Wndows 10 “Type here to search”: Can online searches be turned off ?

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Not sure of the jargon or procedures, I was wondering if there is a way to keep the Windows 10 21H2 taskbar >”Type here to search”< box from searching online and just search the local computer.

Mike

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If you are referring to the Taskbar Search by the Start menu the answer is yes, you can eliminate the web search suggestions and show files and apps on your setup.

It requires the addition of a registry key.

Copy the following without any extra lines or spaces into into a Notepad blank document.  Name it NoWebSearchTaskbar.reg (be sure to save as All files and include the .reg in the name).

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
“DisableSearchBoxSuggestions”=dword:00000001

Right click this NoWebSearchTaskbar.reg file and select Merge.  OK the UAC box and all the warnings to add the key.

A reboot is required.

No web results in the Taskbar Search.

 

HTH, Dana:))

 

HTH, Dana:))

3 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, Mike, Cybertooth

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Edited reg file text so you can copy and paste it correctly – the forum mucks up quotes.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"DisableSearchBoxSuggestions"=dword:00000001

cheers, Paul

2 users thanked author for this post.

Mike, Cybertooth

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Thanks,

I see the difference in the quotation marks.   So I pasted plain quotes from a Notepad document and the forum turns them into “smart quotes”?   I did not know this.   It appears my Edit window is gone, so Thanks for correcting it.  Not sure if the smart quote version would have run.

I entered plain quotes for smart quotes above and after submitting they still appear as smart quotes.

How do you edit to get the plain quotes you posted?

 

Dana:))

HTH, Dana:))

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To keep the forum software from auto-correcting standard quotes into smart quotes, change the text style from Paragraph to Preformatted in the dropdown box.

“Paragraph style”

"Preformatted style"

While smart quotes will work if copied/pasted directly into a Windows cmd/powershell prompt (Windows auto-corrects them back to standard quotes when you paste them into the prompt window), normally they won’t work if copied/pasted into a text style file like .bat, .reg, .ps1, etc. because they don’t get auto-corrected back to standard quotes when the file is run.

3 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, Cybertooth, Drcard:))

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Thanks for the registry modification.  After following the instructions above and using the one from Paul T. and trying to merge….. I’m getting an error that basically says:  “The specified file is not a registry script”. “You can only import binary registry files from within the registry editor.”

Not sure what is going on.

Mike

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When you save the file in NotePad the File type has to be All Files AND  .reg is added to the file name.  If All files is not selected it will add .txt and look like this:
NoWebSearchTaskbar.reg.txt which will not work.

As an alternative, I’ve uploaded the .reg file to a free downloading host. You can download the NoWebSearchTaskbar.reg file at this link:
NoWebSearchTaskbar.reg
This is a free web hosting services so a pop up ad may appear when you download…just close it and download the file.

HTH, Dana:))

HTH, Dana:))

2 users thanked author for this post.

F A Kramer, Mike

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Thanks.

Interesting.  I downloaded your file and the only difference was it included:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

I now see that that must be included.

What I had done is only copy:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"DisableSearchBoxSuggestions"=dword:00000001

and pasted it into a notepad document and then saved it and changed the file extension
to .reg

So, I assume if I had included everything, then my process would have worked.  I think.

Mike

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Yes, the

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 is part of the reg file and it would have run with it included.

It tells Windows to use the Registry Editor to install the follow key value(s).
This is what causes the UAC window to open for authorization to open the Registry Editor.

I too don’t like the Web search suggestions for a search in the Taskbar. Another way Microsoft pushes using Edge/Bing.  If I want to search the web I use my browser and not the Taskbar. Taskbar is for search things on or connected to my PC.
You’ll find more on your system search results now that the Web suggestions are gone.

Dana:))

HTH, Dana:))

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I went directly to “regedit” and drilled down through HKEY_CURRENT_ … to “\Microsoft\Windows\” and got three items dealing with cloud and data, but no “Explorer”.

Suggestions? I do not find any Version 5 for register editing on my computer.

 

Update:  I downloaded the “NoWebSearchTaskbar.reg”. Ran with it. Did the job. Thank you.

And a check of the Registry HKEY_CURRENT etc. now drills down to a fourth entry at the end: “Explorer”

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Version 5.0 of the Registry Editor is the current version on Windows 10.

Export a key to a reg file and you will see the version of your Registry Editor at the top of the exported file when you select Edit for the file.

You would not find this key value.  It has to be added to the Registry, hence the reg file method.  I felt that instructions for adding a new value  would be difficult for a lot of users and the reg file merge method would be easiest for them to follow, especially if a new key has to be made for the new value to be added.

HTH, Dana:))

 

 

 

HTH, Dana:))

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If you have Win10/ Pro, there is a Bleeping Computer article about how to use the Group Policy Editor to turn off online searches.

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