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How to turn off or move the new Visual Search desktop icon

TIM BUTTERWORTH 70 Reputation points
2025-10-05T13:08:24.82+00:00

In the October 2025 update, some users (including me) have had a new function for Visual Search enabled. This is an icon in the top right corner of the desktop of the primary monitor, which, when hovered over, slides out "Visual search to search similar images".

My issue is that I have a dual monitor set up and when I move the mouse from left screen to right, I occasionally move it over the icon and slide out the message. This is really annoying, but I can't find any way to disable the feature or move the icon out of the way. Does anyone know how I can turn this off? All the usual Visual Search options are not available for this function. Co-pilot suggests editing the registry to disable Bing integration, but tbh I don't trust Copilot enough to follow reg editing suggestions.

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Other
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  1. Woody Woodsen 90 Reputation points
    2025-10-08T20:21:04.4366667+00:00

    To get rid of that annoying feature that Microsoft decided to ram down my throat, I had a bing wallpaper icon in my taskbar and went under settings and turned off hot spot widget. And I would like to add, I hate Microsoft so much when they force this crap on people and you have spend hours to get rid of something you never wanted.

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
  2. Michelangelo Occhipinti 30 Reputation points
    2025-10-23T05:52:57.83+00:00

    Hi, this worked for me, inside settings of the small bing icon in the taskbar, remove widget.

    Cattura

    6 people found this answer helpful.
  3. TIM BUTTERWORTH 70 Reputation points
    2025-10-06T05:46:39.4566667+00:00

    Hi there,

    I'm afraid this didn't work.

    Thanks

    4 people found this answer helpful.
  4. Tracy Le 6,765 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-10-05T19:06:35.65+00:00

    Thank you for reaching out with your detailed question. This icon is a new feature being progressively rolled out in the October 2025 update.

    To turn off the icon, you will need to create a new registry entry. Please navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Once there, right-click in the right-hand pane=> select "New" => create a "DWORD (32-bit) Value". Name this new value ShowVisualSearchDesktopIcon and ensure its data is set to 0. After you sign out and sign back in or restart your computer, the icon will be gone. If you ever wish to re-enable it, you can simply change this value back to 1 or delete the entry entirely.

    If you find this answer helpful, we would appreciate it if you could hit "Accept answer" to help other users in the community.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
  5. KHRBYR 10 Reputation points
    2025-10-08T00:37:43.66+00:00

    I've been annoyed with this problem as well. I followed Tracy's instructions, but it didn't work for me, even after a few full restarts. The developers obviously don't want those icons to be killed easily.

    I don't think an operating system should impose such noisome things on its users. The system used to do only what it was supposed to do. Disgusting users with such so-called new features will bring nothing but more antipathy. The more times I am shown those sticky icons, the more likely I'll be to permanently turn to Google Chrome, macOS, etc., and not return.

    The developers had better stop this madness in time before more and more irritated users have no choice but to leave.

    2 people found this answer helpful.

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