How to Turn Off Google Instant -- And Other Things to Know about Google Instant

Last week, Google rolled out its new "instant" brand of search, so by now you've no doubt been exposed to search results on the Web appearing as fast as you can type. So now that you've had a chance to use it a little, here are a few things you should know about Google's newest search enhancement.

You can turn it off. If you find the experience of getting search results as soon as you type the first character of a search somewhat jarring, you can easily turn it off. The switch is to the right of the search box.

Some special operators require clicking the search button. If you like to filter your search results using operators like site:, for example, you won't see instant results.

Google Suggest is permanent. Even if you disable Google Instant, you can no longer turn off Google's as-you-type suggestions.

Google Suggest no longer includes your own previous searches. Google Suggest used to include your own searches from your history, which was handy since we commonly repeat many of our Web searches over and over.

You can no longer change the number of displayed results -- you get the number Google wants you to see, period. [via Google Tutor]