How to Get Rid of Bing

Want a different search tool in your browser? No problem

Illustration by Lifewire
by Joli Ballew
Updated July 20, 2018

Bing automatically installs itself as the default search engine in all Windows browsers. You can remove Bing and use something else instead, like Google, Yahoo!, or Duck Duck Go if you'd like. You can do the same in Firefox or Chrome. Changing the search engine as noted in this article doesn’t technically uninstall Bing, though; it simply allows you to stop using it. There's no way to fully uninstall Bing.

Which Search Engine Do You Prefer?

Before you can remove Bing from any computer or replace Bing with something else in any web browser, you must first decide what search engine you’d like to use in its place. Google search is very popular, but there are others.

Some web browsers require you to navigate to the desired search engine’s web page so that the search engine associated with it can be “discovered” before you can make the switch, though. Although not all web browsers will discover all search engines, and not all will require you to navigate to them first, for the sake of covering all angles, go ahead and perform this step first, not matter what browser you’re using.

To locate a search engine and have your web browser discover it:

  1. Open the browser you’d like to use.
  2. In the Address bar type the applicable web site name and navigate there:
    1. www.google.com
    2. www.yahoo.com
    3. www.duckduckgo.com
    4. www.twitter.com
    5. www.wikipedia.org
  3. Skip to the section that matches the web browser you’re using to continue.

How to Remove Bing in Edge

To remove Bing from the Edge web browser, in Edge:

  1. Click the three ellipses in the upper right corner.
  2. Click View Advanced Settings.
  3. Click Change Search Engine.
  4. Click Set as Default.

How to Replace Bing in Internet Explorer

To remove Bing from the Internet Explorer (IE) web browser, in IE:

  1. Click the Settings icon and click Manage Add-Ons.
  2. Click Search Providers.
  3. At the bottom of the Manage Add-Ons window, click Find more search providers.
  4. Choose the desired search provider. There aren’t many options, but Google Search is available.
  5. Click Add, and click Add again.
  6. In the Manage Add-Ons window, click Close.
  7. Click the Settings cog and click Manage Add-Ons again.
  8. Click Search Providers.
  9. Click the search provider you added in Step 4.
  10. Click Set as Default.
  11. Click Close.

How to Switch from Bing to Another Search Engine in Firefox

If you’ve previously set Bing to be the default search provider in Firefox, you can change it. To replace Bing as your search engine, in Firefox:

  1. Navigate to the search engine to use, as noted in the previous section.
  2. Click the three horizontal lines in the top right corner and click Options.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Click the arrow by the listed search engine and then select the one you’d like to use.
  5. You do not need to click Save or Close.

How to Replace Bing in Chrome

If you’ve previously set Bing to be the default search provider in Chrome, you can change it. To remove Bing from the Chrome web browser, in Chrome:

  1. Navigate to the search engine to use, as noted in the previous section.
  2. Click the three horizontal dots in the top right corner of the browser window.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Click the arrow by the current default search engine.
  5. Click the search engine to use.
  6. You do not need to click Save or Close.