A permanent solution which can be done safely via your browser is as follows:

Internet Explorer

While Internet Explorer is a good browser in many respects, it is very limited in the extent to which it can be customized using relatively simple methods. This is one of the reasons why you may wish to explore the option of using one of the other free web browsers. I personally use and recommend Firefox as an excellent balance between ease of use and functionality, security, and the greatest customization potential - see my Firefox Tweak Guide for more details.

However there is a way of customizing IE using the free IE7Pro Add-on which despite its name works with IE8. Follow these instructions:

1. Download and install IE7Pro, but during installation make sure the 'Enable Userscripts Plugin' option is ticked, and then select the 'Do not install ProgSense' option. Upon launching IE, if prompted to allow IE7Pro access through your Firewall, you can cancel such requests for our purposes.

2. Open Windows Explorer, right-click in an empty spot in a directory and select 'New>Text Document'. Open this document and copy and paste all the text from the following user script into it. Save this document and rename it DisableGoogleBar.ieuser.js.

3. Move the DisableGoogleBar.ieuser.js file to your \Program Files (x86)\IEPro\userscripts directory - note the (x86) part of the directory name doesn't exist on 32-bit versions of Windows.

4. In Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu and select 'IE7Pro Preferences', then click the 'User Scripts' item in the left window of the preferences box, click the 'Reload All Scripts' button and tick the 'Hide Google Sidebar' box, then click OK.

5. There's no need to restart Internet Explorer, simply go to the Google Search page and search results should now appear without the Everything Bar. If the bar is still there, press CTRL+F5 to force refresh the page and load the new CSS style.

6. If you wish to disable the additional toolbar IE7Pro installs, right-click on the toolbar area and untick the new 'Grab Pro' item. This will also remove the 'IE7Pro Preferences' item in the Tools menu - you can re-enable this at any time by right-clicking on the toolbar area and reticking the 'Grab Pro' item.

IE7Pro also allows a wide range of other features for Internet Explorer, though its use requires careful consideration as it can destabilize Internet Explorer if you make too many custom changes.

Firefox

To remove the Google Everything Bar in Firefox, you will need to edit a UserContent.css file to add customized code. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the following folder:

Windows XP - \Documents and Settings\[Username]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[randomstring.default]\chrome\

Windows Vista or Windows 7 - \Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[randomstring.default]\chrome\

OSX - ~/Library/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/[profile folder]/chrome or ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/[profile folder]/chrome

2. Rename the existing UserContent-example.css file to UserContent.css, or create a new text document with that name.

3. Open the file with Notepad or any text editor.

4. At the bottom of the file, copy and paste the following text into the document exactly as shown:

/* Remove Google Everything Bar*/
@-moz-document url-prefix(http://www.google)
{ div#leftnav { display: none !important; }
#center_col { margin-left: 0px !important; } }

5. Save the document and close it.

Close all instances of Firefox and then restart it, and when you next launch a Google search, on the search results page you should see the familiar (old) appearance for search results. If you find the script doesn't work, change the http://www.google portion shown above to exactly match the Google Search domain you use. To undo this change, simply follow steps 1 - 3 above but this time delete the text above and save the document, then close and restart Firefox. Note that the full details of how to add custom CSS code to Firefox are on this page of the Firefox Tweak Guide, including samples of other useful codes.

Google Chrome

To remove the Google Everything Bar in Google's own Chrome browser, unfortunately you cannot simply edit a user-based CSS file as in Firefox, so the best way to accommodate customization to the appearance of web pages is with the free Stylist Extension. Install Stylist, and then follow these steps:

1. Click the spanner icon at the top right of Chrome and select Extensions.

2. Click the Options button next to the 'Chrome Stylist' extension and select the Styles tab.

3. Click the 'Add new style' button, then in the box presented with the greyed 'Stylesheet text' prompt, copy and paste the following text:

div#leftnav { display: none !important; }
#center_col { margin-left: 0px !important; }

4. Enter a name in the 'Style Name' box at the top (e.g. Remove Everything Bar), then click the 'Prefix' drop-down box and select 'domain', then in the 'Site Domain' box enter the URL you normally use for Google Search, e.g. www.google.com or www.google.com.au, www.google.co.uk, etc., and finally, click the Save button at the bottom of the box.

There is no need to close or restart Chrome, the change will be implemented immediately. If at any time you want to disable or remove this change, follow steps 1 - 2 above then click the box with the name of this style, and either click the Disable button to stop it, or click the Del button to remove it altogether.

Opera

To remove the Google Everything Bar in Opera, you will need to create a custom CSS file which Opera can then force Google to use when loading in your browser instead of its default one. Follow these steps:

1. In Windows Explorer create a new text file by right-clicking in an empty area under a directory and select 'New>Text Document'. Open this document and copy and paste the following text into it:

div#leftnav { display: none !important; }
#center_col { margin-left: 0px !important; }

2. Save this document and rename it google.css.

3. Copy this file to the \Program Files (x86)\Opera\styles\ directory - note the (x86) part of the directory name doesn't exist on 32-bit versions of Windows.

4. Open Opera and browse to the main Google Search page, then right-click in an empty area of the page and select 'Edit Site Preferences'.

5. Select the Display tab and at the bottom of the dialog box click the Choose button, navigate to and select your custom google.css file, then click OK.

You do not need to close and restart Opera; the change will be implemented immediately when you refresh the page. To undo this change you can either delete the google.css file, or follow steps 1 - 5 above, this time removing google.css from the end of the file path under the Display tab.

That's Too Much Work!

While I have tested all of the methods above and they are guaranteed to work, I can understand that some casual computer users might be hesitant to undertake these changes. The methods above are the safest and least intrusive ways of undertaking the task of removing the Google Everything Sidebar - at least until Google listens to feedback and implements this option themselves. If you insist on using a fully automated way of incorporating these changes, you can try the free plugins provided here for Firefox and Chrome users. However note that I haven't tested these plugins, and generally speaking I don't recommend automated software or plugins like this, particularly from unknown third parties, unless there is absolutely no other recourse. Aside from potential security risks, additional programs and plugins also take up more system resources and can lead to potential problems later on, so their use is best minimized.

Other Google Customization Tweaks

Historically, as companies have grown and diversified, they have often lost sight of their original vision. Google was founded on a simple yet extremely powerful and streamlined Internet search tool. It would be sad to see them slip into the realm of other less successful search engines which through the combination of a cluttered interface and too much interference with their user's desires to undertake searches, all lost their position in the hearts and minds of Internet denizens. Already I've found the way in which Google likes to 'fade in' the links on the main search page, offer unhelpful query suggestions, 'personalize' my search results and automatically 'localize' itself to be completely unwanted. You can set your general Google settings by clicking the 'Search Settings' link at the top right of Google, which allows you to disable the Query Suggestions feature for example. The localization, personalization and fade-in features require a bit more effort to adjust:

Disable Localized Google: If you find Google forcing you to use a country-specific version of Google, such as Google Australia instead of regular Google, then set your Google home page or bookmark to the following address: http://www.google.com/ncr - this will display the generic Google Search window, and search results will now always be from Google proper rather than those customized to suit your region.

Prevent Personalized Search Results: Since late 2009 Google began customizing your search results over time based on not only your location but by also storing a history of what you click. This means that over time the search results which appear for you will be different from those which other people see. Some people may not want this feature because its predictive nature may work against what you actually wish to find, and secondly, because we often want to see what others see as the result of a Google search (e.g. to check search rankings for a particular term). To disable this feature you will need to launch a search from the main Google Search page, then click the 'Web History' link which appears at the top right of the search results page. Now click the 'Disable customizations based on search activity' link, and any subsequent searches you perform will show standard and not customized results. If you are logged in via a Google account, you may also wish to manage your web history in more detail.

Disable Link Fade-in: In late 2009 Google introduced a new way in which several links were displayed on its main Google Search page - they now fade into view after several seconds, or when you move your mouse. This can be annoying for some people, but given it's a javascript-based effect, the easiest way to disable it is to disable javascript in your browser. However disabling javascript also prevents certain sites and features from working properly, so a better method to just remove the fade-in for Google Search is as follows:

/*Disable Google Search Fade-in*/
div#ghead, #sbl, .fade, #fctr{ opacity: 1 !important; }

div#ghead, #sbl, .fade, #fctr{ opacity: 1 !important; }

Disable New Google Image Search View: As of July 2010, Google has changed the way images are displayed for some people when you do a search using Google Image Search. It now provides just a gallery of images with no description of the image, its size or the site on which it is hosted, as shown here. You can enable a size tag for each image by going to the Everything Sidebar and clicking the 'Show Sizes' link at the bottom while in Image view. You can also see more details of each image simply by hovering your mouse over it.

Update: The methods below are not necessary for most users, as Google now provides a simple way to revert back to the classic Image Search view: after launching an image search, scroll down to the very bottom of the results page and click the 'Switch to basic version' link. However this choice may not remain in effect unless you are logged in with a Google account, in which case you can use the methods below to force the basic version.

If you don't like the new Google Image Search view and want to force the older version to be displayed instead, the most foolproof way is to disable Javascript as follows:

However disabling JavaScript can also disable useful features on various sites or prevent them from working properly. A better alternative is to disable/enable JavaScript on a per-site basis where possible:

For the moment it appears disabling JavaScript in the manner above returns Google Image Search to its old version.

Conclusion

I hope you've found this quick guide useful. If you're new to TweakGuides and wish to learn more about customizing and optimizing your Windows-based PC, please check the comprehensive TweakGuides Tweaking Companion PDF e-books for all the details you need.

Until next time, take care!

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