FOUND THE ANSWER...WOO HOO...
Ok, that was annoying me too. Some of my favorites I don't want to show up in the address bar.
The feature you are referring to is the AutoComplete feature.
Here is how to turn it off.
Click on "Tools" -> "Internet Options"-> Click on the middle tab called "Content"
The third section down is called "AutoComplete"
Click on the "settings" button in the "AutoComplete" section
In the window that pops up, you'll see the ability to control
how your address bar uses AutoComplete.
The top check box says "Address Bar"
Under that, you will see
-Browsing history
-Favorites
I unchecked favorites, saved and closed everything, then opened a new browser
and tried it out.
NO MORE suggestions.
That setting is for autocompleting suggestions from your browsing history and favorites.
I would uncheck both if using a shared computer.
Let me know if that helps.
Later,
Brian
IE8 How Turn Off Suggested Sites
I discovered an easier method. Right click on the Favorites button (upper left), and unclick "Favorites Bar".
It doesn't really FIX the problem, but...
Hi,
I agree that the 'Suggested Sites' button cannot be removed. As others have written, it can be rt-click Deleted, but it always comes back. After trying just about everything else I could find on the topic, here's what I did to 'fix' the problem/annoyance in my current XP SP3/IE8 configuration:
in <C:>\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\Favorites\Links *:
1. rt-click on the Suggested Sites.url file
2. select Properties then General tab
3. click on the Attributes: Hidden checkbox then click Ok
It'll still be there in the Favorites Bar, but at least you won't have to see it.
Good luck
* At least in XP (dunno about 7; not using that until next week ;-), in the Folders pane of windows explorer, '\Links' shows up as 'Favorites Bar'. However in the Address field, it shows up as '\Links' so that's why I typed it that way