Simply clicking on the search button / box in Taskbar in Windows will show recommended search results. This is a good option only if it shows files and apps from the computer. However, by default you will also see the discovered webpages from Bing in Windows Search. The worst thing is that the Bing recommendations are shown even before you type in the search box. In addition, now Microsoft also added the new Bing AI chat in Windows Search and in Edge sidebar. If you are frustrated seeing Bing AI chat and search results everywhere, here is how you can disable them.
Default Bing AI and Discovered Pages in Windows Search
First thing, Windows 11 will show a typable search box in Taskbar. If you want to change the search box to a button or an icon you can customize the taskbar appearance as explained in our earlier article. Whether you have a search box, button or icon, here is what it will show when clicking on it. The Bing web results are annoying as they are not at all related to my work or previous search history (guess that is because I did not add any interests in Bing search profile).
Now that if I want to search for cmd to open Command Prompt, I find the Bing AI Chat as the first filter option which will ask to open Edge. And the Bing search icon is always there on the top right corner crying to open in Edge browser.
If I click on that Bing icon, it opens Bing AI chat in Edge with a new conversation with no relevancy to the cmd I am searching for.
If you are frustrated enough, fortunately it is easy to disable the funny Bing AI chat and discovered search page.
Disable Bing AI Chat in Windows Search
- Click the search box or button and then click the “Options” showing next to your profile icon.
- This will open Settings app and scroll down on the page.
- Find “Cloud content search” heading and disable “Microsoft account” option under that section.
- Now, click the Windows search box / button and you will not see the Bing AI chat icon anymore. This will also remove the “Chat” filter that appears whenever you type and search.
Disable Bing Web Search Results in Windows Search
Now that Bing AI chat is removed from Windows search but the discovered recommendations from Bing are still showing. You can also disable that following the below steps:
- Click the search box / button and then click on “Options” (three dots icon).
- This time you will few additional options for enabling cloud search and adding your account. These items appear because the cloud search for Microsoft account is disabled as explained above. Again, go to “Search settings” option.
- This time scroll down to the bottom of the settings page and disable “Show search highlights” option under “More settings” section.
- Now, click the search box / button and you will not see Bing discovered webpages in the search results.
You will see a neat Windows search without Bing AI chat and Bing web results. This will also remove the small clip art picture showing at the right end of the search box. The shown recommendations will be only from your computer based on the previous search history.
Note: If you want to delete all your search history, go to “Search settings” and click on “Clear device search history” button under “History” section. You can also completely disable the history by turning off the switch against “Search history on this device” option.
Disable Bing Search and AI Chat in Edge Sidebar
If you are using sidebar in Edge browser, there also you will find Bing search and AI Chat shortcuts. Follow the below steps to disable those options:
- Launch Edge app and you will see the sidebar at the right side. If the sidebar is not visible, click the three dots “Settings and more” icon on top right corner and go to “Settings”. Navigate to “Sidebar” section and enable “Always show sidebar” option.
- You will see search and Bing AI Chat icons on top of the sidebar app list. The search icon allows you to do Bing search within sidebar. Clicking on Bing AI Chat icon will allow you to start a chat conversation, compose an article or view insights (discovered pages) based on the site you are currently viewing.
- For disabling the search icon, click the “Customize sidebar” option showing as a + icon at the bottom of the list of apps. Turn off the “Search” app under “Manage” section. You can also go to “edge://settings/sidebar/” page and disable “Automatically open Search” option under “Search” setting.
Earlier, you could remove the Bing icon from the sidebar by disabling “Discover” option from the app list. However, the latest Windows update (Cumulative Update March 2023 onwards) removed the “Discover” option and replaced Bing Discover with Bing AI Chat. Now there are no default settings to remove this Bing AI Chat icon from Edge sidebar at this point of time. All what you can do is to disable “Automatically show related content in Discover” and “Page context” options under “Discover” section by going to “edge://settings/sidebar” page. However, the Bing Chat icon will remain on the top of the sidebar and you can click on it to start a chat conversation or compose email / blog post or view discovered pages.
If you really want to get rid of that Bing AI Chat icon from Edge sidebar, then you can do that by editing registry entries from Command Prompt. Backup your registry and then open Command Prompt in admin mode. Run the following commands one after another. This will add a new HubsSidebarEnabled policy in Edge and set the value to false thus removing the Bing AI Chat icon.
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge"
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v HubsSidebarEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 00000000 /fFinal Words
Looks Microsoft is simply pushing Bing AI chat and search results everywhere possible in Windows operating system. Unfortunately, these features are enabled by default, and force you to use them. You need to search around and find the settings to disable them as explained above. What Microsoft forgetting here is that Windows 11 is a paid software and forcing users to use Bing AI should not be the case as ultimately this will lead to showing advertisements everywhere.
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