Windows 10: How to turn off web search

One of the most practical innovations that Microsoft introduced in its latest operating system, windows 10, has given is the convenient search function. Simply enter a term in the search bar in the taskbar or with the key combination WINDOWS+S and it will present Windows 10 user a result. With this feature, you no longer have to rummage through the Start menu or System Preferences when looking for a specific program or feature.

For many users, however, this function also has a disadvantage – it automatically activates a web search using Microsoft’s search service, Bing. If you don’t need this function, you’ll quickly feel disturbed by it. A spelling mistake and the Internet browser opens and Bing presents inappropriate search results.

If you do not want to use this search function for Internet searches, you can switch it off. Unfortunately, since May 2018 there is no longer any possibility of Windows 10 Disable web search in the system settings. Instead, have Windows 10 Engage users with the registry.

Luckily, that sounds more complicated than it is – it’s actually quite simple. Here is our step-by-step guide.

Windows 10 Disable web search through the registry

To disable web search, open the registry editor with administrator privileges. To do this, type in the search bar at the bottom of the taskbar type “regedit” and click “Run as administrator.”

On the left side of the newly opened window, you will find a navigation tree, just like in a normal Explorer window. In this, you navigate to the folder:

“HKEYCURRENTUSER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search”

So you first click on the small arrow next to HKEYCURRENTUSER and expand the subfolders “SOFTWARE” etc. with another click on the small arrow.

There is usually no entry with the title “BingSearchEnabled” here. In this case, you still have to create this entry. If you already have this entry, you can skip the next paragraph.

Create a new entry in the registry

To create a new entry in the registry, right-click on the empty space on the right-hand side of the window. In the context menu, point to “New” and select the “DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.

Name this new entry “BingSearchEnabled.”

Edit BingSearchEnabled entry

In order to deactivate the web search, you still have to edit the newly created entry. To do this, double-click on the entry, and a small window will open.

In the “Edit DWORD (32-bit) value” window, enter the value “0” in the text field and confirm the change with “Ok” or ENTER.

To complete the changes to the registry, you must log out of the computer and log back in once.

If you are now in Windows 10 If you enter a term in the search function, Windows no longer suggests results from the Bing search engine.

By the way, you should also turn off web searches if you care about your privacy, even if it doesn’t bother you. Because as long as the web search is activated, a search with Bing is always triggered directly. As a result, Microsoft, as the operator of the search engine, automatically learns about every search you make in the Windows 10 Enter search function. This is even independent of whether you click on an offline or online result.