Privacy and Security Change Bing SafeSearch Filters in Windows 11


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Web_Search_banner.png

This tutorial will show you how to change the SafeSearch filters for your account in Windows 11.

Windows Search lets you search from your taskbar to find what you’re looking for, whether it’s on your device, in the cloud, or on the web.

SafeSearch helps keep adult content out of your web previews. Windows Search relies on Bing technology to determine if search results include sensitive content before presenting them in web previews. If Bing determines results are deemed to include adult content, the preview pane will instead display a See web results button so you can open results in your web browser instead.

SafeSearch filtersDescription
StrictFilters adult text, images, and videos out of your search results.

If you select Strict, your setting will be shared with Bing in your browser. Bing will respect the Strict setting on the device regardless of your Bing SafeSearch setting on the Bing.com Settings page.
ModerateFilters adult images and videos, but not text, out of your search results. This is the default setting.

Bing search will default to using your Bing SafeSearch setting on the Bing.com Settings page.
OffDoesn't filter adult content.

Bing search will default to using your Bing SafeSearch setting on the Bing.com Settings page.

References:


Contents





Option One

Change SafeSearch Filters in Settings


1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Search permissions on the right side. (see screenshot below)

Open Search permissions settings

SafeSearch_Settings-1.png

3 Under SafeSearch, select (dot) Strict, Moderate (default), or Off for the filters you want.

4 You can now close Settings if you like.

SafeSearch_Settings-2.png





Option Two

Change SafeSearch Filters using REG file


1 Do step 2 (Strict), step 3 (Moderate), or step 4 (Off) below for what you want.

2 Change SafeSearch filters to Strict

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below you want to use, and go to step 5 below.​

Set_SafeSearch_filters_to_Strict.reg


(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SearchSettings]
"SafeSearchMode"=dword:00000002

3 Change SafeSearch filters to Moderate

This is the default setting.


A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.​

Set_SafeSearch_filters_to_Moderate.reg


(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SearchSettings]
"SafeSearchMode"=dword:00000001

4 Change SafeSearch filters to Off

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below you want to use, and go to step 5 below.​

Turn_off_SafeSearch_filters.reg


(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SearchSettings]
"SafeSearchMode"=dword:00000000

5 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

6 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

7 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

8 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it
Shawn Brink


 

Attachments

  • Web_Search.png
    Web_Search.png
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  • Set_SafeSearch_filters_to_Moderate.reg
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  • Set_SafeSearch_filters_to_Strict.reg
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  • Turn_off_SafeSearch_filters.reg
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Last edited:
Hi,
there is a typo in your article in section 2:
I think It should be "off" instead of "odd" :-)
1663414591785.png
 

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