Trying to customize taskbar - Issues I noticed

I tried customizing in Windows 10 21H2 version the task bar. I wanted to make sure that I remove everything except Edge and File Explorer. I was able to achieve this but it was difficult for me to get rid of the store icon. 

I logged in as a local administrator and set all this up in StartLayout.xml and then modified the GPO. Disabled the store in GPO not to appear in task bar. But still it would appear. Next. I see this as an issue when you login as domain user that this gets applied when the user logs in and initially the user sees the SEARCH BAR then after sometimes the PowerShell script runs and removes the searchbar as shown below.

My question are:

1. Search bar was removed as a local administrator and the startlayout.xml file was exported, but why would it still show the search bar when you login as a domain user? 

2.  Edge Browser was placed after File Explorer in the XML file but it appears before the File Explorer

3. I had to run another PowerShell script to remove the STORE icon from the taskbar as it would not remove what was set in the Group Policy under

User Configuration\Administrative Tools\Start Menu and Taskbar\Show Windows Store apps on the toolbar - Disabled 

This is my  DefaultLayout.xml file

<LayoutModificationTemplate xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout" xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout" Version="1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification" xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout">
<LayoutOptions StartTileGroupCellWidth="6" />
<DefaultLayoutOverride>
<StartLayoutCollection>
<defaultlayout:StartLayout GroupCellWidth="6">
<start:Group Name="Productivity">
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Edge.lnk" />
</start:Group>
</defaultlayout:StartLayout>
</StartLayoutCollection>
</DefaultLayoutOverride>
<CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
<defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
<taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\System Tools\File Explorer.lnk"/>
<taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Edge.lnk" />
</taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
</defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
</CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>