is setting google as my search engine still worth the effort?

what's it set to now, and did it change by itself? if it flipped to bing or yahoo right after you installed some free program, that program usually came with a bundled extra. uninstall that as well, otherwise you'll be setting google again every week.

It is a dropdown in a settings menu, so there is no effort to weigh up. A week on it means something is putting it back - an extension, or a work-managed browser.