Windows 10: How can I remove the picture in the search area on the taskbar?

Recently, cartoon-style images have been appearing in the general area of the taskbar for search the area which on my system says "Type here to search". I find them distracting and out-of-character for the work I want to do. How can I remove them?

:)

 

Quick Access not searching Pictures folder

Summary, that last suggestion didn't work.

• I moved the pictures to another folder temporarily.

• Then I tried to remove the Pictures folder with option one at Add or Remove Folders from This PC in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials. Even after rebooting, the Pictures folder remained.
• So I tried using option two. Same thing: reboot >> Pictures folder still there.

• Since there were no troubleshooting steps for this scenario, just for the heck of it, I ran through the restore steps. Copied some pictures into the Pictures folder, ran a Quick Access search and initial problem remains: Searching all of QA doesn't find any files in Pictures folder, running search on just the Pictures folder does. I want to run a global search and find matching files in any/all of the Documents, Music, Videos, and Pictures folders.

That article dates from 2015 and I'm guessing is out of date. I hope it didn't create potential future problems in my registry.

Bottom line: I'm still looking for a fix.

 

How to remove the Notification Area on the right of the screen

Hi,

Follow the steps below and check if that helps.

• Type Taskbar Notification area on Search and hit
  Enter.
• Under Taskbar you may Turn off notifications as per your requirement.
• Under Notification area click on Select which icons to appear on Taskbar
  also Turn system icon on or off and you may Turn off notifications as per your requirement.

Hope this helps. Thank you.

 

Taskbar Scroll Bar Removal

Hi Nick,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

Follow the below mentioned steps and check if it helps.

• Right-click on an empty area of the Windows taskbar. Click to clear the checkmark from the "Lock the Taskbar" option if needed.
• Then right-click an empty area of the taskbar, and then select "Properties."
• Click to place a check in the "Group Similar Taskbar Buttons" box. Click "Apply" followed by "OK" to confirm the changes. This option combines multiple instances of the same application into a single taskbar button. If this does not remove the scroll arrows,
  continue to the next step.
• Hover your mouse cursor over the border between the Windows taskbar and the desktop until a double-arrow icon replaces the standard pointer.
• Click the taskbar border and drag it upward to double the height of the taskbar. Any icons on the second row will be displayed, and the scroll arrows will vanish.

Keep us posted for any concerns with windows, we're glad to assist you.