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How To Disable/Enable Google Instant Search

by | Wednesday, 08th Sep 2010 | 27 Comments | Share

Google Instant is a new real-time search experience which provides results even before you can type and also allows you to quickly view results for autocomplete suggestions.

Google Instant Weather Results

Google Instant not only provides you with Instant search results, it also provides you with instant autocomplete suggestions to enhance your search experience. Google Instant will be rolled out to users across the world in a phased manner.

If you want to disable or enable Google Instant Search you will need to visit your preference page, and you can turn off Google Instant by clicking the link next to the search box on any search results page, or by visiting your Preferences page.

You can enable the Instant Search by visiting the Preferences page and clicking the link next to the search box again.

Tip: As a temporary solution, if you cannot enable the search right now, you can visit http://www.google.com/instant and click on the "Try it Now" button to enable it. You might have to clear cookies in order to disable it later on.

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I am the editor-in-chief and owner of Techie Buzz. I love coding and have contributed to several open source projects in the past. You can know more about me and my projects by visiting my Personal Website.I am also a social networking enthusiast and can be found active on twitter, you can follow Keith on twitter @keithdsouza. You can click on my name to visit my Google+ profile.

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  1. Matthew Watts on September 8th, 2010 at 6:20 pm #

    I’d also mention that if you aren’t using one of the data centers that have it on by default, it’ll enable once you log into Google using a Google Account.

  2. no on September 9th, 2010 at 5:49 am #

    “you can visit http://www.google.com/instant and click on the “Try it Now” button to enable it”

    That doesn’t work. All it does is take me to the normal google search page and behave normally.

  3. FreemonSandlewould on September 13th, 2010 at 10:28 am #

    Are you only getting 10 search results when you google ? Have you tried setting your number of search results on your search preference page a over and over again only to get 10 results?!

    The problem is someone at google massively goofed. They have a new thing called “Google Instant” that if it is clicked on your preference page no matter what you do you will only get 10 results!

    Now mind you they say google instant will save gobs of time. Except I just spent about 2 hours trying to find how to get 100 results per page! And to add insult to injury I did not select this setting. Google must have foisted it on me with no option flagged to me. AWFUL!

    Added Note: When I finally realized that the problem was not my computer and was indeed a problem engineered by google I thought that was the end of it. I could set my preference away from google instant and they would leave me alone.

    This is not the case. I woke up this morning and first query of the day what do I see? Only 10 results! So I open the search preferences page again and there it is! Google instant is selected again!

    Hey Google stop changing my search settings!

    No wonder you Google creeps like Obama. You are social engineers just like him! You should take note of his plummeting approval polls. This is not good for business! Stop fcuking with my search settings!

    • Bob Jones on May 31st, 2011 at 8:45 am #

      Idiot republican. Go get teabagged.

      • mj12 on October 3rd, 2011 at 9:42 pm #

        @Bob Jones
        “Idiot Republican. Go get teabagged.”
        You’re the one getting “tea bagged” and you don’t even know it… in fact I’d say you rather enjoy it, given that inspite of what Obama, I refuse to refer to him as “president”, has done to the economics of this country, you apparently still support that a$$hole. If that jerk were to knock on my door, I’d slam the door in his face. You get exactly what you deserve… a socialist agenda pushing long-legged-mack-daddy that has highjacked the Whitehouse, whose country of birth is still in question. Now, regarding the supposed “birth certificate” that turned up in Hawaii… I personally know a person who forged a “birth certificate” with which he obtained a driver’s license, a voter’s registration, a social security card, a library card and yes… a US passport! So don’t try and pawn the garbage off on me.

    • top1095 on December 11th, 2011 at 10:26 am #

      Its a sorry piece of SHIT!

  4. FoleyIsGood on September 14th, 2010 at 12:40 pm #

    No option to enable it and the “Try it Now” button doesn’t help either.

  5. Fatman on September 17th, 2010 at 6:27 am #

    Thanks Keith. Google Instant was driving me nuts. Whatever possessed them and made them believe I can’t wait until I press enter for my search results?

  6. help4google on September 20th, 2010 at 7:50 am #

    http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&as_qdr=all

  7. ramiro160 on October 4th, 2010 at 4:02 pm #

    I finally found how to do get 100 results:

    1. Go to search setting.
    2. De-select Google instant.
    2. Keep the number of results at 10.
    3. Save your preferences.
    4. Return again to search setting.
    5. Change the number of results displayed to 100 (or whatever you want),
    6. Save again your preferences.

    Two months to figure out how to do it.!!!!

    • Ramesh on January 18th, 2011 at 11:51 am #

      thanks !!

    • Vinay on September 1st, 2011 at 4:52 pm #

      all i got is this stupid message.

      The requested URL /setprefs?sig=0_qBO1kPx_AnI_9EmSvYqw__Q-Ie0%3D&hl=en&uulo=0&muul=4_20&luul=&safeui=images&suggon=2&num=10&q=&prev=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D2%26ved%3D0CDEQFjAB%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.ca%252Fpreferences%253Fhl%253Den%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dpeferences%26ei%3DDvBfTo2jJObPmAXMo9jbDQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNEV_N40N_SqdlNpWeXxQcKx2knsbQ&submit2=Save+Preferences+ was not found on this server. That’s all we know

  8. Tim on October 9th, 2010 at 7:12 pm #

    Thanks – Disabling it will now be the first thing I do when I start searching.

    Google instant is a mess – a real pain in the neck. Why did they do it? I also like to search with 100 options per page and that can only be done if google instant is disabled.

    Hopefully they will get rid of this irritant.

    • Bill on March 16th, 2011 at 6:10 pm #

      I couldn’t agree more. There is nothing magic about the first characters in a search query … more often than not the following characters are essential to define the search. Attempts to second guess what the user really wants usually get it wrong.

      Having stuff pop up on the screen in the middle of a query is like having someone interrupt you in the middle of a sentence. It’s rude and annoying.

  9. sozcaps on October 10th, 2010 at 4:38 am #

    If you’re searching for means to remove google search suggestions/queries as well as google instant, this is how:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KIARsxYQlc

  10. Rachel on June 15th, 2011 at 12:42 am #

    I’ve been using Bing and Yahoo since this crappy Google Instant started. Fecking annoying, it wastes more time than it saves.

  11. jsgg on June 28th, 2011 at 6:36 am #

    But the thing is that I have to log in every time – thereby compromising the last bit of my privacy.

  12. Jsgg on June 29th, 2011 at 3:07 pm #

    If you use Firefox simply install Noscript addon and mark google.com as untrusted. This will turn off autocomplete and Instant search

  13. Max Brenner on June 30th, 2011 at 1:12 pm #

    When I am signed it going to preferences does not disable instant search.

    So this article is a LIE!

    I want to get rid to ths f____ thing!

    HOW???!!!

  14. G-Nstant Sucks on September 3rd, 2011 at 10:35 am #

    Google Instant SUCKS! I will use good language here but the loathing and hate I have for instant is beyond decent words. I know you posted this article a long time ago.. but the problem that google didnt tell you and anyone else is that Google Instant is always set on by default and even if you have your cookies set right the preference where google instant is on alayws reverts back. Its google way of making you go to their top ads. When typing in google instant the top three results are always ads google sold to and this is the way google forces you to go to sites they sell ads to.
    Google instant is another example of how Google has become another blood sucking vampire squide of the corporate world.

  15. Barney Fife on September 13th, 2011 at 11:19 pm #

    They “fixed” Google and made it worse. So typical.

  16. Åžikeci Fener on September 21st, 2011 at 11:05 pm #

    It didn’t work for me. I disabled it but when I restart the browser instant search is on as well as Location thing. grrr. Now I’ll try Noscript.

  17. Åžikeci Fener on September 21st, 2011 at 11:13 pm #

    http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0&hl=en

    Thanks humpty similar link worked for me. I don’t want to be directed to what governments want anymore. I don’t want to think the way as those idiots desire.

  18. mj12 on October 3rd, 2011 at 9:10 pm #

    I hate it, especially after I turn it off, only to see it turned back on a day or two later, and I’m still logged on. I wish they’d give the user the option to turn it off permanently! At least until I explicitly turn it back on… which I’d never do. Maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to work, but it ain’t working like that for me.

  19. noblefilet14@gmail.com on November 27th, 2011 at 2:22 pm #

    I don’t ike the google instant related. How do i remove it?

  20. sushmitha on January 25th, 2012 at 6:17 pm #

    It’s great