How do I change the search provider in the taskbar address toolbar?

Somehow the search provider in the Windows 7 taskbar address toolbar has changed from Google to Yahoo. I would like to change it back but I have no idea how. I am using IE8 and the search provider there is Google; Yahoo is not even listed; yet the taskbar address toolbar always uses Yahoo ... Where is the setting I need to change?

Change or choose a search provider in Internet Explorer

<http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-or-choose-a-search-provider-in-Internet-Explorer>

Regards....Mike Connor

And an in house tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/119522-internet-explorer-search-providers-add-remove.html

I specifically asked how to change the search provider in the taskbar address toolbar, not in IE itself. These are not the same thing. Both above answers therefore, however well intentioned, addressed the wrong question. However, in the interim it occurred to me to seach the registry for 'Yahoo', and as a result of this and other research I am now in the position to answer my own question. Go to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DeviceVM\Browser Configuration Utility\IE. Change the AddressBarSearchName to Google and the AddressBarSearchURL to "{searchTerms} - Google Search=" (minus the quotes). And there you have it.

Solution

Sorry, the above post got garbled. Change the AddressBarSearchURL to

"http://www.google.com/search?q={searchTerms}&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&ie=&oe[/URL]=" minus the quotes.

Why go to all that fuss and take a chance on messing up the Registry. Just click on the down arrow head to the right of the search box and choose the search engine you want. See screenshot:



If you click on Manage Search providers you can go on line and find dozens of add on search engines.

mitchell65 said:

Why go to all that fuss and take a chance on messing up the Registry. Just click on the down arrow head to the right of the search box and choose the search engine you want. See screenshot:

View attachment 129994

If you click on Manage Search providers you can go on line and find dozens of add on search engines.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking he's talking about this?

Yes, he means the OS Taskbar, not the IE taskbar;



The reference to IE8 threw me off completely.

Regards....Mike Connor

Oh Dear Please see my signature (The text) Applies to me lot!!!!

Using this as a "search" box can have unwanted side effects. When newly initialised ( Toolbar enabled), and something without a defined prefix is entered it will jump to BING in your default browser and display the search for whatever you entered.

For more information;

Windows 7 : Using Any Search Engine from the Address Bar - Microsoft Certification Examples, exercises, practises, tutorials, solutions about Windows

<http://mscerts.net/windows/Windows%207%20%20%20Using%20Any%20Search%20Engine%20from%20the%20Address%20Bar.aspx>

If you type in "msconfig" it will start msconfig. It will recognise all the "Run" commands, and with the right prefix, ( or default ) it will jump to your default browser and display the search.

Regards....Mike Connor

Yes I do mean Address toolbar in the OS taskbar; and the down arrow to the right of it leads to a list of past search queries, not to a list of search providers.
Does anybody know a legit way of changing search providers for the address toolbar? I am in this situation because one of the utilities \ drivers whatever I installed for my new motherboard changed it to Yahoo. There must be a way to change it back ...

walterono said:

Somehow the search provider in the Windows 7 taskbar address toolbar has changed from Google to Yahoo. I would like to change it back but I have no idea how. I am using IE8 and the search provider there is Google; Yahoo is not even listed; yet the taskbar address toolbar always uses Yahoo ... Where is the setting I need to change?

Click to expand...

Did you install a yahoo toolbar?

if the following program is installed on your computer

*** ' Browser Configuration Utility ' (DeviceVM) ***
This program hijacks Internet Explorer Address Bar search settings and redirects via a custom search URL that dumps ads with the search results.
( see this image )

For more info click here .

good luck,
OT

I use ExpatShield--and I love it--but I missed a config option during install which allowed the VPN client to hijack my Windows 7 Taskbar Address Tool. Nothing could shake it--uninstall, reinstall, adware hunters, even Revo. My search terms continued to be referred to a private search page...


...which would typically yield no results, and the query would be redirected to Bing. I'm happy for AnchorFree to be incentivised for the traffic--and Bing is a perfectly competent search engine--but after so many years, I'm just better at extracting information from Google's SERP.

mitchell65 said:

Why go to all that fuss and take a chance on messing up the Registry.

Click to expand...

The only inconvenience digging around in the registry is all the safeguards and protections you are well-advised to take. As long as you set a Restore Point (Start > Computer Right-Click > Properties > System Protection > Create Restore Point), you should be fine, but I always take a screencap before and after--and save it to an external drive, in case C:/ becomes difficult to access.

Regedit is easy to use and it can search the registry with surprising speed. I entered a fragment of the query string described above, and was soon presented with the offending registry entries to edit (or eliminate):



I just wanted to restore Google Search, so I overwrote the private search string with: