“Top Apps” Section Appears at the Top of Taskbar Search Fly-out in Windows 10
If you are annoyed by the new “Top Apps” section added at the top of Taskbar Search fly-out in Windows 10 and want to disable or remove the section, this article may provide you some useful information.
Many people who upgraded to newer versions of Windows 10, are complaining regarding this annoying issue. I have received many emails and comments from readers regarding this problem.
Actually in newer Windows 10 versions, if you click on Search box present on the Taskbar, a new section “Top Apps” is shown at the top of the Windows Search fly-out or pop-up as shown in following screenshot:
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You can see in above screenshot, “Top Apps” section is pinned at the top of Windows Search fly-out and it displays frequently used apps or suggested apps by Microsoft such as Microsoft Edge, Notepad, File Explorer, Settings, etc.
There is no option or setting provided to remove the “Top Apps” section from Windows Search. I checked the 3-dots menu present at the top-right corner of Windows Search fly-out and I found “Search Settings” option but it opened Search section in default Settings app which only allows customizing a few search related settings such as safe search, cloud content search, history, search index, etc.
If you right-click on an app’s thumbnail or tile present inside “Top Apps” section in Search fly-out, you get following options:
- Pin to Start
- Pin to Taskbar
- App settings
More options are available for program shortcuts such as run as administrator, open file location and app-specific options.
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Many Windows 10 users want to get rid of this new “Top Apps” section showing in Windows Search fly-out. Following are some emails and comments sent by readers:
Win10 USER:
In Windows 10 version 1903, desktop search, via Start Menu or using Search icon, there is TOP APPS added. I have everything disabled, history, etc off, and yet, MS lists these icons (apps). There has to be a way to remove this. Now keep in mind , if you click the Start Menu logo, and type something and then backup and erase your typing to type something else, at that moment, TOP APPS shows up. Is there a tweak to stop this or does a DLL file have to be modded?
Web User:
Speaking of apps, what about the TOP APPS in Desktop Search now on Windows 10. It never changes. I disabled all history/usage/tracking in Windows 10, yet it just shows the same old top apps, not the web browser, I use all the time and better yet, not. It shows the last app I installed, used once, and it just stays in the list. I guess one would have to use some editor program to remove or mod a DLL file, I assume. I haven’t dug into that deep.
Simon:
What about “TOP APPS” in the start menu, when you do a search, it pops up at the top. How can one remove the icons. With all the tweaks I have done to Windows, they just stay the same, so I stopped it from changing them, I just would like to clear them out. It seems no one has a solution yet for it on the web.
The worst thing is that you can’t remove any program shortcut shown in “Top Apps” section. Microsoft should at least provide an option to delete or remove unwanted items from “Top Apps” section by right-clicking on a shortcut and select “Delete” or “Remove” option.
I can provide following suggestion to remove/disable or get rid of new “Top Apps” section from Search fly-out in newer Windows 10 versions. It’s not a solution but a workaround to hide the “Top Apps” section (kind of):
1. First of all remove the Search box from Taskbar. Right-click on empty area in Taskbar and select “Search -> Hidden” option.
It’ll immediately remove Search box from Taskbar.
2. Now whenever you need to search for something, press WIN key or click on Start button. Now start typing the search term and Windows 10 will start searching for it using Windows Search just like you searched using Taskbar Search box as shown in following screenshot:
This way, you’ll not see “Top Apps” section and will directly get search results.
I’ll try to look into Registry and DLL files and if I find something useful, I’ll update this article.
UPDATE:
You can replace the default Search box with new floating search bar UI which will not show “Top Apps” section any more. Check out following tutorial to learn how to activate and enable new floating search bar UI in Windows 10:
[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret Immersive Search Bar UI in Windows 10
Also Check:
[Fix] “Show Most Used Apps” Option Grayed Out in Windows 10 Start Settings
[Fix] Windows 10 Search Showing “We’re Getting Search Ready” Message
[Windows 10 Fix] Newly Installed Programs won’t Show in Start Menu Search
Have there been any updates in this? Was anyone able to fully remove top apps?
You still see the top apps in start menu search if you erase (backspace) the search string.
I have a different, but related problem. Whenever I press or click the Start button, the Search/Top Apps window opens on top of it, obscuring the left half of the Start Menu and making half the icons inaccessible. This started with the installation of 1904 and has persisted through to the current 20H2 version.
Do you have a solution for this? I’ve been able to work around it, but I would love to get the other half of my Start menu back.
^^ Please share a screenshot.
facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1243336626053171&set=a.223865328000311&type=3&theater
The search window will open by itself, but I haven’t found any way to open the Start menu by itself.
^^ Did you try following?
https://www.askvg.com/fix-start-menu-not-working-in-windows-10-may-2020-update-version-2004/
Wow! That fixed it !! Thank you !!!