How can I stop Bing Bar from showing up in Windows Update

This question crops up frequently.

Some Windows updates keep returning no matter how many times you select to hide them. There are two ways that this can happen:

You select to hide the entry, and it remains hidden, but a new, completely different entry is shown that is either related to the first one, or a newer version of it. This can be seen in the image below where Bing Desktop 1.2 has been hidden, then Bing Desktop 1.3 was shown as a different update and had to be hidden separately.
You select to hide the entry, but later when it is updated, it is reset and is shown again because it is new. This is the case for Bing Bar in the image below. Ostensibly, if you didn’t want it the first time, then you probably don’t want it later, but the rationale is that you may want the newer, updated version.

Unfortunately there is no way to permanently hide something; Microsoft can (and does) re-display things it feels you might want/should install. You’ll just have to play “Whack-a-Mole” and manually hide them whenever they pop up; fortunately that’s not too often.

Screenshot of hidden Windows updates

Synetech

Posted 2013-10-25T17:11:42.897

Reputation: 63 242

(I suppose some sort of automated script or something could be cobbled together, but they come up infrequently enough that it’s not worth the effort or risk.) – Synetech – 2013-10-25T18:02:41.323

You also cold do it via setup of WSUS server and not have it show updates to Bing for connected computers, but that is kinda killing a fly with a cannon.

– Scott Chamberlain – 2013-10-25T18:10:34.970

Yeah, I don't really want to kill a fly with a cannon! But, it seems like the Bing Bar updates show up pretty frequently. But I haven't exactly been keeping track of when they show up, so who knows. – cmorse – 2013-10-30T18:57:30.013

3I don’t think they show up that frequently, it’s probably just a psychological illusion: seeing something annoying sticks out in the mind, so it feels like you see it more often. For example, it feels like a bill from Rogers arrives every week or two even though it’s really only once per month (though from Rogers, I can’t rule anything out); it just feels more frequently because they are so thoroughly detestable that every time a bill comes, it gets encoded into memory much more strongly than something banal and forgettable. (Their ads on the other hand really are seen every 10-20 seconds.) – Synetech – 2013-10-31T19:21:07.373

@Synetech: That's a great point. It sure does feel like it happens all the time. Probably makes it worse because I have multiple computers and it shows up on each of them every time. – cmorse – 2013-11-23T03:00:49.773

Isn't this exactly the same as Silverlight? This article shows you how to remove Silverlight completely, which will prevent windows from checking for updates to it since it's not installed software. In theory, the Bing updates are only showing up because there exists registry data that suggests it is installed.

– NReilingh – 2014-01-08T02:25:50.013

@NReilingh, good theory, but wrong. Other than as the default search-engine for IE, there are no Bing-related registry entries, and certainly no Bing Bar or Desktop entries. Besides, that article mentions nothing about Windows Update. – Synetech – 2014-01-08T02:32:11.327

Indeed, but that article is referenced everywhere as the definitive way to get rid of the Silverlight update.

– NReilingh – 2014-01-08T02:38:50.843

Maybe, but unfortunately it has no bearing on the Bing entries reappearing. – Synetech – 2014-01-08T03:07:39.883

@null, hehe, I see there’s some voting activity on this today because there is a new update that brung it back. I suspect this question will get some activity every time it comes back (though again, technically it is a different entry). – Synetech – 2014-02-13T02:14:37.120

For Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008), clearing the following registry setting will stop it from appearing.

32-bit: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSN\Toolbar] version=""; 64-bit: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSN\Toolbar] version="" – Zarepheth – 2014-05-10T22:54:35.063

@Zarepheth, can you confirm that it never returns, or just until the next update? Of course, if it does, it does so by simply corrupting the version number so that it cannot compare to check if there is an update, so note that they can easily make it so that it always offers Bing if the existing version number is invalid. – Synetech – 2014-05-11T02:03:10.907

I was going to add the URL to the site from which I got the information, but I guess I was sufficiently tired that I forgot. At this time, I don't know if it will never return, but it certainly removed it from the Windows Update list on my Server 2008 box. – Zarepheth – 2014-05-12T12:57:46.200

I don’t have those keys in the registry at all (no MSN key), yet I keep getting the Bing “updates”. Obviously it is unable to read the version number at all, so I don’t think that providing a corrupt one is going to work either. – Synetech – 2014-05-16T04:51:22.850

How can I stop Bing Bar from showing up in Windows Update

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