If you have made the upgrade to Windows 8.1 Preview, you may well have noticed that Bing results have started to creep into your searches. It is possible that these are not entirely relevant to what you were looking for, and if you’re only trying to perform a local search, such as results are pointless. You’ll be pleased to hear that they can be disabled.
Bing is now fully integrated into Windows 8.1 searching so when you perform a search for anything — including the name of files on your hard drive — you will also be shown links to related Bing searches.
It may well be the case that you would rather head to your web browser to perform online searches, and like the idea of avoiding advertisements when they are implemented. We’ve all become used to the idea of online ads, but now they have made their way to the desktop and this is a slightly different story.
To prevent Bing results from appearing in your searches, call up the Charms bar by pressing the Windows key and I, or by moving the mouse to the top or bottom right of the screen and then moving it up or down towards the centre. Click the Settings link followed by Change PC Settings.
Click the Search & apps link to the left of the screen and then make sure that Search is selected.
In the Use Bing to search online section to the right of the screen, select the Off option beneath the Get search suggestions and web results from Bing heading.
Close the settings screen by dragging the window down from the top of the screen. That’s all there is to it!