To stop Windows from searching the web, you can do one of the following: ^{laptopmag.com 2 3 4 1}

• Open Start, type gpedit.msc and select the Group Policy Editor item to launch the Local Group Policy Editor. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search. Double-click on the policy "Do not allow web search".
• Click the notebook icon in the left pane. It's directly under the home (aka house) icon. Click Settings. A menu of Cortana options appears. Toggle "Cortana can give you suggestions . . . " to off. Toggle "Search online and include web results" to off.
• Click to open the search box in the taskbar. Click the Notebook icon. Click Settings from the list of options. On the Settings page, turn off the Cortana can give me suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts and more option. After disabling Cortana, turn off the Search online and include web results option.
• Open regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows. Create a new key (aka folder) called Explorer and navigate to it. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) registry key and name it DisableSearchBoxSuggestions. Double-click on DisableSearchBoxSuggestions to edit it and set the Value data field to 1and click OK. Close Regedit and reboot.