Turning off Google Instant

[canetoad]

Recently there was a post about turning off Google Instant / search suggestions and I pointd to the search options icon at top right of Google screen.

That may no longer work.

It seems that Instant is now turned on by default and changing your search options, deleting cookies etc do not make it go away.

Try using this Google search page instead: http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0&hl=en
You may still need to set your search options.

[trotsky]

1. Has to be one of the most annoying things they've come up with.

Other "enhancements" I eventually grew to accept, or at least live with. But the instant search feature continues to annoy me. I have used the NoScript add-on for Firefox to block scripting on Google's pages. Google is following in the steps of Microsoft, giving you new "features" that they think will be better for you - and then to "prove" it, they disable the previous functionality.

[canetoad]

2. Tell me about it!

I use NoScript, adblock, RefControl - all in an effort to retain a little control over how I use my computer on the web. It's becoming an uphill battle to retain some autonomy and a degree of privacy.

For a few years I've been on the brink of ditching Google as a search engine but as I use Google Maps and Images a lot, it all boils down to convenience. I think at last I've reached Fed-Up point and will make Scroogle scraper default search engine.

[woo me with science]

5. Yep, me too. I keep wondering when Scroogle is going to start doing images.

I have yet to find a good image search engine that respects privacy. Ixquick does not have the depth or quality of search I need.

[blogslut]

3. Yep

That's been my homepage for a good long while now. Google Instant is indescribably annoying.

[undeterred]

4. Whoever invented it should be sent to prison with a laptop

on which google instant cannot be turned off for ten years.