In the tope right corner of Safari is a search box that says Google. Anything you type into this box is searched from google.com (At least on my macbook).

There is no way using normal user options to change this from google.com. Back in the good old days ™ you could edit the Safari binary file with vi and change the link, but as of current versions, this cannot be done.

I’m sure Apple have their reasons for forcing the search engine to Google. It sends safari as an extra field in the querystring so I can only guess that Apple make money for every search made using that box. Furthermore, if you try and change your homepage to google, Safari will pop up with the following friendly message.

Dammit Apple, I just want to use google.co.uk from my toolbar – I don’t care how much money you make from it, surely you make the same money if I use google.com or google.co.uk. If anything, Google’s adverts are more geographically targeted when I use the UK alternative.

After a lot of searching to fix/hack the result I want, it seems no-one has been successful.

Enter Inquisitor…

Inquisitor replaces the Safari Google search box with a new one.

The search box returns suitable results while you type and offers autocomplete. Hitting enter will always forward you to the selected search engine.

A new settings tab appears in Safari Preferences allowing you to customise the search box.

More than anything, I can now search direct on google.co.uk from the safari toolbar.

Thanks for nothing Apple.