How to Remove Little Icons from the Search Bar in Windows 11 or 10?

You may have noticed a new and ever-changing little icon in the Windows 10 Taskbar Search Box and on Windows 11 Start Menu and the Search menu. That new feature is known as Search Highlights.

This Search Highlights integrates with each search bar and keeps rotating a set of icons on the right-hand side of the search bar. Depending on the day, you will find a specific icon on the search bar.

In addition to the icon in the search box, the “Search Highlights” feature also pulls “highlighted” content into the search menu on Windows 11 and 10. These highlights may include news, trending stories, a little word of the day, a quote of the day, and a trending search tile.

Fortunately, Microsoft has provided the option to hide this feature if you don’t like it.

In this gearupwindows article, we will guide you on removing icons from the Search Bar in Windows 11 and 10.

How to Remove Little Icons from the Search Bar in Windows 11?

To remove or hide the icons from the Search bar in Windows 11, use these steps:-

Step 1. Open Windows 11 Settings.

To do that, you can use the Windows + I hotkey. Or, right-click on the Windows logo on the taskbar and select Settings in the menu.

Step 2. In the Settings window, select Privacy & security in the left side.

Step 3. On the right side, select the Search permissions tile.

Step 4. Then, scroll down to the “More settings” section and turn Off the toggle switch that says Show search highlights.

When you turn off Show search highlights, Windows 11 will immediately stop displaying icons in the Search bar.

How to Remove Icons from the Search Bar in Windows 10?

To remove or hide icons from the Search bar in Windows 10, right-click on the free space on the taskbar and select Search. Then uncheck Show search highlights to remove icons.

How to Remove Bing Image from Search Bar on Windows 11 or 10 using Registry Editor?

To hide Bing image from Search by tweaking the Registry Editor, do these steps:-

Step 1. Open Registry Editor.

Step 2. Then, navigate or browse to the following path in the left sidebar:-

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SearchSettings

Step 3. Now, right-click on the SearchSettings folder in the left sidebar and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Step 4. Name the newly created REG_DWORD as IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled.

Step 5. Next, double-click on the IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled REG_DWORD and set its “Value data” to 0.

Step 6. Click OK.

Step 7. Finally, reboot your computer to apply the changes.

Once you complete the above steps, Bing’s image will not appear in the search bar.

To enable Bing’s image in the search bar/box, repeat the above steps and in step 4, double-click on the IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled REG_DWORD and set its “Value data” to 1.

How to Disable Little Bing Image from Search Bar on Windows 11 or 10 using Group Policy Editor?

To hide the Bing image from the Search bar on Windows 11 or 10 using Group Policy Editor, do these steps:-

Step 1. Open Local Group Policy Editor.

Step 2. Then, navigate to the following path in the left sidebar of Local Group Policy Editor:-

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search

Step 3. On the right side of the “Search” folder, double-click on the policy name Allow search highlights.

Step 4. Select Enabled.

Step 5. Click Apply.

Step 6. Click OK.

Step 7. At last, reboot your computer to apply the changes.

Once you complete the above steps, a little Bing image in the Search box/bar will hide.

To revert the changes, repeat the above steps, and in step 4, select the Not Configured or Enabled option.