Microsoft has taken advantage of Windows 10 to use each and every one of its services and programs. This, although it is done to improve the experience of using the operating system, actually dirties this experience by finding ads in Windows 10, unnecessary apps and programs and services, such as Bing, which at the minimum show us web results when looking for any element in the PC. Luckily, easier or harder, all of this can be disabled to clean Windows from Microsoft services. And one of the last elements that we can deactivate is the integration with Bing of the Windows 10 search engine.
Until Windows 10 version 1909 , Microsoft allowed us to disable Bing from the search engine by modifying a registry entry called “BingSearchEnabled”. However, with the arrival of the 2004 version of Windows, this possibility disappeared. Users had Bing activated again, and it was not possible to deactivate it using this trick.
However, it seems that the ability to deactivate Bing has not completely disappeared, but has simply been moved. Thus, in May 2020 Update and in October 2020 Update it is still possible to deactivate the Bing engine as we explain below.
Effects of disabling Bing in Windows search engine
What happens when we remove Bing from the Windows 10 search engine? The first thing we will notice is that now the PC is much lighter by not having to drag with the processes of the operating system’s search engine. Where we will most notice this performance improvement is the search engine itself, which will now only show local results when searching, for example, for an app.
Initially, there should be no problem disabling this. However, it never hurts to remember that in the past there were, generating problems in Windows Update , very high CPU uses and even empty search results. These failures should already be fixed, but, in case they happen again, know that this may be the reason.
New trick to remove Bing from the search bar
Fortunately, Microsoft did not eliminate the possibility of removing Bing completely, but simply changed the name of the registry entry to something else, although it did not report it. Thus, instead of having to use “BingSearchEnabled” for this purpose, we must create a new Windows registry value so that, in the end, the result is the same.
To do this, what we must do is open the Windows registry editor by typing “regedit” in the search engine, or using the “Run” window that appears when pressing the Windows + R keyboard shortcut. Once inside the editor, What we must do is move to the following directory:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER>SOFTWARE>Policies>Microsoft>Windows>Explorer
In case this directory does not exist, then what we will have to do is create it ourselves. Unless we have created some policies ourselves, surely we have already created the “Windows” directory, but not Explorer. We create it as a new key and that’s it.
Once inside, we will create a new 32-bit DWORD value called “DisableSearchBoxSuggestions”. And, when it is created, we will give it the value “1” to be able to have it activated.
Ready. Now we just have to close the registry editor and restart the computer. When we restart we can see that Bing has already disappeared from the Windows search bar. And not only that, but the ads from the Windows search engine also disappear .
In case we want to reactivate this search engine, what we must do is change the value of “DisableSearchBoxSuggestions” to “0”, or directly eliminate it. After a new reboot, everything will work as it originally did.
We remember that this trick is only valid for Windows versions 2020 onwards. Earlier versions must remove Bing from the search engine with the value BingSearchEnabled.