Windows 10: change the default search engine in Cortana - how it works

If you use Cortana on Windows 10 to search the Internet, Bing will always open. However, you can change the default search engine. We'll tell you what you have to do.

Google Chrome: Change Cortana's default search engine

Regardless of whether you use Firefox, Microsoft Edge or Chrome as the default browser, Cortana always uses Bing for Internet searches. With a little trick you can also use Google:

1. First start Google Chrome and install the extension "Bing2Google" here by clicking on "Download" and "Add to Chrome".
2. Then open the Windows settings with the key combination [Windows] + [I].
3. In the "System" category, select the "Standard apps" option in the left column.
4. Scroll down a bit and select "Google Chrome" under "Web browser".
5. If you search for something on the internet with Cortana, Google starts automatically. Of course, you can also use other addons such as "Chrometana" and set DuckDuckGo or YahooSearch as the default search engine, for example.

Mozilla Firefox: Change Cortana's default search engine

If you mainly use Firefox, you can also install an addon here and redirect the Cortana search queries:

1. To do this, start your web browser and download the free extension "Bing-Google".
2. Then, as described above, you must set Firefox as the default browser. To do this, open the settings with the key combination [Windows] + [I].
3. First click on "System" and then on "Standard Apps".
4. In the "Web browser" section, choose the entry "Mozilla Firefox".
5. Now you can use Cortana as usual. You will now get your search results from Google instead of Bing.

Microsoft Edge: Change Cortana's default search engine

Users of the new Microsoft Edge browser can also change Cortana's standard search engine. There is no addon, but you can change the search engine yourself:

1. Open Microsoft Edge and go to the Google website.
2. Then click on the three dots at the top right and decide in the menu for the entry "Settings".
3. Now scroll down a bit and click on "Show advanced settings".
4. In the "Search in address bar with" section, click "Add new".
5. Then select "www.google.de" from the list and save your settings with "Add as default".
6. Finally, open the Windows settings with the key combination [Windows] + [I] and click on "Standard apps" under "System".
7. In the "Web browser" area, select "Microsoft Edge" and close the browser.
8. Searches from Cortana will appear in Edge via Google in the future.

Better "googling": With these tricks you get to your goal faster

You do not have to type your question to search the Internet with Cortana. Instead, activate the "Hey Cortana" function and speak your search query out loud.