Out Damn Search Highlights
I guess they think you are a child
On January 28 2023, users of Windows 11 booted up to find an annoyance
from Windows 10 had shown up on their taskbar. A
cute? little bonnet and top hat image is
now displayed in the Search box. For the record, this little
annoying image is a reminder that Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice was published in this date in
1813. Someone with a very infantile mindset must have thought this
one up. For the better part of last year, I was turning this off
Windows 10 installations by simply clicking the taskbar, and then
clicking off Search Highlights. But this is Windows 11, so more clicking
is required to remove this eyesore.
When you click the Search
Box, a new Windows Screen will open like below. Yes, that is a
live menu on the left with many useful shortcuts. What is the main
theme will change with the date. To turn off Search Highlights,
and to take more granular control of what happens with your own Windows
Search:
click
→ The 3
Dot Control
→ Search Settings.
The Search Permissions Menu page will open. To simply turn off Search Highlights, scroll down and click the control to off.
That will remove the silly Search Highlights cartoon icon du jour, as shown below. And, le voilà, the annoying cartoon icon is gone, and "Everything's back to Norman," as Chuckie liked to say.
Of course, like most Windows 11 settings page, users have much greater granular control of their searches. Myself, since I develop webpages, and therefore constantly clearing my cache of stored up crap. I don't have much stored up to clear. Your mileage, however, may vary. If you may wish to clear your Search History, that can be accomplished from this menu.
Cause I've been searchin'
Oooh, Lord, searchin', mm child
Searchin' every which a-way
Yeah, yeah
But I'm like the
Northwest Mounties
You know I'll bring her in some day
(Gonna
find her)
(Gonna find her)
— Searchin', Jerry Leiber, Mike
Stoller, (The Coasters)