Windows 7: How to remove Bing toolbar?

I followed the advice of dukestango and it worked. I wasn't able to follow his direction exactly so here's what I did.



Start > Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Programs and Features > Uninstall or Change a Program.

I looked through the list as he instructed and there it was: Search > Version 1.2

Then at the bottom I noticed it said bingstart.com. Voila! Now the toolbar is GONE! Be very careful when you install software or download from the Internet. That's what happened to me... it snuck in with a download yesterday.

Thanks!

Add the following keys to your registry, and add-on installers will see an existing MSN toolbar. Oh darn, an install isn't necessary. The goofy thing is, this is very similar to a method you'd use to prevent virus installers. Microsoft's gone viral to preach the good word... The word "Bing" that is!

Copy the following, and save them in notepad as NoMoBing.reg, or whatever you'd like. Then double click, or right click and merge.


x86 use the following only...


x64 can add both files, but the following is x64 only....

Forget all the advice trying to remove the toolbar from the desktop, IE8 browser/toolbars settings, control panel etc. The only definitive and permanent way of removing this intrusive tool(Bing) bar is through the registry editor :

1. Run Registry Editor (RegEdit.exe)
2. Navigate to following registry key -

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\InternetExplorer\InfoDelivery\Restrictions

Right click on the NoSearchBox data and modify the value from 0 to 1

Finished, this will permanently remove the annoying Bing toolbar from IE8, without even the need to restart and you can be guaranteed the damn thing won't reappear unless the value is switched back!

Isn't BING a product of MSN? I've tried just about every thing I see here, and it only works for a short period of time. It really makes me angry! If I try to do a search with GOOGLE, sooner or later Bing interferes, and some time it just shows up regardless of what I'm doing. I don't believe this to be accidental, but a calculated effort on the part of MSN to ram Bing down the throats of its members. I've been on line with MSN for almost ten years, but now I'm so irritated by this BING crap that I'm about ready to switch to another server!

I notice your running XP 64bit, depending on which browser you use, this above fix will work. It works on IE7/8. I removed the seach bar from my girlfriend's laptop,(Vista IE8) and it's never reappeared and that was nearly 6 months ago, any edits in the regedit programe will work permanently.....so be VERY careful what you delete or modify! otherwise you could just upgrade to IE9,(not sure if this would run stably in XP?) this browser has done away with search bars,(Microsoft may finally be listening to their critics) and is completely scaled down....i love it, like Google Chrome without all the add on, book mark problems

Not quite.. as the Windows Update for IE9, as well as the stand-alone installer from Microsofts IE9 website come with the new Bing Bar pre-installed. (Atleast mine did, oddly enough) It can be uninstalled IF you MANUALLY download & install the Bing Bar on-top of the already bundled Toolbar... then simply Uninstall it through the CP.

Interesting. I've just built my system and Windows 7 came bundled with IE8 and sure enough the right hand search bar was there!! To be honest this search bar has always irritated me since it was rolled out! and so i attempted to remove it....to no avail! I actually think it impossible to remove the seach bar from IE8 on Windows 7 Premium, becuase the only way of removing the search bar is through the UAC console, which i beleive can only be run in Windows 7 Professional & Ultimate!? I spent the whole week searching the net and not one solution!! So out of frustration i just decided to upgrade to IE9 and without even realising it, this solved my problem, no sign of a toolbar! I upgraded directly through Microsoft's website and it's by far the best broswer i've ever used. It's strange you've got the toolbar and i have'nt, but i'm glad i have'nt and i hope it stays that way, im sure i dowloaded the lastest upgrade when i installed the browser, but there's no sign of any search bar

Well, Microsoft made a smart move by making the Address Bar an Address Bar + Search Box (All-in-one)

About my bundled Bing Bar: Honestly, I don't mind it. Quick notifications for the websites I visit hourly, 5-day forecast, local theater information, all right from the toolbar (no new tabs or windows).

On IE8 & Firefox, the Bing Bar drastically slowed the browsers, but with IE9, I've noticed no speed reduction. Seems to be integrated quite well with Microsofts new GECKO heaven. :P

I had the same problem. Every new tab in FireFox defaulted to the Bing search engine. I tried all the stuff mentioned in different forums. Nothing worked. I finally went to c:\program files (x86)\ and searched for "startnow". Several things came up. One was the uninstaller for the "StartNow" toolbar. It's gone.

This fix is for Windows 7 (64-bit). May be the same for c:\program files\ in 32-bit OSes.

It took me ages and many seraches to no avail. So I 'experimented' and I 'fudged' it I was so surprised!

First I was able to uninstall bing via Add/Remove Programs, BUT bing remained as one of the 'search providers' with IE. Like a virus!

So I disabled Bing in IE but still it wouldn't go away.

Then I 'donwloaded' and installed Wikipedia, Wikipedia was already part of IE 8 (64-bit) in my HP version of Windows 7, but I was unable to remove Bing until I actually went through the Install process for Wiki. I guess the install process made changes to the registry which had an impact on what I was able to remove in IE, in this case bing?

I went back into IE and selected Wiki as my default search provider, and was then able to delete Bing in the Seach Providers section of the Add-on's.

I tested that it worked for sure by shutting my machine down and then restarting. And found bing is really gone. It's out of my life. I couldnt belive it. Crazy bing. If Microsoft thinks this is a sure way to ensure users will learn about bing and then will actually choose it over Google or FireFox or some other search engine, then they're going about the wrong way. It's turning people away from the idea altogether, even if they were thinking of giving bing a go. No one wants it back once they get rid of it. It's likely a virus. Unbelieveable.

I hope this may work for some other poor soul out there.

Through my travels I have come to suspect that the reason so many users are finding the solution/s for the bing-thing to be varied is perhaps because of the 'type' of Windows they pruchase. Eg my notebook is a HP Pavilion-dv7 and it came with it's own version of Windows. Purchasing Windows outright, or with a specific brand of computer means that the way in which windows is loaded is varied, and has diffrent types of drivers, bloatware and apps bundled with it. So, the removal, or disabling of bing works diffrently for different users? I have no proof as such, its just that I have found a certain pattern in reading people's posts.