Question I followed the Tom's HW guide to remove internet results from the W11 taskbar search, but it's still searching the web

[euphoria4949]

I followed this guide on how to remove internet results from the W11 search. I have restarted and used CMD to kill explorer and then run it again, but I'm still getting search internet search results.
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/disable-windows-web-search

So I'm wondering if the guide is out of date and Microsoft has patched it? Is there another way to disable it?
Thank you

 

[Lutfij]

So I'm wondering if the guide is out of date and Microsoft has patched it?
Out of curiosity, what version(not edition) of Windows 11 are you on?

Is there another way to disable it?
Give this a whirl as well;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_xd3jg4evE

 

[euphoria4949]

Hi. It's a fresh install on a new rig, so it's version 24H2, build 26100.3775

 

[euphoria4949]

Give this a whirl as well;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_xd3jg4evE

Sadly, this doesn't work as when I search for “gpedit” it only shows me web results. There is apparently nothing on my system called gpedit.
I tried searching other things, Edit group policy, policy editor... Nothing shows

 

[Ralston18]

Use "WIN" + "I" to open System (Home)

Then Privacy & Security > "Search Permissions".

You may be able to apply further controls or change settings to limit searches.

 

[euphoria4949]

Thank you. I did already have the "Content suggestions" disabled, So I don't see all of the random news articles and celebrity birthdays when I open the start menu. But if I search the name of a movie I have in my media drive, it's linking me to the fricking imdb page and posting a dozen Bing results about the movie before linking me to the .mkv file on the PC.

 

[thestryker]

Everything I've seen indicates this method should still work, but Microsoft did some permissions shifting in 24H2 on Home editions.

You could try this one as well, but I'm not sure how much difference it would make: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/...to_remove_bing_search_from_start_menu_search/

 

[Ralston18]

Registry edits are a last resort and should only be attempted after a full system backup including the registry itself.

= = = =

My question is about the media drive: Are the movie files named by movie title?

Very likely you can simply search the media drive directly in some manner.

A simple shortcut to the drive or perhaps a bit of code or script.

I tend to favor Powershell for such purposes. Very straightforward .

No need for a browser at all.

FYI:

https://www.pdq.com/blog/using-get-childitem-find-files/

Does not require much to use a wild card value to start the movie search with just part of a file name.

In any case, provide a few more details about the media drive and the folders, sub-folders, and filenames being searched.

Likely that there are other ways to find the desired movie file and even begin watching it.

 

[euphoria4949]

Everything I've seen indicates this method should still work, but Microsoft did some permissions shifting in 24H2 on Home editions.

You could try this one as well, but I'm not sure how much difference it would make: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/...to_remove_bing_search_from_start_menu_search/

Thank you thank you, after trying a few different ways from tutorials I found this one worked, I no longer have stupid Bing search results above proper results of things that actually exist on my PC.

My question is about the media drive: Are the movie files named by movie title?

Very likely you can simply search the media drive directly in some manner.

A simple shortcut to the drive or perhaps a bit of code or script.

It's OK, I do have shortcuts and links to the media files, I just used that movie as an example.

I just really cannot get my head around the decision to prioritise Bing search results. I guess it's about traffic on their site and ad revenue.

Thank you everyone for your help, greatly appreciate it.