Is there a way to turn off search engines altogether in Edge?

Is there a way to turn off search engines altogether in Edge?

(But leave search engines working in the other web browsers.)

On 01/26/2018 08:36 AM, Harold Newton wrote:
Is there a way to turn off search engines altogether in Edge?

(But leave search engines working in the other web browsers.)

Do you mean disable searching from the address bar. I never wanted that
"feature".

For example:

I want to go to site: grc.com (this is a URL NOT a search)

A typing error makes it: grc.cok (look at your keyboard, k is next to m).

That should be easy to fix, just change the last character in the
address bar, but the stupid "feature" has turned it into a long string
of garbage like:

http://www.unwanted_site.tld?search=...=34Dfg_pop p5

Fixing THAT is a lot more work than editing the character at the end.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"If God dropped acid, would he see people?" [Steven Wright]

On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 09:58:29 -0600, Mark Lloyd wrote:

Is there a way to turn off search engines altogether in Edge?

(But leave search engines working in the other web browsers.)

Do you mean disable searching from the address bar. I never wanted that
"feature".

Well, that's an interesting take on the question, as I did mean turning off
all searches permanently from Edge, as a hosts file would do, for example,
but allowing all other browsers to work.

I use Edge for only one thing, and that's it - where that one thing
requires a google log in - so I don't want ANYTHING else to ever occur with
that Edge browser.

Manually, I just use *other* browsers to do other things (like searches),
particularly other browsers set up to non-google search engines (e.g.,
DDG).

But once in a while ... I forget. So, I accidentally paste in a URL into
Edge that, as you've seen, becomes a search (Edge basically makes every URL
a search anyway).

So I just want Edge to never go anywhere but one web site (gmail) and
that's it. Nothing else ever again. Other browsers can go elsewhere, but
not Edge (since it's logged into Google).

You can ask WHY I picked Edge for Gmail, and that's because it's the
crappiest browser I have, and Gmail is the crappiest site I go to for
privacy reasons (aka there is no privacy), so I picked the worst browser
for the one worst task (bearing in mind that I'm always on VPN and Gmail
*hates* VPN like you can't believe - but they love when you have *cookies*
set and you use the *same* browser - so they give you a reprieve).

In the end, I just want Edge to be restricted to one web site and one web
site only.

NOTE: I can use a mail user agent for Gmail, but Gmail *hates* VPN even
more when you use a MUA than when you use the *same* browser that Gmail has
already logged a billion times.

On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 16:35:35 +0000 (UTC), Harold Newton
wrote:



You can ask WHY I picked Edge for Gmail, and that's because it's the
crappiest browser I have,



I agree.



and Gmail is the crappiest site I go to for
privacy reasons (aka there is no privacy), so I picked the worst browser




Are you aware that you don't have to use *any* browser to use Gmail?
any e-mail client can be used.

On 26/01/2018 16:35, Harold Newton wrote:
You can ask WHY I picked Edge for Gmail, and that's because it's the
crappiest browser I have, and Gmail is the crappiest site I go to for
privacy reasons (aka there is no privacy), so I picked the worst
browser for the one worst task

You are wrong on both counts;

Edge is the most Standards Compliant Browser and GMAIL is the most
reliable service around. Anybody talking about privacy needs their
heads examined by a brain surgeon. There is no such thing as privacy
when you are using any digital product. In fact, I would say you have
more privacy when using Microsoft product or Google products then using
any products from third parties. the reason for this is because
Microsoft and Google have billions of users and it is very easy to have
privacy when there are billions of users but not when there are only 10
users!! Hope you get the idea what I mean. IOW, it is easy to hide on
London's Oxford Street where there are millions of shoppers than to hide
on on some obscure street where there is hardly anybody!!





--
With over 600 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

In message , Ken Blake
writes:
On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 16:35:35 +0000 (UTC), Harold Newton
wrote:


You can ask WHY I picked Edge for Gmail, and that's because it's the
crappiest browser I have,


I agree.


and Gmail is the crappiest site I go to for
privacy reasons (aka there is no privacy), so I picked the worst browser



Are you aware that you don't have to use *any* browser to use Gmail?
any e-mail client can be used.

Yes he is. See last paragraph of his post.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni, Vidi, Vomit (I came, I saw, I was ill) - , 1998

On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 19:24:03 +0000, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

Are you aware that you don't have to use *any* browser to use Gmail?
any e-mail client can be used.

Yes he is. See last paragraph of his post.

J.P. Gulliver is correct that I've used MUAs since the dawn of time, where
emperically, Google locks me out of my MUA almost instantly when they see
VPN activity they don't like.

By way of example, even if I shut down the automatic scripts such that I'm
*not* on VPN, I have one Gmail account which sends to a long list of
recipients at least once a month (or so) on average, where Google shuts
down *every* similar post from the MUA, but lets the exact same post
through on a web browser.

They block the post, and lock me out of my account, even though that
account has been active for nearly a decade. It's very reproduceable.

Google hates VPN.
Google hates MUAs on VPN.
Google hates long-list emails whether or not they're on VPN if they're from
a MUA.

BTW, you probably never met a person as aware of Gmail lockouts as I am,
given I'[m on VPN almost 100% of the time.

On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 20:15:23 +0000 (UTC), Harold Newton
wrote:


On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 19:24:03 +0000, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:


Are you aware that you don't have to use *any* browser to use Gmail?
any e-mail client can be used.


Yes he is. See last paragraph of his post.


J.P. Gulliver is correct that I've used MUAs since the dawn of time, where
emperically, Google locks me out of my MUA almost instantly when they see
VPN activity they don't like.



OK. Sorry. I missed it.

Ken

On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 15:12:20 -0500, Wolf K wrote:

turning of the "suggested sites" feature in the address bar, if Edge
is like Internet Explorer, the Internet Options applet has a tab for
Content which includes "Autocomplete" settings. You can turn it off.

All that "suggested" predictive stuff is turned off on *all* my browsers.
It's the first thing I do when setting up a browser.

In message , Wolf K
writes:
On 2018-01-26 21:47, Harold Newton wrote:
On Fri, 26 Jan 2018 15:12:20 -0500, Wolf K wrote:

turning of the "suggested sites" feature in the address bar, if
Edge
is like Internet Explorer, the Internet Options applet has a tab for
Content which includes "Autocomplete" settings. You can turn it off.
All that "suggested" predictive stuff is turned off on *all* my
browsers.
It's the first thing I do when setting up a browser.
OK, so what exactly do you want to turn off? Bing, Google, etc? If so,

He wants to turn off the search _function_, so that the browser becomes
just a browser - so that what he types into the URL box is never used as
a search term.

I don't know of any way to do it. Every browser comes with one or more
search engines. You can change the default, you can hide or delete
some, but you can't specify or set "none".

Can you delete them all? If it won't let you, is there a dummy one that
can be used - or does anyone know the format of whatever little files it
(all "browsers" that have this function, presumably) expects that point
it to a search engine, so that one of the coding experts here could
_make_ a dummy one?

HTH

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

A clean, neat and orderly desk is a sign of a sick mind. (G6JPG's mind is
clearly extremely healthy ...)

He who is Wolf K said on Fri, 26 Jan 2018 22:08:25 -0500:

OK, so what exactly do you want to turn off? Bing, Google, etc?

It would be nice to be able to turn off *all* search engines in Edge.
But it's hard enough just to *change* the search engine in Edge.
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/c...e-edge-browser

I want to turn off any non-privacy search engine, so that usually leaves
DDG as the default search engine if I *must* have a search engine in Edge.
https://duckduckgo.com/install

If so, I don't know of any way to do it.

Neither do I for Edge.
That's why I asked.

Most browsers let you easily define and remove search engines, but Edge
won't let you remove Bing (AFAICT).

Every browser comes with one or more search engines.
Most browsers let you delete them though.

You can change the default, you can hide or delete some,
but you can't specify or set "none".

That's what I found out by experiment but I was hoping I was wrong.
Thanks.

On Sat, 27 Jan 2018 07:43:59 +0000, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

Can you delete them all? If it won't let you, is there a dummy one that
can be used - or does anyone know the format of whatever little files it
(all "browsers" that have this function, presumably) expects that point
it to a search engine, so that one of the coding experts here could
_make_ a dummy one?

Oooooooooh.... that's a GREAT IDEA!

Problem: Edge must have a search engine defined (default is Bing).
Goal: Define a *dummy* opensearch engine (which doesn't do anything).
Constraint: That dummy search engine must be in "OpenSearch" format.
http://www.opensearch.org
Options: Known opensearch engines are Google, DDG, Yandex,


What I'm looking for now, are either
a. How to define my own "dummy" opensearch search engine, or,
b. How to pick one that is privacy enabled to do nothing.

On Sat, 27 Jan 2018 18:35:47 +0000 (UTC), Harold Newton wrote:

a. How to define my own "dummy" opensearch search engine, or,

The potential solution may be to define an opensearch engine at 127.0.0.1
localhost which returns nothing.

This seems to *generate* an OpenSearch search engine.
http://www.enhanceie.com/IE/SearchBuilder.asp

Build a Search Provider
1. Use any browser to visit the desired search provider
Example: http://yandex.ru
2. Run a search for "TEST" & save the resulting URL to your clipboard
https://yandex.ru/search/?lr=1&msid=1&text=TEST
3. In Edge, go to http://www.enhanceie.com/IE/SearchBuilder.asp
4. In Edge, paste that URL into step 3 of that web page & choose a name.
5. In Edge, click the "Install" button (or "View XML" or "Download XML")

Here is the resulting XML:
?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?
OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/"
ShortNamefoo/ShortName
Descriptionfoo provider/Description
InputEncodingUTF-8/InputEncodingUrl type="text/html"
template="https://yandex.ru/search/?lr=1&msid=1&text={searchTerms}"//OpenSearchDescription

Now just do the same for "https://localhost/search/?lr=1&msid=1&text=TEST"
and name it "bar".

In message , harry newton
writes:
He who is Wolf K said on Fri, 26 Jan 2018 22:08:25 -0500:
[]
Every browser comes with one or more search engines.
Most browsers let you delete them though.

Except that I think most won't let you reduce the list below one, i. e.
won't let you delete the last one.

You can change the default, you can hide or delete some, but you
can't specify or set "none".

That's what I found out by experiment but I was hoping I was wrong.
Thanks.

Hence my suggestion of a "dummy" one - which someone thought was a great
idea, and someone else has shown how to generate the code for one.

(FWIW in my Firefox 26, I have a separate search bar, and my URL bar
does _not_ search [I forget whether it came like that, or whether I saw
a hint somewhere about what to change in about:config or elsewhere to
stop it searching]. I have the search box set to Wikipedia, as I find
that a useful facility; I type something in there, and it opens a new
tab for the result, which I find handy.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

He who prides himself on giving what he thinks the public wants is often
creating a fictitious demand for low standards which he will then satisfy.
- Lord Reith

On 01/27/2018 01:43 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

[snip]

Can you delete them all? If it won't let you, is there a dummy one that
can be used - or does anyone know the format of whatever little files it
(all "browsers" that have this function, presumably) expects that point
it to a search engine, so that one of the coding experts here could
_make_ a dummy one?

Does it work to use the hosts file to redirect all search engines to
some nonexistent local IP?

[snip]