By default, Windows 10 performs an online search for everything you type in the search box of the taskbar. But the default search engine is Bing and the end user cannot change it easily. Mozilla added a nifty option to its Firefox browser which can override the Bing search engine in the taskbar and set any desired search engine for the taskbar. In this article, we will see how to set Google as the default search in the Windows 10 taskbar with the help of Firefox.
In Firefox Nightly, Mozilla developers added a special feature which allows it to handle search queries from the Windows 10 taskbar. This is very useful, as it is possible to use any search engine instead of Bing.
Using the option provided by Firefox, you can set Google as the default search in the Windows 10 taskbar.
First, you need to get Firefox Nightly from its official site. Alternatively, see how to run different Firefox versions simultaneously.
Now, do the following:
- Open Firefox Nightly. Open Preferences.
- In its Preferences, select Search on the left.
- Select the desired search engine which you want to use in the Windows 10 taskbar instead of Bing.
- Tick the checkbox Use this search engine for searches from Windows.
You are done. This unique option of the Firefox browser make it very attractive for Windows 10 users. If you do not like how Windows 10 performs an online search from the taskbar, you can disable it. See how to disable web search in the Windows 10 taskbar.
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So how long until we can change it without having to go through a browser to do it? I just want to change it to startpage.com but I don’t want to have to install a browser to do so.. Is there a registry key group policy one can edit to change it? I mean, FireFox must change it somehow, but the question is how and if that method could be used without having to use a browser for it..
I found no trick to get it working without Firefox.
This is a bit sad.
Hmm, apparently the web search in Windows 10 is simply showing a button and if you click it then it’ll search what you typed into Windows Search in bing opened in your default browser, so this essentially seems like if you set FireFox as your default browser then Windows will open the links in FireFox (still for bing) and then if the option in question here is enabled then FireFox seems to simply convert it (?)
What I mean is, it doesn’t really change search results in Windows Search, it simply changes which link it opens when clicking the “Search web” button…
I thought Windows Search actually showed web results rather than just a button… That seems like a useless feature to me to be honest, disabled it.
To be honest, I keep web search disabled in Cortana
Oh, Cortana isn’t even available for me so it’s disabled. I meant the WinKey > Type something search thingie… unless it’s the same thing… Either way both would be disabled.
They are just sniffing the command line used to start the default browser and if it is bing they change it: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1177237
Can we uninstall Nightly after that ?
I don’t think so.