How To Remove Bing From Internet Explorer 11

As we all know, Bing was designed by Microsoft to Rick Roll Internet Explorer users. You go to browse the internet or try to do a search then suddenly WHAM! You’ve been Bing’d.

This article shows you how to remove Bing from Internet Explorer 11. Bing appears in two places in IE 11 and must be removed from both before internet browsing can be performed without frustration.

How To Remove Bing From New Tabs

Firstly you have to remove Bing from opening when you open a new tab in IE. To do this, click the cog icon in the top right of IE 11 (they actually got rid of named icons to make it harder for IE 11 users to tell each other how to remove Bing). Next click Internet Options, then the Tabs button. Select Your first home page from the dropdown box under When a new tab is opened, before clicking OK. Next make your homepage something other than Bing (I would suggest Google, as it allows you to search the internet). Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog box.

Bing will now, no longer attempt to lure you into doing what it calls Microsoft’s version of a Google search, you when you open a new tab. Unfortunately your home will not yet be rid of would-be internet users screams of “Argh! I got Bing’d!” until you remove the Bing search from the address bar, which leads us to step 2:

How to Remove Bing from Address Bar Searching

To remove Bing from the address bar search, click the cog in the top right of IE 11 then click Manage Add-ons, then click Search Providers. From here you will see that IE 11 has mistakenly listed Bing as a search provider. Before you can remove it, you’ll have to add another one then make that the default search provider. To do this, click “Find more search providers…”, which is a button that’s not deliberately easy to find – I’ll give you a clue: it looks like a but of informative text, rather than a button, and is located at the bottom of the window (nicely out the way of people looking to change their search provider). This “button” will then cause an unexpected bit of behaviour designed to trick seasoned computer users (because these are the only users who are likely to be able to get this far, right?) by presenting them with an IE popup full of what looks like adverts. Fortunately for you, you will know to expect this and will be prepared to resist the urge to close the intrusive, spammy looking popup. For it is on this page, that you will be able to add a seearch provider that will enable you to remove Bing from the address bar search. To do this… No wait… Let me first congratulate you for getting this far, you truely are a crusader of the freedom of information! Give yourself a pat on the back. Next you need to use the search box to find a search provider (I suggest Google). Your search will return a number of search providers, including one that aludes to malicious behaviour from Google (the Stop Google Tracking add-on, which appears in bright purple to make it stand out). Don’t be distracted by this or the low star-rating that the 2110 Microsoft Employees (?) have given the Google search provider to discredit it. Click to add Google Search to your address bar, then click “Add to Internet Explorer” again because the first time you click it, it doesn’t add it, but instead takes you to the page to add it (with the same button to add it) – confusing, I know.

The good news is that at this stage you are now ready to remove Bing from the address bar search! In the Manage Add-ons dialog box, under Search Providers you will now see the search provider you added as well as Bing (so that’s 1 search provider in total, just to clarify). Right click the one you added and click Set as default. Next right click Bing and click Remove. Now you can relax, it’s gone now. You have successfully removed Bing!

Certainly all those settings should have been listed under Internet Options, but remember that Microsoft punishes the lazy and believes that only the most ardent of internet users should be allowed to search the internet. To this end, be persistant and you will be rewarded. Share this knowledge with all the people that you meet and all that care about the freedom to be allowed to search the internet without suffering the humiliation and frustration of getting Bing’d.