firefox’s AdBlock Plus no longer works.
Instead, I killed it by installing the new DisableAutocomplete script for Firefox’s GreaseMonkey addon. Once installed, you need to right-click on the little Monkey icon in the bottom-right of your browser window, and go to Manage User Scripts | DisableAutocomplete | … and then add in whatever the exact URL of your Google search homepage is.
There is one unfortunate side-effect, which affects those wanting to use the drop-down Google sidebar on the left of the screen. It won’t unfold when you click on it. Those who need to access the left-hand drop-down sidebar in search results should also add Google Remove Junk alongside DisableAutocomplete.
For those maintaining Google CSEs: Your site URLs list will refuse to load while DisableAutocomplete is running. Simply turn it off temporarily, while you add or delete site URLs to your Google CSE.
UPDATE, Nov 2010: Set your browser’s Google homepage URL to: http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0&hl=en This will disable autocomplete without scripts or add-ons.
And, yes, I know that signed-in users can select “Do not provide query suggestions in the search box.” in their Google Account settings. However, Google in Firefox just doesn’t seem to respect this setting and still shows me autocomplete suggestions.
Oh, and when using DisableAutocomplete while logged into Google, you need “Do not provide query suggestions in the search box.” in their Google Account settings turned OFF. The script can’t kill something that’s supposedly not working.