Google has long monopolized the search engine market, so it’s no surprise that it comes as Safari’s default search engine. If Google isn’t for you, Safari comes pre-set with three alternatives: Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
Some users like to spread their searches through different engines so that companies don’t have all their data. DuckDuckGo is particularly attractive to people who want to keep their online presence private, and while Yahoo is also powered by Bing there are some variations between the two search engines’ results.
How to change the search engine on Safari
If you’d rather use one of the other search engines on Safari, or if you’ve tried an alternative and want to return to Google, it’s easy enough to swap.
In the 'Search engine used in the address bar' drop-down, select Google. Microsoft Edge 44 & lower. Open Microsoft Edge. Go to google.com. At the top right, click Settings and more Settings. In the 'Advanced settings' section, click View Advanced settings. Under 'Search in address bar with,' click Change. Click Google Search Set as default. If you are also one of those users who are unable to change their search engines on Google Chrome on Mac, then you have stumbled on the right place. Users have claimed that there default search engine is changed to some website called ‘akamaihd.net‘, and they are unable to get rid of it.This issue was reported by users a few months ago and it still seems to be hanging around for some. To make Google your default search engine, you just need to switch from apps to the desktop. Here two options to help you switch to the desktop. Click on Safari in the top Apple menu, and then. I installed Malwarebytes, with the help of Apple, but it says that my computer is clean. When I tried to reset the chrome settings on google chrome to their original defaults, nothing happened. When I try to change the search engine under chrome settings, it will not allow me to delete SearchMine or change the search engine.
1. Open the Safari application. If it’s not pinned to your desktop, select the magnifying glass icon on the top right menu bar to open Spotlight and type ‘Safari’ to find it.
2. In Safari, click on the ‘Safari’ tab on the top left menu bar.
3. Select the ‘Preferences’ option, typically the third option on the drop-down list.
4. This will open another window that displays your Safari settings. In the top menu, select the ‘Search’ icon.
5. The first field in this window is ‘Search engine.’ Click on the drop-down menu to select from one of the three other search engines (Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or back to Google if you have previously changed it).
6. Close the window and your settings are automatically saved.
If you’d like to test that your search engine has changed over, simply run a search in your Safari browser. If your search engine hasn’t changed, try running through the steps again and, once you’ve completed the change, closing down Safari and then re-opening it to search.
Using more than one search engine
Because it’s so easy to change your search engine, there’s no harm in trying out all four options before settling on which one you prefer. As mentioned above, some users like to use more than one search engine so that their search history isn’t concentrated in one particular place.
It might be that you swap between Google for work, Bing for casual searches (especially if Microsoft extends its Reward Points program to Mac devices), and DuckDuckGo for when you want more privacy in your browsing.
If you don’t feel like swapping and changing in your settings, an easier way might be to go to the homepage of the search engine you want to use and type in your query directly from there.
How to add another search engine to Safari
At the moment, there is no way of adding another search engine to your Safari Preferences, meaning that if you want to use an alternative you’re going to have to find another way of searching instead of directly from the URL bar.
1. You can use another browser, such as Chrome or Firefox, for your searches. These are more easily configured to support additional search engines.
2. Install the search engine’s extension on Safari. This might be a bit of a hassle to implement, but once it’s set up it makes it a lot easier to search with other search engines.
3. Navigate to the search engine’s homepage and search directly from there. The extra step of entering the URL and then searching may feel like wasted time, but one way to shorten it is to have your homepage set as the search engine’s homepage, so it’s ready for you as soon as you open Safari.
1. Open your Safari browser.
2. If you’re not sure of the URL for the search engine you want to use, navigate directly to the homepage.
2. Click on the ‘Safari’ tab to the far left of the top menu.
3. Select ‘Preferences.’
4. The window will open to display your ‘General’ preferences for using Safari. Instead of navigating to the ‘Search’ tab as we did to change the search engine, stay on the ‘General’ page.
5. At the ‘Homepage’ field, enter the URL for the site you want to use as your search engine (for example, ecosia.org or duckduckgo.com). If you navigated to its homepage earlier, you can simply click ‘Set to current page.’
6. You can also toggle additional settings in the field above, such as choosing whether you want this page to only appear when you open a window or whenever you open a new tab.
7. Your changes are saved automatically when you close the window. Try opening a new window or a new tab to see how it opens with your search engine of choice.
Why has my Safari search engine changed on its own?
Safari should never automatically change your search engine preferences. If it has, the most likely explanation is that you’ve downloaded a plug-in or extension that’s changed the search engine you use.
You can remove the extension manually through Safari:
1. Open Safari and navigate to the ‘Preferences’ menu, from the ‘Safari’ tab.
2. Select the ‘Extensions’ tab from the top menu at the far right.
3. This will display a list of any extensions you have installed, either accidentally or deliberately. If you see any extensions you don’t recognize, or any that you no longer need, simply click ‘Uninstall.’
4. Quit Safari and restart your Mac.
![Search Engine For Mac Search Engine For Mac](/uploads/1/3/4/8/134844456/151616076.jpg)
5. You may need to update your search engine and homepage preferences again once the extension has been removed. Type a trial search to see which search engine is currently in use once your Mac boots up or go to Safari Preferences directly to check.
An easier way to remove extensions is using the CleanMyMac Extensions module.
Check all of the extensions and browser plugins you have in one go. Many people don’t realize how many of these plugins they have. Often they’re either downloaded and used once, then forgotten, or were useful for a while but aren’t needed now. These little extras all take up space and some could run in the background even when you’ve not used them in ages.
Remove them using CleanMyMac X with only one click. Its Smart Cleanup identifies the clutter and deletes it totally — no leftover files floating around to clog up your Mac.
These might also interest you:
What is Bing?
If your browser suddenly started opening bing.com webpage instead of your preferred search engine, then your Mac is infected with a browser hijacker. Browser hijacker is a type of malware that often penetrates victims’ devices together with free programs and then integrates into the browser. Once installed, it forcibly modifies browser and system configurations to make users visit certain websites. Besides that, it is responsible for the appearance of numerous pop-up ads and unwanted redirects. If you want to remove Bing Search from Mac, then you can easily do that by following this guide. By the way, it is worth noting that manual removal may cause difficulties for inexperienced users since it intends to leave some files behind so that it can be re-launched anytime. That’s why it would be better to use an automated removal tool that will do it much faster.
Search Engines For Macbook
How to remove Bing Search?
Search Engine For Mac
To make sure that the hijacker won’t appear again, you need to delete Bing Search redirect completely. For this, you need to remove the application then check the drives for such leftovers as Bing files and registry entries.
SpyHunter is a powerful tool that is able to keep your Mac clean. It would automatically search out and delete all elements related to Bing. It is not only the easiest way to eliminate Bing but also the safest and most assuring one.
Steps of Bing Search redirect manual removal
Uninstall Bing Search from the system
As it was stated before, more likely that the hijacker appeared on your system brought by other software. So, to get rid of Bing you need to call to memory what you have installed recently.
Remove Bing Search from Applications
- Open a Finder window
- Click Applications line on the sidebar
- Select the application related to Bing right-click it and choose Move to Trash
Remove Bing Search from Profiles
- Launch System Preferences
- Select Profiles at the bottom of window.
- Choose AdminPrefs profile, click “-“ icon and enter password.
Remove Bing Search using Terminal
- Open Terminal
- Copy/paste:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES - Press Return
- Hold the Option/alt key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch
- Navigate to: /Users/yourmacname/Library/Application Support/
- Delete Folder: Agent
- Go back to Terminal and copy/paste:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO - Press Return
- Hold the Option/alt key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch
Remove Bing Search from browsers
Since most of the hijacker threats use a disguise of a browser add-on, you will need to check the list of extensions/add-ons in your browser.
How to remove Bing from Safari
- Start Safari
- Click on Safari menu button, then go to the Extensions
- Delete Bing or other extensions that look suspicious and you don’t remember installing them
How to remove Bing from Google Chrome
- Start Google Chrome
- Click on Tools, then go to the Extensions
- Delete Bing or other extensions that look suspicious and you don’t remember installing them
How to remove Bing from Mozilla Firefox
- Start Mozilla Firefox
- Click on the right-upper corner button
- Click Add-ons, then go to Extensions
- Delete Bing or other extensions that look suspicious and you don’t remember installing them
You may use our video guide on how to remove Bing redirect from your Mac:
If the above-mentioned methods didn’t help in eliminating the threat, then it’s better to rely on an automatic way of deleting Bing.
We also recommend to download and use SpyHunter to scan the system after Bing removal to make sure that it is completely gone. The antimalware application will detect any vicious components left among system files and registry entries that can recover Bing.
We also recommend to download and use SpyHunter to scan the system after Bing removal to make sure that it is completely gone. The antimalware application will detect any vicious components left among system files and registry entries that can recover Bing.