Default OS Search Engine (not browser)

Hi all,

I've done a fair bit of searching on this site and others and cannot find any mention of how to change the search engine used by the OS from Bing to anything else. This is the search engine used when you, for example, right click on a process name in task manager and select "search online". I have disabled searching online from the search box, and use Duck Duck Go in Firefox, so no issues there.

My apologies if this has been discussed before, but I even searched through the tutorial list to see if I could find any hints.

thanks,

mikehd

Windows 10 Version 1909

W10 Tweaker said:

Hi mikehd, welcome to Ten Forums.

Checkout this info;

Foxtana Pro - Redirect Cortana – Get this Extension for �� Firefox (en-US)

Search results for "Bing to Google " – Add-ons for Firefox (en-US)

This has info to redirect Edge to your default browser and also redirect bing to your preferred search engine. I use Chrometana and Edge deflector with Vivaldi to accomplish the same function and it works flawlessly.

FYI, with those additions to Vivaldi I'm able to use the Cortana web search option with my choice of browser and search engine. I believe the link above has the info to do the same with Firefox. This also works for context menu search. Is this what you're looking for?

I installed Foxtana Pro and... it works. Never would have guessed that would be a solution. Thanks.

mikehd said:

I installed Foxtana Pro and... it works. Never would have guessed that would be a solution. Thanks.

You're very welcome, I'm glad to hear it helped make your PC function more to your satisfaction. Default browsers & search engines should be a personal choice.

mikehd said:

Hi all,
I have disabled searching online from the search box, and use Duck Duck Go in Firefox, so no issues there.

I switched to Duck Duck Go after getting ads from Google for Canada when my VPN was set to the U.S. and localization was turned off. Google's motto is Do Evil. They have a slew of ways of spying on you through wifi, even with a VPN. I have even added the nomap parameter on my wifi but Google still manages to know where you are despite the fact you don't want your localization to be shared. Unbelievable.

Thanks but you missed the point i was trying to make. I can set my IP to Australia and set my wifi to nomap in my router and not even be signed in to Google , no GPS, and it will still serve some ads for my true location in Canada. And with localization turned off in FF. Thats true evil.

W10 Tweaker said:

Hi mikehd, welcome to Ten Forums.

Checkout this info;

Foxtana Pro - Redirect Cortana – Get this Extension for �� Firefox (en-US)

Search results for "Bing to Google " – Add-ons for Firefox (en-US)

This has info to redirect Edge to your choice of a default browser and also redirect bing to your preferred search engine. I use Chrometana and Edge deflector with Vivaldi to accomplish the same function and it works flawlessly.

FYI, with those additions to Vivaldi I'm able to use the Cortana web search option with my choice of browser and search engine. I believe the link above has the info to do the same with Firefox. This also works for context menu search. Is this what you're looking for?

WAIT!
Before you use this extension please note that this extension uses the underlying engine founds in 'EdgeDeflector'. EdgeDeflector is very powerful and you do not need the overhead of a browser interface of Foxtana Pro that is too simple but not as powerful. A user in this list posted this comment for Foxtana Pro and they are correct!

by Miguel Garza, 2 months ago
I have mixed feelings about this extension: I like that it showed me I could redirect Cortana to Firefox. But, Cortana's searches already show results within its search window, so if you want to click on a specific result there and go directly to it, you actually have to install EdgeDeflector (as noted in the welcome page for Foxtana Pro) and then *disable Foxtana Pro*--because Foxtana Pro will not allow skipping directly to the specific result clicked on in Cortana. I have a problem with this extension because it doesn't explain this anywhere. I suspect a lot of users will actually find EdgeDeflector by itself a lot more useful than Foxtana Pro. I'm pretty sure I will; I just figured this feature out by accident right now and I doubt I'm going to re-enable Foxtana Pro.

Here is the direct link to Edge Deflector on Githhub.
Release EdgeDeflector version 1.1.3.0 . da2x/EdgeDeflector . GitHub

Here is how to Troubleshoot it in case it does not work. Please make sure you follow the 2nd and 3rd bullet points as they are crucial for it to work correctly from the Windows 10 search bar. The 4th bullet point has been changed in Edge since this page was written so the path in Edge's 'advanced' setting is not as specific as it shows here but nonetheless...
Troubleshooting . da2x/EdgeDeflector Wiki . GitHub

Great information from the author of this BRILLIANT extension.
Lessons learned maintaining EdgeDeflector for Windows 10 | Ctrl blog

This is the only extension that is free that works by redirecting the Windows 10 Search bar (Cortana) to Firefox instead of Edge (or any other browser of your preference).

There is also a $1.99 extension on the Microsoft Store that does similar but I have not tested this one so you can feel free to try and let us know if you are curious. I do not think these are the same software engineers either.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/se...ot:overviewtab

YOU'RE WELCOME!