How To Disable SearchWiki

SearchWiki was introduced by Google a couple of weeks ago. This new search feature allows logged-in users to annotate, reorder and comment on search results. Users can customize their searches so that their future search on the same item will show the customized result. The comments added on the search results will also be shown in the future. SearchWiki was created to facilitate users with more useful and dynamic ways of doing searches. However, some bloggers have expressed their dissatisfaction with this Google SearchWiki. The usability is awful; the comments added by users encourage spamming, etc. SearchWiki does not feature any built-in mechanism for users to disable it. If you are amongst the anti-SearchWiki individuals and have decided to disable this feature, there are a few methods you can try to turn off this search feature.

Logout Google Account
The most straightforward way to disable SearchWiki of course is to log out your Google account. Clicking on the familiar “logout” button in the top right corner from your page will turn off SearhWiki. Of course this method will create inconvenience for users.

Amending URL
Another workable way of turning off Google SearchWiki is by adding a small parameter at the end of your iGoogle account. If you have set iGoogle as your default homepage, your typical url address is http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en. You can modify the URL by appending this parameter “&hl=all”. Your new URL will become something like this http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en&hl=all Subsequent searches using this URL will not show the SearchWiki feature anymore.

Install Greasemonkey Extension
Firefox users can opt for this option to disable SearchWiki by installing a plugin call Greasemonkey extension. Greasemonkey plugin can be downloaded via the link here. After installing it, restart your browser and add in the No SearchWiki Script. This measure will stop SeachWiki from continueing even when users log in to their Google account. This No SearchWiki Script also works for Opera. For Opera users, just go to Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Content > JavaScript Options. Choose a folder in the “User JavaScript files” box and then save the script in that folder to make it work.

Besides the “No SearchWiki Script”, another script users could try is the “Searchwiki on/off” script. This script gives users option to turn on/off the Google SearchWiki as they like. To add in this script, follow the same method as above.

Enable one of Google’s “search experiments”
Another way to get rid of Google SearhWiki is to join Google’s other search experiments (other than “SearchWiki with sound”). Joining any of these experiments will automatically disable SearhWiki. This method is quite simple. However, the downside of doing this is users might be stuck with another search view that might be as bad as or worse than SearchWiki.