Seriously, who uses IE6? That's like me driving a 1989 Toyota and saying I'm having a small oil-leak - it's common. Come on now.

"To be the winning search engine, you need to either do all things really well, which Bing does not, or do one or two things really well and find an audience that really cares about those things. I don't thing Bing does that, either, and whatever audience it does find seems, for now at least, to be no threat to Google." - from PC World/business article

I concur. (lol - good comment, Corey!)

You've got bigger problems if you're still using IE6

The issue here is not the use of IE6, I happen to like it and have no problem with it. The issue is that Google was hijacked by MS for Bing. Yes, I'm upset with MS and eagerly await their fix.

IE6 doesnt even have an integrated search box...that came out in IE7..how can you change the default search engine of something that didnt exist in that version of the software?

For the folks making the "who uses IE6" comments, very few of us in the SEO industry do but lots of regular folks do. The site I work for still gets 17% of it's traffic from IE6. Don't discount IE6 until your users do.

Frank Eisinger, I agree, despite the version of IE6 being used MS hijacking should not happen.

To give you gentlemen a more improved response I scanned over 10 websites varying in what they are about to evaluate the usage of IE6. It is between 22% to 28%. Interesting.

WOW...MS actually reacted to user complaints...SORTA. My address bar search (to my preferred Google) has been restored. But what about the hijacking of my "customize" search feature??? It still goes to that Oops! popup. I still have no control over which search engine I want to use. Does MS know about this too???

I cant understand why ANYONE would be on ANYTHING but Vista Ultimate with IE8 and Firefox.

As CIO, I actually used DNS poisioning to redirect ALL browsers from google to Bing. Google would give the users virus infected web results, install google toolbar, Java, and Sunoffice, and generally trash Windows.

I have IE8 and it STILL hijacked me and CONTINUES to take me out of Google and give me Bing. And BING STINKS... decision maker my great grandma's sweet patoot! And I am sick to death of all the google tool bar add ons with MS updates as well. UGH - Make it stop!

Yes, this IS AFFECTING IE7 users! We have a report of this already with one person, so MS doesn't entirely know what is going on. This is ridiculous and seems like an MS ploy to sell their product!

I have it happening on three different versions of Vista, all have IE7 on them, since IE8 has a massive flaw with https sites, and crashes repeatedly. I have removed IE8 off all my machines.

However, I have noticed that on all my machines, that google is being replaced daily by Bing, without my permission. I remove it, default google, and later, find Bing back as my default. Have to love the sanctity of Microsoft's choices to steal the access away, no wonder their search engine is getting more hits, because they are switching the search engines on users WITHOUT their permissions.

That is a serious issue, perhaps some regulatory company should be looking at Microsoft once again for trying to block other companies from having their systems working, like they did with Netscape, and got busted for it.

For those of you cyring that Bing hijacks IE6. use Safari for Mac, and I must use Google, since Apple doesn't let people change their built-in search. I can't even try other search engines.
For the Windows version of Safari, I at least have the choice of Google and Yahoo, a bit more choice of search but not great. There is the Glims add-on that allows Bing for Safari for Mac, but not for Windows.

Not only does this effect all versions of windows. It changes the DNS and blocks many sites. I found this when my users could no longer send and receive email from our server.

When the Bing tool bar is installed it changes the DNS address on the tcpip properties. You must change the DNS back to the original one or your fire walls, AV, and all security software will quit working. PCSecurity, Stopzilla, and Opendns all quit working for the poor end users in my company. This is a serious security breach progating at the hands of Microsoft. By very definition THIS IS A VIRUS!!!!!!!

All said and all done the bottom line is that MicroSlop has still not fixed a thing to stop the BING... Its a pain and they should have adressed the issue weeks ago or rolled it all back. NUFF SAID !!!!! FIX Your problem MS

i don't want your stinking toolbar! get it out of my computer NOW

Microsoft has obviously not told the truth. Bing is also effecting (infecting) IE8 ... its not removable.

I ended up at this site by searching Google "how do I get bing toolbar off my pc" but when searched on bing for the same thing ( for irony purposes) it took me to a whole different set of results,results that seem to focus on microsoft oriented stuff.
There has to be a way to stop this......HELP....NO MEANS NO!!!!!!!

I think this is great. Maybe now some of the IE diehards will consider switching to firefox. Good way for Microsoft to loose search and browser market share. Well done, morons!

I am "Very Unhappy" with the fact that this toolbar has completely taken over and changed my IE and the best part of all is I cannot
remove it. All I want to know is "How do I get rid of it" ????

Can anyone explain exactly what is meant by "default search provider" and how do I eliminate this "feature" from Internet Explorer?

My problem with it is that it seems to be making decisions for me. I have Google as my home page so that I can go there whenever *I* decide I want to search for something. I don't want IE to decide to bring me to a search page because it is trying to be "helpful". Thanks for the help, but no thanks.

For example, it used to be that, if I made a mistake typing a web address in the IE address bar, I would get a "file not found" error message and (this is key) *my typing would remain in the address bar*. It was no problem to go back to the address bar and fix a letter or two.

Now, however, if I make a typo in the address bar, IE deletes what I just typed and replaces it with bing.com or google.com or whatever, forcing me to go back and type the whole thing all over again. It's trying to be helpful but all it ends up doing is giving me more work.

I would like to recreate the old IE behavior such that, if I make a mistake, IE leaves the mistake in place and simply says, in effect, "you made a mistake". I don't want the current behavior where IE tries to guess what I meant and completely undoes everything I did.

Is there anything to be done about this? I have XP Pro.

Thanks,

Mike

The problem is apparently not "fixed": My Google toolbar is now failing to appear in my IE 6 windows -- though the right-click menu shows that the Google toolbar is ON. Go figure.

I'm having the same problem with IE-8. Can't set Google as default search engine. It stays a Bing which I do not want. Any suggestions

The low-tech community is corrupting the high-tech community: end of story. A bunch of low-rent idiots that can't figure out how to use Windows have attributed their stupidity to the organization responsible for the entity that seems to make this stupidity surface, which has caused them to "rebel" against everything Microsoft. The act is very predictable, and not very different from that of a teenaged male/female.

The high-tech world is all about standards; if you can't keep up, keep out. Leave the high-tech stuff to us high-tech individuals.

However, I do have to agree with the "...don't knock it until your users do..." motto for those it applies to, as your job is all about your users, not YOU.

Maybe some of you complainers should actually try programming in C or C++ before you start peeing your pants, stamping your feet and blaming Microsoft, the company responsible for the little standardization we DO have.

Without standardization in the high-tech world, we have nothing. It's the incompetent people who are ruining this. Don't be the idiot lady at McDonald's who burnt herself and sued McDonald's. Follow the standards. Keep up. Just shut up and download IE8; we programmers have enough to worry about without having to fool around with your gay little Google toolbar on some legacy version if IE.

Bottom line: you're all just too technologically illiterate to figure it out. How surprising you blame Microsoft immediately.

Piece of advice: Start reading on how a computer works instead of draining your scarce brain cells on bitching about why it doesn't work. The internal workings of a computer are not magic.

To the "zomg itsavirusgetitaway" moron: If you go by that definition, Norton/Mcafee/etc. are all the biggest viruses known to the electronic world.

Apparently, people are so mentally challenged nowadays that the very line between a virus and a bug is blurred, merging the two boundaries. Way to be, users. Way to be.

this comment is for nate--we are not morons just because we don't want bing on our pc's.the only idiot is you for not paying attention to what everyone is saying.i don't want it on my pc because the last time i checked i was living in america and i am guaranteed the freedom of choice.bing doesn't give you that.

It started affecting my IE7 tonight. Got around it by going to tools/internet options/security/restricted sites. I inserted www.bing.com and bing.com as restricted sites. Bing sucks

Nate & George - How about one of you two "highly computer literate" gentlemen telling us illiterates how to get rid of Bing since you are so smart. Microsoft if doing nothing to help us.

I'm using Windows 7 and IE 8 and I had Google as my default search engine and it's changed to Bing, I then click on "Find more providers" and only Bing is there. To be honest though I couldn't care less. I use Firefox and Chrome and google as my search engine.

The basic point is that no one likes to have their computer hijacked without permission. I don't want to use Bing and resent having it forced on me. Back off MS!

I suggest everyone who has an issue with this, regardless of which version of Internet Explorer you are using, report Microsoft to your local Consumer Affairs, Better Business Bureau or equivalent. Not only will they get fined, yet again, but they will be made to do something about it.

I agree with the low-tech or no-tech community corrupting the high-tech community. Users panic for no reason whatsoever so often it is now commonplace and often for non-production reasons.

I don't allow my users to use IE on the Internet, unless it's absolutely necessary, i.e. poorly designed web site. Network security is not a task, it's a philosophy. The low-tech community will never figure this out because to them, it should be free, accessible via one-click and interpret what the want regardless of the action they invoke.

Educate yourself. It's a tool you use everyday. I'm surprised some of these people can find their way to work and back home. I often wonder how many of them still get lost in either one direction or the other, or both.

Stay off facebook, youtube, msn, yahoo, hotmail, gambling sites, and porn sites and get your work done. Most users would be infected less and suffer less from issues if they'd just concentrate on work rather than doing everything they can to avoid working. Just because your computer is capable doesn't mean you should use it to do ___________. Your car can be a lethal weapon and you're equipped to be a prostitute, but it doesn't mean you should do it. When did it become fashionable to cease using common sense, acting responsible and taking responsibility for your own actions? What are you doing all day that requires you to constantly hit the search engines?

IE is tied to the OS. There is no 100% security on a computer. Browser manufacturers compete with one another. Man is not perfect. The world runs on greed. You're a pawn in the Internet world.

Quit bitching about something you get for free. You get what you pay for and if not, then you can bitch and ask for a refund. Until then, please, STFU! There are plenty of free browsers out there. If one doesn't work for you, use another.

To date, I have not experienced IE hijacking Google as a search engine. I must be doing something wrong, like doing my job.

I GOT RID OF BING! It was easy. First i tried everything I read online and it did not work, because this pernicious little program refused to delete. That's exactly why I don't care how wonderful it may be, i don't want to be FORCED to have a particular search engine any more than I want to be FORCED to purchase health insurance... (Fixed the former, still working on the latter problem..)
OK to return your browser to GOOGLE, just open up Firefox and go to the TOOLS section on the address bar. Go to OPTIONS in the Pull Down BOX. You will see the box entitled HOME PAGE with the WRONG search engines title in there. NOW as an EXTRA precaution BEFORE you do any deleting, block in the address and COPY it, so that if you do not get the desired results you can restore the search engine you are using.
NOW to to the HOME PAGE BOX and DELETE the contents. Then type in: http://www.google.com/search. That will put you back to GOOGLE search page as soon as you re-open it! BINGONE!