• icedterminal@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Disable Bing in the search box on your personal computer. If you’re performing searches on your desktop, even if you don’t select a web search, it’s still being sent to Microsoft and stored.

    • Pyro@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 months ago

      Just did that now, but unfortunately it still “corrects” the query.

      As an aside, I’d like to completely remove Edge too, but no matter what I’ve tried I just can’t seem to get it leave me alone. Any suggestions?

      • icedterminal@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I personally just nuke it. Since there’s no official way to uninstall. Delete the entire contents of the Edge directory.

        remove-item -path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge" -recurse -force
        

        Recreate it.

        new-item -type "directory" -path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge"
        

        Take ownership.

        takeown /f "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge" /a /r
        

        Strip all current permissions.

        icacls "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge" /inheritance:r /q 
        

        Deny everyone.

        icacls "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge" /t /deny "Users:(OI)(CI)F" "Everyone:(OI)(CI)F" "NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller:(OI)(CI)F" "SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F" /q
        

        This process effectively breaks the ability for the Edge Update utility to install/update the Edge browser. This is intended so you never see it again. The shortcut can be deleted at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. Thankfully, Edge is not hard coded into the shell so it will disappear. I’ve never had it come back or experienced any ill side effects. There are left over registry entries but they are harmless and don’t cause problems. File associations can be overridden with your own choices. Do not remove Edge WebView as it is a system and third party app dependency.