How do I remove DuckDuckGo from the system

If I try to click any of the other search engines, it will not change...just goes back to DuckDuckGo. I have uncheck all the other stuff below(i.e. the "include" and the "Smart Search", rebooted a couple of times, and still stuck with DuckDuckGo.

I have a similar question. I can’t seem to locate Duckduckgo in order to delete it. Even when I go into ”About this Mac” and hit “System report” I can’t locate it. Attempting to follow the directions in Apple Communities such as “go to the extensions folder and delete” etc. don’t work. When I go into Safari, Preferences, Search, it will not allow me to switch to another search engine. Other ideas?

Already explained above. You don't delete it, you simply choose a different search engine. That you can't change it in Safari suggests a different problem entirely. Is this a Parental controlled user account? If so, that would be one reason why.

Ok so it may be a corrupt preferences file.

Navigate through your folder structure, Macintosh HD/Users/<Home>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.safari.plist

Note this file is in your Users/<Home>/Library which is hidden by default. To view it temporarily, in Finder click Go,

hold down the option/alt key and the Library should appear, click and a Finder window will appear, open Preferences

and find the safari plist, move to trash, don't empty yet. Restart your Mac open Safari and see if you can now switch

search engines. You will now have to enter your other preferences as you had before.

N.B. if the option/alt key does not show the Library try holding down the Shift key instead.

Thank you. Exactly. Took deleting EVERY .plist file. It had written itself into one of the preferences which was not clear in the name of any of the .plist files. Deleting 5 or so at the time got nowhere. Had to search out and delete every plist file and reboot and it then allowed me to change. All search engines but it seems particularly that one, have been massaged so much that rigorous searches aren't possible. That was what started the attempt to change it. Sinister.

To test and see if there's anything wrong with the OS itself, open the System Preferences and create a new Standard user account. It's just for a quick test, so the name or password doesn't need to be fancy.

Login to the new account and launch Safari. If you can correctly change the default search engine there, then the OS is fine, and the problem is somewhere specifically in your normal user account. If it exhibits the same problem, then it's a system wide issue. In which case, you should reinstall the OS.

Remove the test account when you're done checking the results.

It's not part of the OS, but rather a choice in each web browser.

In Safari, open its preferences. Click the Search heading. Change the drop down to whatever web search tool you prefer.

For Firefox, click the options bar icon (yes, it's a very vague icon) and then click the Preferences icon.

Click Search at the left. Change the default to your preferred search engine. Uncheck all others below that so they don't show up as optional choices.

For Firefox, hit the little down arrow next to the DDG icon in the search field (mine is showing Google encrypted), which brings up available search engines, and check the search engine you want to use. As Kurt said, there's nothing in the system to remove.

Just realized that if you don't have the addon Classic Theme Restorer, you won't see the search field I'm talking about.

As noted, I tried above remedies and it will not allow me to change. No, not a parental control issue.

From Safari Preferences> Search click on Search Engine and the submenu should expand, can you show us a screenshot.