After updating my AVG, I suddenly found that the default Google search had gone away, replaced by the VERY irritating AVG search, powered by Google. Disabling search add-ons, browser extensions didn't seem to work. AVG forums didn't tell me how to remove it.

my life was ruined, melodramatically speaking.

Then, I found out about Firefox's about:config. And the solution presented itself.

1. Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
2. Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
3. Locate the preference keyword.URL, double-click on it and change its value to the link shown below

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

Tell me you're not grinning, now you know what to do :D

The legal stuff: If you don't follow the instructions above TO THE LETTER, I won't be held responsible for anything that happens. (for e.g. you winning the lottery)