Removing Google Search from the Speed Dial
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mrubios last edited by
For some reason it stays there after switching the default engine to Bing, is there any way to remove it for good?
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lem729 last edited by admin
Hiding the google search bar from the Speed Dial page is a different issue. This thread explains how you go into Power User Mode to do it. It's quite easy.
https://forums.opera.com/topic/3419/speed-dial-google-search/1
You can't have a search bar for another search engine on the Speed Dial page. All you can do is hide the one that's there. I mean, it's not really needed, because one can easily do searches from the main Opera address bar.
It's a different matter to switch to a different default search engine from the main address bar (from which you can type addresses as well as do searches). There just right click on the address bar, and choose the default engine that you want out of those provided. For example, you can easily choose as your default engine, Bing or Yahoo. You can even add other engines to use from the main Opera Address Bar by going to the website of that engine, and right clicking on the search bar there to add that engine to Opera. It will not be a default engine though, so you will need to type a one or two letter code assigned to the engine before your search query to make use of that engine.
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zeezelot last edited by
I want to remove Google search all together; see my problem below.
I'm trying to figure out how to stop google from hijacking my search engines, I use startpage and/or duckduckgo for my Default/Speed Dial search engine (using opera 12.17/1863; I'm working on eliminating google spy on the most part) I have google updates turned off and have and continue to delete google in the Search Preference settings, but google keeps coming back and hijacks the Default and Speed Dial engines (google seem to doing it's nasty hijack with a Opera reboot)
Any of my fellow Opera users have any suggestion how to stop this?
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lem729 last edited by
What I suggested for eliminating/hiding the Google from the Speed dial is for Opera (blink), currently Opera 22 . It doesn't apply to Opera 12 (Opera presto). I haven't used Opera 12 in a while (I use Opera 22), but I took a look at it to see if I could help, and you might try something like this:
Go to: Tools > Preferences > Search
Select search engine which is used in your speed dial (Google, if default)
Click on Edit > Details > uncheck “Use as Speed Dial search engine” (You can even uncheck "Use as default search engine" and see if that works.You could also try making another search engine your default from the main Opera address bar. For example, I have Duck Duck Go as one of my engines. So Tools > Preferences > Search. So I highlighted DuckDuckGo, and then went to Edit > Details > put a check in Use as Default Search Engine, and then I did a search from the main address bar, and the search was done with DuckDuckGo. Success.
You can even go to Tools > Preferences > Search and highlight Google as a search engine and try to delete it. I didn't try that though, because I don't want to delete it. Anyway, who cares if it's there, as long as you can make another engine your default. You could even add a DuckDuckGo search bar to the speed dial page easily enough.
On Start Page, go to https://www.startpage.com/. Then right click on the search bar there, choose, create search, and put it a keyword (usually one letter will do it) (try an "s"). One letter only doesn't work if it's already being used. Then it becomes an Opera Search engine.
For DuckDuckGo, the same thing. Go to: https://duckduckgo.com/. Then right click on the search bar there, choose, create search, and put it a keyword (usually one letter will do it)(try a "d"). Then it becomes an Opera Search engine.
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linuxmint7 last edited by
Any of my fellow Opera users have any suggestion how to stop this?
Going back to a version of Opera prior to 12.15 (12.14 for example), as that was the version (12.15) that first featured the inability to change ones default search engine from anything but the ones that were provided. This security feature was introduce (by Opera) because hackers (and sites too IIRC) could take advantage of the fact that there was the ability to change a users default search engine without them even knowing about it. Which could lead to all sorts of dubious and maybe even malicious activities being performed on or to the unsuspecting user. So Opera have put a stop to it. Hopefully only till they (Opera) devise a way to make it safe for users to choose their own (default) search engines without putting them at any possible risk of abuse via the ability for a user to defined there own default search engines.
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linuxmint7 last edited by
@lem729 Nope not possible, as zeezelot has said, it will just return and be set as default the next time you start Opera 12.15, 12.16 or 12.17. Opera 12.14 and below are the only versions that have the ability to set ANY search engine as the default, permanently.
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lem729 last edited by
I just added Duck Duck Go, and Start Page to Opera 12.17. I followed the procedure I suggested. For example, for DDG, I went to Tools > Preferences > Search. I highlighted DuckDuckGo, and then went to Edit > Details > put a check in Use as Default Search Engine, and then I did a search from the main address bar, and the search was done with DuckDuckGo. Success.
I followed the same approach and was able to get Start Page as a default engine in Opera 12.17. I was able to add engines, and make them default.
I'm using Windows 7, and it works for me. To summarize, I was able to make DuckDuckGo a default search engine in Opera 12.17. I was able to make Start Page a default search engine in Opera 12.17. I could add, I believe now, any engine to Opera 12.17 and make it a default.
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lem729 last edited by
:))) Oh well.
Now, if you are going to keep the browser open all day, follow the procedure I outlined. It's a few simple clicks, and then you can type from the main address bar, without using the code letter, and you will have that new default engine, until you close the browser. So you'd have to go to Tools > Preferences > Search. Highlight the engine you want as default while the browser is open -- let's say DuckDuckGo -- and then go to Edit > Details > put a check in Use as Default Search Engine.
But linuxmint7 is right. It only works while the browser is open. Once you close it and open it again, what you've changed is lost. Sorry there. I thought I had made a discovery.
Looking at the bright side of things, by following the procedure I recommended on getting rid of the Google Search bar from the Speed Dial, you have succeeding in hiding it. When I closed and opened Opera 12.17, and went to the Speed Dial page, the Google Search bar was gone.
