Microsoft’s New Windows 11 Bing Toggle Owes Nothing to EU Law

Microsoft’s design director confirmed on June 18 that Windows 11 will finally let people switch off Bing web results inside Search, a control now sitting inside Windows Insider Experimental build 26300.8697. Flip the right settings and the Start menu hunts only local files, apps and settings. It is still hidden behind test flags, and most PCs will not see it for months.

Most coverage frames the wider rollout as European law finally reaching everyone else. Brussels ruled in February 2024 that Bing fails to meet the Digital Markets Act’s threshold for gatekeeper status, which makes Microsoft’s original EEA controls a voluntary move rather than a court order, and this global test the same voluntary move made a second time.

Microsoft Confirms a Real Off Switch for Bing

The confirmation came from March Rogers, a design director at Microsoft, who posted on X that Windows Search is getting faster and more reliable and will let users disable web results entirely. The setting lives under Settings, Privacy and security, Search, and takes fewer than three clicks once it ships.

Microsoft told reporters Bing will stay switched on by default. Nobody gets a clean search panel automatically. Users have to find the toggle and turn it off themselves, the same pattern the company has followed with nearly every other opt-out it has shipped in Windows 11.

Turning the setting off does more than hide a row of blue links. It decouples Microsoft Rewards points from search activity, and it strips MSN headlines and other linked Microsoft content off the Search homepage entirely, leaving only recent searches and local suggestions behind.

Two Toggles, Buried in Build 26300.8697

The feature actually ships as two independent switches. A Web Searches control under a new Show suggested search results section removes Bing’s web panel, and a separate Microsoft Store control hides app listings for software a person hasn’t installed yet. Either can be flipped without touching the other.

Both were already floating around Insider testing before this; a native toggle to kill Bing first turned up in earlier preview builds. What changed by late June is scope. The same controls that once existed only for European accounts now sit inside a build being tested for every region.

Turning the Web Searches toggle off removes a specific, recognizable set of things from the panel:

• Bing web result cards that previously outranked local files and installed apps
• MSN news links and Bing-branded content on the Search homepage
• The Microsoft Rewards icon that tracked search-based points
• Copilot ad tiles that simply redirected to Bing.com instead of doing anything on the device
• The animated daily image behind the Recent and Suggested sections

None of it is optional cosmetic polish. Every item on that list is something a previous version of Windows Search forced onto a person typing a filename, and every item is gone the moment the toggle flips.

Brussels Never Ordered This Toggle

Here is the detail most write-ups skip. The European Commission designated Microsoft as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act for other products, but it separately ruled that Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising do not control enough market share to count as gatekeeper services themselves.

That ruling matters because it means the original EEA changes, letting European users uninstall Bing and Edge and route the Bing app’s web content through a default browser, were never legally required for search specifically. Microsoft chose to bundle them in anyway while satisfying separate DMA obligations around Edge defaults and app uninstalls.

A global toggle Microsoft never had to build is a different animal than a global toggle Brussels forced into existence. Regulators can’t order Microsoft to reverse course later, because there was never an order to begin with. Nothing stops the company from narrowing the option again if it decides Bing traffic is worth more than the goodwill.

Why Killing Bing Makes Search Feel Instant

Performance is the argument Microsoft leads with publicly, and hands-on testing backs it up. Windows Search has always had to split every keystroke between a local index and a live round trip to Bing’s servers, which is part of why typing an app name sometimes surfaced a web page instead of the program itself.

Windows Search with web results and Microsoft Store results turned off is by far the fastest version of Search I have felt in Windows. And I’m not talking about just Windows 11!

Windows Latest, the outlet that tested the build directly, published that verdict after running the local-only mode side by side with the standard panel. Other fixes are already shipping alongside the toggle. An optional update, the same KB5089573 rollout that also patched a Patch Tuesday reboot failure, changed Search so two typed characters trigger local results instead of three.

Reliability complaints have piled up separately from the clutter complaints. Windows Central reported that a server-side Bing update briefly broke Start menu search for some users starting April 6, 2026, an issue Microsoft rolled back after weeks of complaints on social media. A gHacks reader summed up the mood bluntly: “Bing results have ruined the search experience for 13 years. About time they provided a fix!”

Who Gets to Use It Right Now?

Almost nobody, outside of Windows Insiders willing to dig into feature flags. The toggle exists only in Experimental build 26300.8697, gated behind ViveTool flags, while European users have had rough equivalents since mid-2025 under DMA compliance and everyone else still waits on a stable 26H2 release expected this fall.

People who don’t want to wait already have a workaround. Enthusiasts have been editing a hidden region policy file to make Windows think a device is set up in the EEA, unlocking the European controls months early. Microsoft has not blessed that method, and it can get reset by a future update.

A Decade of Bing Wedged into Search

The irritation goes back to Windows 10, when Cortana and federated search first blurred the line between a local index and a live web query. Windows 11 inherited the same architecture and, at points, made it worse. In February, Windows Latest documented a new grid of “AI tools” shortcuts on the Search homepage that did nothing but open Bing.com in a browser when clicked.

Microsoft’s pullback here fits a pattern rather than standing alone. The company has also said it is working to end Windows 11’s Microsoft account sign-in mandate, another default that critics spent years arguing served Microsoft’s interests more than the user’s.

1. May 2026: Windows Latest reports Microsoft is quietly deprioritizing web results inside Windows Search.
2. June 7, 2026: Windows Latest reports a dedicated toggle is in development, teased at a private Insider meetup.
3. June 18, 2026: Design director March Rogers confirms the toggle publicly on X.
4. June 21, 2026: Windows Latest tests the build directly and measures a noticeably faster local search.
5. June 24, 2026: gHacks reports the controls now extend to all markets, hidden inside build 26300.8697.

Full DMA compliance for Windows 11 arrived back in 2024, when Microsoft first let European users uninstall Edge, OneDrive and Bing outright. Everything since then, including this global test, has built on that same foundation without a fresh legal mandate behind it.

No Firm Date Yet for the Global Rollout

Microsoft is not walking away from Bing or AI inside Windows. Ask Copilot, a separate taskbar experience that draws on the same underlying index, is still getting investment even as the traditional Search panel gets stripped down. The split is deliberate: less Bing in the utility panel, more Copilot in its own lane.

Dev Channel features routinely take months to reach a stable release, and Microsoft has not said whether Group Policy or Intune controls will ship alongside the consumer Settings toggle. The company has tied the option to the Windows 11 26H2 update expected this fall. That is a target, not a commitment.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I turn off Bing in Windows 11 Search?

Right now the option only exists for Windows Insiders on build 26300.8697, reached through Settings, Privacy and security, Search, then toggling off Web Searches under Show suggested search results. General users still need a ViveTool feature flag, or a registry and Group Policy edit outside Europe, until Microsoft ships the toggle in a stable release.

Is the Bing removal toggle available to everyone yet?

No. It is hidden behind experimental feature flags and is not exposed even to most Windows Insiders, let alone the general retail user base. Microsoft has not committed to a release date beyond pointing toward the 26H2 update expected this fall.

Does turning off Bing web results also disable Copilot?

No. Ask Copilot is a separate taskbar experience built on the same search index, and Microsoft keeps investing in it even as it strips Bing out of the main Search panel, so switching off web results leaves Copilot untouched.

Was Microsoft legally required to let users disable Bing?

Only indirectly. The European Commission designated Microsoft as a gatekeeper for other products, but it ruled separately that Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising do not meet the Digital Markets Act’s own threshold, so the original EEA Bing controls and this wider expansion are voluntary rather than court-ordered.

When will the toggle reach regular Windows 11 PCs?

Microsoft has tied the feature to the Windows 11 26H2 update expected this fall, though Insider features routinely change scope or slip their timeline, and the company has not said whether business-focused Group Policy controls will arrive alongside the consumer toggle.