How to Remove Annoying Icons from Windows 10 Search Bar
You may have noticed a new, ever-changing little icon in the Windows 10 taskbar search box. It's a "search highlight." Here's what it is and how to get rid of it.
Why is there a small icon in the Windows search bar?
The icon is part of a new feature rolling out to Windows 10 and Windows 11 as part of an April 2022 update.
The particular feature is called "Search Highlights" and incorporates a rotating set of icons into the right side of the toolbar's search bar. Depending on the day, icons are specific – like the one seen above with a putting green and golf ball to celebrate the US Open golf tournament – or more generic entries on less notable days with suggested backgrounds like pictures of US national parks or others.
In addition to placing the icon in the Windows 10 search box, the "Search Highlights" feature also places "highlighted" content in the Windows 10 and Windows 11 search menu. Highlights include news, trending stories, a small word day and quote of the day tiles (presumably rolled out on slow news days), as well as a trending research tile as shown above.
If you like Microsoft's offer to mimic a sort of Google-style daily doodle combined with a little news aggregator in your search menu, you can, of course, leave things as they are.
But if you've had a less than positive reaction to the change – and hey, we certainly understand that – it's thankfully very simple to turn off.
How to remove icon from windows search box
In Windows 10, right-click anywhere on your task to bring up the menu, select "Search," then uncheck "Show search highlights" to get rid of those icons.
Although there is no search box (and therefore no new icon) on Windows 11, you can still turn off highlights in the search menu. Just open the Settings app, then go to Privacy and security > Search permissions > More settings. In the More Settings section, simply turn off "Show search highlights".
That's it! With this simple change, there will no longer be icons in the search bar or news in the search menu.
However, Windows 10 is still full of ads. You may also wish to opt out of these advertisements.
