How to Remove Bing from your computer

Run Windows Defender

Open Start. Click on the windows icon located in the lower left corner of the taskbar or press the key ⊞ Winto open the Start menu.

Scroll down and click Windows Defender . Windows' built-in antivirus software, Windows Defender, will open.

Click the Update tab and click Update definitions . The list of detected viruses and malware will be updated to facilitate virus scanning.

Click the Home tab and the Full scan option .

Click Scan now . Windows Defender will begin scanning your computer for malware. Depending on the machine, this process may take 3 to 4 hours.

Remove any threats found. When any threats are found:

Click the History tab .

Click Quarantined items .

Click View details .

Click Remove all .

Uninstall the Bing software

Open Start . Click on the windows icon located in the lower left corner of the taskbar or press the key ⊞ Winto open the Start menu.

Press (Setup). It's the wheel icon on the left side of the Start menu.

Click Apps .

Look for unusual software and toolbars. Find suspicious software in the list and sort the list by installation date to detect newly installed software (this is useful if the problem happened recently). Be aware of any software that includes the words "search", "web" or "toolbar". Be careful with the following software, because they are known as part of Bing:

Babylon

Bing Bar

Bing.Vc

Bing Protect

Conduit

Search Module

Search Protect

Select the software you want to remove and click Uninstall . Follow the instructions to remove the software. Repeat this process for any suspicious software you want to remove from your computer.

Remove Bing from Windows Search (Windows Search)

Open Start . Click on the window icon located at the bottom right of the taskbar or press the key ⊞ Winto open the Start menu.

Click the Cortana button on the taskbar. It's the small blue circle near the Start menu's Search field.

Click on the gear icon located on the left side of the Search window.

Switch "Search online and include web results" to OFF. Then, Windows search will not return Bing search results.

Check browser shortcuts

Go to the shortcut you use to open your web browser. It can be any button that you use to open your browser every time you want to surf the web, such as the Google Chrome button on the taskbar or the Firefox link on your desktop.

Right click on the shortcut. A menu will appear.

Click Properties . It's at the bottom of the menu.

If you don't see the "Properties" option and just see a different icon for your browser, right-click the new browser icon first, then tap "Properties."

Check the Target text box . Here comes the full address of your web browser. It starts with something like "C:/Program Files/." and ends with ".exe". This address must end here. Look and check to see if any links or URLs appear after that.

Remove any added URLs or command lines. If you detect any additional URLs or command lines after the ".exe" section in the Target text box, highlight and delete them. It can be anything with a hyphen (such as "--") followed by some keyword.

Repeat this process for other browsers on your computer. Even if you don't use it often, check any browser shortcuts for URLs or added command lines that navigate the home page of a browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

Remove from Google Chrome

Go to https://www.google.com/chrome/cleanup-tool (cleanup tool) in Chrome browser.

Click Download Now . A window will be opened.

Click Accept and Download . Chrome Cleanup Tool for Windows will be downloaded.

You may have to select a location to save the downloaded file and click Save first.

Run Chrome Cleanup Tool. Double-click the downloaded file and select YES when asked if you want to run it.

Follow instructions. Chrome will be cleaned and restarted when finished.

You may still need to manually reset Chrome's homepage.

Remove from Firefox

Open Firefox.

Click ☰ . It's located in the upper right corner of the Firefox window.

Click the ? . It's a small circular icon with a question mark in the center and is at the bottom of the drop-down menu.

Click Troubleshooting Information . This is the option near the middle of the drop-down list.

Click Refresh Firefox . It's located at the top right of the troubleshooting page.

Click Refresh Firefox again to confirm. Firefox will load and restart.

If the problem is still not resolved, repeat this process but select Restart with Add-ons Disabled. If at this point, the problem is resolved, you will have to remove all additional software on Firefox.

Change home page on Firefox . To do so:

Press ☰.

Press Options on PC or Preferences on Mac.

Type in the new Home URL or click Restore to Default.

Remove from Internet Explorer

Open Internet Explorer.

Tap the gear icon. This icon is located on the top left side of the browser window.

Click Internet Options .

Select the Advanced tab .

Click Reset .

Click Reset again to confirm.

Select Close then press OK .

Restart the computer. All changes and default settings will take effect.

You may still have to change Internet Explorer's home page yourself.

Kareem Winters

Update 25 October 2023