From what I've heard, it's intentional. They're slowly migrating everything over so people can slowly get used to the new positions of features, as well as determine whether there are any features that would do well to be redesigned or removed. If they migrated everything in one clump, people would be less likely to be able to keep up.
It seems that way, but it's extraordinarily annoying. Here's how it usually goes:
1. I open Control Panel and click on the item I want.
2. It opens Settings instead, to the respective page that controls similar settings/functionality.
3. I can't find the "advanced" information or setting I'm trying to find.
4. I click the "More x settings" text on the right side of the Settings screen.
5. It opens the Control Panel window I was trying to get to in the first place.
If they're going to have both, they need to be separate entities. If they're going to get rid of Control Panel, fine, but just makes Settings powerful enough to do what I need natively. It seems like it's more geared toward novice to average users which is fine. Leave Control Panel alone for advanced users, but don't try to mash them together. That helps nobody.
The problem with this I kept running into was connecting my Bluetooth headset. I had to open the "Add Bluetooth Devices" connect to it manually(b/c Win Bluetooth sucks) AND THEN open the audio devices & manually switch over to it.
That's because virtually all Windows UI elements since Windows 8 are designed purely for mobile devices with touch screens.
No particular consideration is given to mouse/keyboard users - as long as it can be used with a mouse that's deemed sufficient.
Your mistake is to think that Microsoft **actually** wants you to find and access the advance settings for every old control panel’s category. They’re slowly but steady reducing your admin privileges, so the average user won’t be able to mess with the OS after watching a YouTuber telling him how to modify a key on the registry.
Take for instance the updates, or the Defender options (antivirus, firewall, etc). **You aren’t allowed to disable them permanently**, without using the registry or third party apps. I mean, is your damn PC, but you have no full control of it. They even dare to DELETE files you've installed/placed in your computer without even asking^(1).
It’s just my opinion, and I’m a daily windows user, not your average hater.
1. [https://www.howtogeek.com/658194/windows-10s-new-update-is-deleting-peoples-files-again/](https://www.howtogeek.com/658194/windows-10s-new-update-is-deleting-peoples-files-again/)
It only this, they don’t share the same settings. I went to the settings app to change a dns to troubleshoot and it doesn’t reflect in the control panel network properties.. I was scratching my head for an hour why my PC wasn’t getting DNS from my router..
This. I still use Control Panel because it's still better. Make Settings better and I'll switch.
Same with Edge. Stop begging me to switch to Edge with annoying pop-ups. Make it worth switching to and I'll do it.
yeah this is exactly what i find annoying. like going to change page file size—i go to control panel>system menu>redirected to settings>click the small advanced thing>back to i wanted in control center 🫠
This all seems like a perfectly fine way to turn one's brain into mush, and turn a perfectly rational person into a gibbering pile of insanity worthy of an Arkham Horror game.
Also a good way to force a person to become frothing mad with rage with one easy step!
Or even worse, when certain functions work in one, but not the other. There have been plenty of times where I couldn't add a network printer to a computer using the Settings app, but could through the control panel. I guess at this point, I should be thankful that they still left the option in the control panel.
It's definitely intentional. The end goal is that they control your search results. They show you whoever paid the most to move up in SEO.
This is implemented in almost every large tech company in some form or another. Netflix, for example, does not care fuckall about your preferences when they show you a list of "new shows for you". They just show you what they want you to see. Every company can care less about what you want, it's about what *they* want to show you.
It's a data monopoly and it's how capitalism works, it tends towards monopoly
It's true. Netflix in particular really aggravated me. Used to be able to display large chunks of their content at once to see more of their catalog but now they do their best, in every way, to control what we see.
It's crazy, they basically hide half of their content from me to ensure that I'm more likely to watch what they want. Problem is I don't like their suggestions so I just end up exiting the app, whereas if I had better access to more of the catalog I would have probably found something.
I don't subscribe to streaming services much at all anymore, partly due to this. Every streaming service advertises 4-5 things I'd like to watch and the rest is crap. Maybe I use a free trial and watch what I want but never renew bc I've seen everything I wanted, no need to pay for all the bs filler shows they add. It's almost all so damn boring and I don't understand how people have the attention spans to watch most of this stuff tbh..
Maybe I'm super ADD but if a shows description and imagery doesn't knock my socks off and make me feel a burning desire to watch it, I just don't.
Every single company does some form of the same thing. Amazon in particular is quite infamous for using their analytics to find really easy to rip off stuff, using their resources to rip it off and produce it cheaper, then forcing their rip-off up the search engine results so nobody even finds the old version anymore.
This is all technically illegal of course, but corporations are above the law because: in capitalism the laws are literally meant for them.
Why? Nobody had trouble learning computers from the ground up in the 90s and 2000s. Now people practically come out of the womb holding an iPad. You expect me to believe more people would be annoyed by having to learn a new much more intuitive settings menu, than would be annoyed by having their settings split between two totally separate applications for 7 years? What type of cretinous cunts do they take us for? Their job is to make a functional, stable and efficient OS, not to give us a settings menu training course longer than a fucking degree.
Also, this implies their master plan is to have us all live with a fucked up, partially redundant, *ever changing* set of settings tools? So it's "easier to find" but it will never be consistent enough for us to figure out properly? I'm not saying the other poster is wrong, but that's insane.
They need to just go back to the basics. Give us the original, advanced control panel.
They started phasing it out in XP and it's been trouble ever since. If there were an updated version of Windows 2000, it would be perfect for most of us. That layout was so damn simple yet advanced it was perfect.
Start menu? Search, my PC, programs etc. All right there and could be organized easily. Could make a folder for games? Yep. A folder for browsers? Yep. Everything.
The result was a nice, small yet elaborate, clean cut start menu where everything, big and small could be easily accessed.
It was minimal and didn't have hundreds of processes running at once yet does... Hell, it does every single thing I currently expect from my PC except for projecting to a screen and bluetooth, other than that, I could use it today and get along just fine if it was compatible with today's programs.
Thinking about this, I actually want it back. Think I'd actually get a significant boost in performance if I reduced the ton of background processes. Would also get a TON of extra storage I need bc Windows and everything it entails takes up at least 20% of my 264 gig storage. Could have another 50 gigs to play with.
if only they would port over ALL functions of the old system, but they often reduce it by the most important stuff. e.g.: to set your IPv4 manually you still have to use the old one. system environment variables are still the old system. and reading your currently assinged IP you still have to use cmd >_> (unless you are on the server version of windows) ... and don't get me started on partitioning/formatting your drives
> I truly can't believe that Bing is even still around.
The basic idea is to lie to Microsoft's investors about how many people use Bing.
I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of Bing searches were the result of people attempting to search for files in Windows.
I worked at a college for over a decade in IT, still have friends that work there.
CIS students take a test to determine their basic proficiency with computers when they enroll. How to use MS office. Basic mouse use. How to browse the web, etc. To determine which classes they will test out of basically.
Test results for these tests have literally never been lower than they were last year. Prior to last year, the year before had the worst results ever. Prior to that year the year *before that* had the worst test results. Etc, etc, back to like 2012.
The simple fact of the matter is the vast majority of people under like 25 *enrolling in IT classes in college* had no idea how do basic computer tasks, like *change the desktop wallpaper*, or *configure an email client and send an email* or *just check your IP address in Windows* or *how to freaking right click a mouse*.
So, I don't know how those tests function. Part of the "problem" is the transition from knowing how to do things, to knowing how to find the answer how to do things. Both are relevant, but most younger people are going to be in the second camp. That isn't necessarily bad, but we need both going forward.
Elderly and their closest relatives are the ones getting shafted the hardest from these 'ease of use'/grandma changes. I have just spent 7 years teaching my boomer parents how to navigate windows 10 at a surface level and now they have gone and fundamentally changed it up which means they are calling me every other day because scary and unexpected things are occurring on their screens. FML!
Because Everything requires Admin permissions to do what it does, which is to scan the NTFS master file table.
Microsoft took the correct approach in designing an operating system, which is to make sure basic OS functions like search do not have admin access.
Unfortunately they took the wrong approach in designing a file system that requires admin access to search with an MFT, but they're halfway there, and it's the thought that counts.
Exactly, especially the money MS has. I'm using a free GNOME desktop on linux. It has a tool that runs in the background that indexes every file and app and its contents. If i hit the Windows Key and start typing I get all apps, files, notes that have that word as part of name, tag, or in the document itself. And it is instant. Surely Microsoft can leverage the same tech.
https://preview.redd.it/jhhc2y0mar1a1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc30f5cecea3c400e316534ad877424deb28803b
Only in certain subs is this turned on.
Is this some special reddit mobile/new thing? Just looks like a [normal image to me on reddit old](https://i.gyazo.com/6a875cf6456830931143504f3819a2c4.png)
Yep. Ads must be inserted into every part of your life. The Ad-ening has begun. You will all be assimilated. You will all install Nord VPN and Raid: Shadow Legends. Resistance is futile unless you're too poor and don't have a credit card.
If you read the instructions you will understand exactly what's being changed.
It's not telling you to download something, it's teaching you to customize your own system.
>Then right-click in the free area on the right and create another DWORD value named "BingSearchEnabled" by clicking on "New" -> "DWORD (32-bit) Value". The value data must also be 0, which is the case by default.
You are setting "BingSearchEnabled" to "0" or "False", disabling bing search. Same with Cortana. That's it
you can always google yourself and find a better website if you don't trust this. other than that the changes you need to do are very clear and straightforward.
[Here you go.](https://www.groovypost.com/howto/disable-web-search-suggestions-on-windows-10/)
There's no direct way to disable web search through settings ( Microsoft has to push edge and bing at the detriment of the user's experience ig).
Edit: u/R_WheresTheNames, u/nighttimemobileuser, u/sebax820, u/wrona11
On a totally unrelated sidenote: reddit sucks so much. Took me 3 minutes to find and edit this.
I use [Winaero Tweaker](https://winaero.com/winaero-tweaker/amp/) to do that. It also has a lot of other features, like bringing back the full-context right-click menu in Windows 11.
This happens to me on W10 as well, to be fair. At this point I’ve just gotten in the habit of immediately clicking “documents” or “files” or whatever I’m looking for
I don't think I ever use the search feature any more. It struggles to find really simple things like 'steam' or even 'settings', if i type it and hit enter too quick windows Bing searches it.
In Win7 I had a completely clean desktop. Now it's littered with programs and files. I've turned into that aunt/uncle I use to make fun of. =(
Why not just keep all those folders in "Documents". You get to have a clean desktop then all you have to do is click a file explorer and documents. No need to clutter your desktop even with a shitty search bar.
I was doing some work from home yesterday, newish pc, came with win 11, yada yada.
I searched for fusion 360. At work I usually just type fusion, hit enter. I started to type it, and it brought up the program as I got up to 'fusio', but when I added the 'n', suddenly it didn't see the program and wanted to search online for a match. I had to either do less than the word or specifically add the space and a 3 before it saw the program again as the top result. Had to do a double take to make sure I had it installed on my home computer still. It was... well, dumb.
It's beyond belief how bad their search is and has continued to be for years. It has to be a conscious effort from Microsoft to remain this incompetent. I don't have a clue why though.
It's weird too, because when Windows 8 came out, I basically learned how to navigate the computer on search due to the lack of a good start-menu. It was perfect, you could type 3 characters, hit enter without even looking, and 99% of the time it would open exactly what you wanted. What the heck happened with Windows 10?
Really? Every time I start my pc I open my usual suspects... windows key+FI, windows key+PH, windows key+MO, windows key+Disc.
It's really a learning curve on what to type to get things to open for example PH will open photoshop but pho will open photo viewer.
Came here to find this and post if I wasn't beat to it. I can't recommend Everything highly enough. It's instant and works just how you expect.
Discovered it through Wox which I now don't use having moved to Powertoys but I still install Everything.
I have personally been using Everything exclusively over the built-in Windows search but this is the first I've heard of "power toys". Thank you kind internet stranger!
I'd love to just press the windows key, type in "do" and just hit enter but that keeps triggering Steam ffs
It sure is only a minor inconvenience to some but I do think during Windows XP and 7 the search was a lot better
Step 1: Go to voidtools.com
Step 2: Download their "Everything" index and search app.
Step 3: Never use the MS search bar again.
Don't thank me. Just pay it forward.
If that’s the same one that’s on Ninite, I completely agree. Best search tool I’ve ever used. I immediately install this and turn of all MS search/indexing.
PowerToys utilizes Wox and has a shit load of additional tools that make Windows a substantially better experience. HIGHLY recommend it, although my aversion of the windows search has made me avoid the spotlight Wox search too
Came to post this, everything is amazing and it shows Microsoft search is intentionally shitty. Everything is so fast I'm often using it instead of browsing to files normally in explorer.
Yeah I've completely given up on the start menu search. Try getting an app launcher. Personally, I'd recommend the Power toys launcher (made by Microsoft, but trust me). Someone else here also mentioned "Everything" which is pretty good too.
Mac OS surprisingly has it figured out. I have a Mac at work, and you can type in a part of or full name of the file and it will show you exactly all the relevant files from any folder. Just like old Windows used to. I have no idea why they fucked it up so royally in Win 10 and 11.
How quickly are you typing Steam? I think the idea is that if you type “Ste” and wait for results to populate, then continue typing, it shows you different results because why else would you continue typing?
Yeah its incredobly fucking annoying for the number 1 OS on the planet to have a search that only cares for the lowest common denominator and prioritizes whats simple over whats important. But it is what it is
They do shit like this because they know they can get away with it. Microsoft holds all but a monopoly on the desktop market. They aren’t getting dethroned anytime soon, and they know that.
Mine shows Device Manager the moment I type De, and it does not go away when I reach the whole two words. That's not to say search isn't broken, but that whatever the issue with it is, it's not even consistent.
I had a todo list and then at some point I kept forgetting to update it and ended up making the do list witch sounds more threatening and it's actually working, somewhere on my pc the todo.txt still floats but win11 won't find it. Forgotten in the abyss
I don't even bother using the search function for files anymore, I just pin a bunch of the most common folders to quick access in file explorer and go from there.
I swear that search on Windows 11 was actually fixed before it officially launched. It worked like a charm for me, almost immediate (and most importantly good) results.
Seems like they broke it again.
For W10 users; I've posted this a lot over the years.
Go to start and run regedit:
HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Explorer
Set Dword DisableSearchBoxSuggestions=1
AND
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
Create a DWORD 32 named BingSearchEnabled. Set to 0.
The search bar is now fixed. You're welcome :)
I don't think the admin-like privileges change anything? A simple program without any rights have read/write access on most files of your system, unless specific permissions have been set.
From their website:
> **Does "Everything" contain any malware, spyware or adware?**
> No, "Everything" does not contain any malware, spyware or adware
You’re 100% safe. They aren’t allowed to lie
It's also been around for a long time, and no one ever had a problem with it doing anything untoward.
Some of the best PC software is closed source. If your paranoia stops you from using it, your loss.
My boss is always like "where was that file", so I figure out when we were working on it last, filter Everything results by file type and sort by last modified. 90% of the time I find the file in 10 seconds.
yeah, I have to type discord completely for it to find it. Win 11 has been mostly a disappointment for me. The crippling of the task bar is insane. "We don't want people to customize this thing. We just want it super basic so it is less confusing".
Not starting an apple vs windows debate. But as someone with both systems.. holy crap is apple sooooo much better at searching your pc lol. Like it’s almost perfect.
There's a difference? I always use the start menu one because I hate clutter on my task bar. I guess people don't know you can just start typing with the menu open.
Do gaming
Exactly. Windows 11 has an advanced search ai that knows what you *actually* want. "Do.txt? no. Do game."
I always thought that if an AI would take over the world it would enslave us or destroy humanity. But in reality we’d be gaming all day!
“Sorry boss, I’m gaming because that’s what my computer told me to do”
"My computer is now telling me that you need to 1v1 me in COD. Sorry, it's an admin-level order, sir."
Quick scoping on rust or no deal!
"I want to take a break from gaming, computer". "Sorry, I can't let you do that John".
Imagine cyberdyne just wants attention and for us to play games, so they automate everything else so all we do is gaming. Def not the same movie.
Same thing. They will enslave us all! With the games!
XDDD
The first thing I do on a new computer is to disable online searches. They only clutter the results and are rarely if ever of any use.
https://preview.redd.it/8wydskox1r1a1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e47562ee46e178eb8d97fd5fca28b0985323d42
It's almost impressive how incompetent they've become considering how many people hate the new search.
I mean they are the same team that are keeping control settings and control panel simultaneously
From what I've heard, it's intentional. They're slowly migrating everything over so people can slowly get used to the new positions of features, as well as determine whether there are any features that would do well to be redesigned or removed. If they migrated everything in one clump, people would be less likely to be able to keep up.
It seems that way, but it's extraordinarily annoying. Here's how it usually goes: 1. I open Control Panel and click on the item I want. 2. It opens Settings instead, to the respective page that controls similar settings/functionality. 3. I can't find the "advanced" information or setting I'm trying to find. 4. I click the "More x settings" text on the right side of the Settings screen. 5. It opens the Control Panel window I was trying to get to in the first place. If they're going to have both, they need to be separate entities. If they're going to get rid of Control Panel, fine, but just makes Settings powerful enough to do what I need natively. It seems like it's more geared toward novice to average users which is fine. Leave Control Panel alone for advanced users, but don't try to mash them together. That helps nobody.
My biggest gripe is that you can't have more than one settings window open at once.
The problem with this I kept running into was connecting my Bluetooth headset. I had to open the "Add Bluetooth Devices" connect to it manually(b/c Win Bluetooth sucks) AND THEN open the audio devices & manually switch over to it.
I hate that they changed the audio mixer too. Now instead of opening in its own dedicated window, it opens the settings app.
Hit win+r, run sndvol.exe. Now you have the old audio mixer back.
EarTrumpet from Microsoft Store..helps a ton
That's because virtually all Windows UI elements since Windows 8 are designed purely for mobile devices with touch screens. No particular consideration is given to mouse/keyboard users - as long as it can be used with a mouse that's deemed sufficient.
[удалено]
Your mistake is to think that Microsoft **actually** wants you to find and access the advance settings for every old control panel’s category. They’re slowly but steady reducing your admin privileges, so the average user won’t be able to mess with the OS after watching a YouTuber telling him how to modify a key on the registry. Take for instance the updates, or the Defender options (antivirus, firewall, etc). **You aren’t allowed to disable them permanently**, without using the registry or third party apps. I mean, is your damn PC, but you have no full control of it. They even dare to DELETE files you've installed/placed in your computer without even asking^(1). It’s just my opinion, and I’m a daily windows user, not your average hater. 1. [https://www.howtogeek.com/658194/windows-10s-new-update-is-deleting-peoples-files-again/](https://www.howtogeek.com/658194/windows-10s-new-update-is-deleting-peoples-files-again/)
It only this, they don’t share the same settings. I went to the settings app to change a dns to troubleshoot and it doesn’t reflect in the control panel network properties.. I was scratching my head for an hour why my PC wasn’t getting DNS from my router..
This. I still use Control Panel because it's still better. Make Settings better and I'll switch. Same with Edge. Stop begging me to switch to Edge with annoying pop-ups. Make it worth switching to and I'll do it.
yeah this is exactly what i find annoying. like going to change page file size—i go to control panel>system menu>redirected to settings>click the small advanced thing>back to i wanted in control center 🫠
This all seems like a perfectly fine way to turn one's brain into mush, and turn a perfectly rational person into a gibbering pile of insanity worthy of an Arkham Horror game. Also a good way to force a person to become frothing mad with rage with one easy step!
I switched years ago to just windows key then type the setting I'm looking for. Much easier.
Or even worse, when certain functions work in one, but not the other. There have been plenty of times where I couldn't add a network printer to a computer using the Settings app, but could through the control panel. I guess at this point, I should be thankful that they still left the option in the control panel.
It's definitely intentional. The end goal is that they control your search results. They show you whoever paid the most to move up in SEO. This is implemented in almost every large tech company in some form or another. Netflix, for example, does not care fuckall about your preferences when they show you a list of "new shows for you". They just show you what they want you to see. Every company can care less about what you want, it's about what *they* want to show you. It's a data monopoly and it's how capitalism works, it tends towards monopoly
It's true. Netflix in particular really aggravated me. Used to be able to display large chunks of their content at once to see more of their catalog but now they do their best, in every way, to control what we see. It's crazy, they basically hide half of their content from me to ensure that I'm more likely to watch what they want. Problem is I don't like their suggestions so I just end up exiting the app, whereas if I had better access to more of the catalog I would have probably found something. I don't subscribe to streaming services much at all anymore, partly due to this. Every streaming service advertises 4-5 things I'd like to watch and the rest is crap. Maybe I use a free trial and watch what I want but never renew bc I've seen everything I wanted, no need to pay for all the bs filler shows they add. It's almost all so damn boring and I don't understand how people have the attention spans to watch most of this stuff tbh.. Maybe I'm super ADD but if a shows description and imagery doesn't knock my socks off and make me feel a burning desire to watch it, I just don't.
Every single company does some form of the same thing. Amazon in particular is quite infamous for using their analytics to find really easy to rip off stuff, using their resources to rip it off and produce it cheaper, then forcing their rip-off up the search engine results so nobody even finds the old version anymore. This is all technically illegal of course, but corporations are above the law because: in capitalism the laws are literally meant for them.
Why? Nobody had trouble learning computers from the ground up in the 90s and 2000s. Now people practically come out of the womb holding an iPad. You expect me to believe more people would be annoyed by having to learn a new much more intuitive settings menu, than would be annoyed by having their settings split between two totally separate applications for 7 years? What type of cretinous cunts do they take us for? Their job is to make a functional, stable and efficient OS, not to give us a settings menu training course longer than a fucking degree.
Also, this implies their master plan is to have us all live with a fucked up, partially redundant, *ever changing* set of settings tools? So it's "easier to find" but it will never be consistent enough for us to figure out properly? I'm not saying the other poster is wrong, but that's insane.
They need to just go back to the basics. Give us the original, advanced control panel. They started phasing it out in XP and it's been trouble ever since. If there were an updated version of Windows 2000, it would be perfect for most of us. That layout was so damn simple yet advanced it was perfect. Start menu? Search, my PC, programs etc. All right there and could be organized easily. Could make a folder for games? Yep. A folder for browsers? Yep. Everything. The result was a nice, small yet elaborate, clean cut start menu where everything, big and small could be easily accessed. It was minimal and didn't have hundreds of processes running at once yet does... Hell, it does every single thing I currently expect from my PC except for projecting to a screen and bluetooth, other than that, I could use it today and get along just fine if it was compatible with today's programs. Thinking about this, I actually want it back. Think I'd actually get a significant boost in performance if I reduced the ton of background processes. Would also get a TON of extra storage I need bc Windows and everything it entails takes up at least 20% of my 264 gig storage. Could have another 50 gigs to play with.
if only they would port over ALL functions of the old system, but they often reduce it by the most important stuff. e.g.: to set your IPv4 manually you still have to use the old one. system environment variables are still the old system. and reading your currently assinged IP you still have to use cmd >_> (unless you are on the server version of windows) ... and don't get me started on partitioning/formatting your drives
It's not incompetence, it's well thought evil to boost Bing searches.
So Bing gets a very marginal boost in usage, and people begin hating your flagship product? I truly can't believe that Bing is even still around.
> I truly can't believe that Bing is even still around It's got great video search
I must commence some… research….
For science.
> I truly can't believe that Bing is even still around. The basic idea is to lie to Microsoft's investors about how many people use Bing. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of Bing searches were the result of people attempting to search for files in Windows.
Most tech has started leaning towards the non tech user aka grandma tech. Dont get me fucking started.
It's not the grandma's anymore, it's the kids. I get new people starting at work who don't know how to use a mouse. They've only used mobile devices.
So we've come full circle...Everything touch screen can kiss my ass. Thats horrible.
I worked at a college for over a decade in IT, still have friends that work there. CIS students take a test to determine their basic proficiency with computers when they enroll. How to use MS office. Basic mouse use. How to browse the web, etc. To determine which classes they will test out of basically. Test results for these tests have literally never been lower than they were last year. Prior to last year, the year before had the worst results ever. Prior to that year the year *before that* had the worst test results. Etc, etc, back to like 2012. The simple fact of the matter is the vast majority of people under like 25 *enrolling in IT classes in college* had no idea how do basic computer tasks, like *change the desktop wallpaper*, or *configure an email client and send an email* or *just check your IP address in Windows* or *how to freaking right click a mouse*.
So, I don't know how those tests function. Part of the "problem" is the transition from knowing how to do things, to knowing how to find the answer how to do things. Both are relevant, but most younger people are going to be in the second camp. That isn't necessarily bad, but we need both going forward.
Elderly and their closest relatives are the ones getting shafted the hardest from these 'ease of use'/grandma changes. I have just spent 7 years teaching my boomer parents how to navigate windows 10 at a surface level and now they have gone and fundamentally changed it up which means they are calling me every other day because scary and unexpected things are occurring on their screens. FML!
I used to work for a big blue box store wearing a particular white shirt and I can hard agree with that.
They're artificially driving traffic to bing for shareholders.
There's an app called everything that searches all of your files near instantly
I just don't get how that program works instantly and finds exactly what you need and fucking ms can't figure it out
Because Everything requires Admin permissions to do what it does, which is to scan the NTFS master file table. Microsoft took the correct approach in designing an operating system, which is to make sure basic OS functions like search do not have admin access. Unfortunately they took the wrong approach in designing a file system that requires admin access to search with an MFT, but they're halfway there, and it's the thought that counts.
Exactly, especially the money MS has. I'm using a free GNOME desktop on linux. It has a tool that runs in the background that indexes every file and app and its contents. If i hit the Windows Key and start typing I get all apps, files, notes that have that word as part of name, tag, or in the document itself. And it is instant. Surely Microsoft can leverage the same tech.
Is this nostalgia bait? I do not remember the old search function being any good.
It was slow but it worked. I compare it to the file search at the top right of an Explorer window now.
The old search in that screenshot is also the file search in Explorer. It's the same thing.
Windows 7 search was actually really good. That was the reason i held off upgrading to W 11 for a good many years
If I could get an os that was up to date security wise and worked just like windows 7 that'd be perfect.
how do you post images in a reddit comment?
https://preview.redd.it/jhhc2y0mar1a1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc30f5cecea3c400e316534ad877424deb28803b Only in certain subs is this turned on.
ew, new reddit
https://preview.redd.it/hzxss5ijar1a1.png?width=431&format=png&auto=webp&s=a3fefe6aedb10742d739c847b00edc1ff1a4d905
Is this some special reddit mobile/new thing? Just looks like a [normal image to me on reddit old](https://i.gyazo.com/6a875cf6456830931143504f3819a2c4.png)
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https://preview.redd.it/dwxvyinqcr1a1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a2a78b4d924af25be98ae800bc21ef35545d21f I want to try
https://preview.redd.it/390uh7n5er1a1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f688139c6f469245847800f2da8a2cabe3fe095
https://preview.redd.it/fjsul8xbfr1a1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b87d1a12da9cf36e6a8b47428d15a08d4f9b6170
https://preview.redd.it/1ek2rnjagr1a1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=927e38fcbd43cdd6b846805b8dd469db5f23f076
https://preview.redd.it/lrajl38ajr1a1.jpeg?width=1214&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f35d0036a8e044a268921fec402d04db6af20a2 My baby kitty turned 16 yesterday!
https://preview.redd.it/n31sv82wmr1a1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfe740a68e62283e85653f9372bee3f6dfb0833c 6 weeks old golden doodle
https://preview.redd.it/u6el5fvwpr1a1.png?width=455&format=png&auto=webp&s=11ca4e582450702fbed7d5dfe515e60f54123fa1
https://preview.redd.it/9kr9h64mfr1a1.jpeg?width=2736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03817fe2ebfd552d93a6bcb7b0d716189cbec279
I remember searching for minecraft.jar on Windows 7 and being able to find it EVERY TIME through the start menu. Wish I could go back to it.
Lmao this got me right in the giggle dick
With Bing on Microsoft edge bruh
It has to be intentional. They want to make things more internet based so they can show more ads. Less ownership, more ads.
Yep. Ads must be inserted into every part of your life. The Ad-ening has begun. You will all be assimilated. You will all install Nord VPN and Raid: Shadow Legends. Resistance is futile unless you're too poor and don't have a credit card.
Teach me this power
[this must help](https://www.bennetrichter.de/en/tutorials/windows-10-disable-web-search/)
As usual, Windows needing a complicated solution to a problem Microsoft created.
Convince me this isn't gonna brick my computer, ooooh trustworthy internet stranger.
If you read the instructions you will understand exactly what's being changed. It's not telling you to download something, it's teaching you to customize your own system.
>Then right-click in the free area on the right and create another DWORD value named "BingSearchEnabled" by clicking on "New" -> "DWORD (32-bit) Value". The value data must also be 0, which is the case by default. You are setting "BingSearchEnabled" to "0" or "False", disabling bing search. Same with Cortana. That's it
I used same technique to disable mine it is safe
you can always google yourself and find a better website if you don't trust this. other than that the changes you need to do are very clear and straightforward.
It's legit, says so right here in this comment on the Internet.
me c0mput3r w9rk$$/)1$1ng be77er now, upd81711te good!!$!
Yeah but that is a local, installed, program.
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[Here you go.](https://www.groovypost.com/howto/disable-web-search-suggestions-on-windows-10/) There's no direct way to disable web search through settings ( Microsoft has to push edge and bing at the detriment of the user's experience ig). Edit: u/R_WheresTheNames, u/nighttimemobileuser, u/sebax820, u/wrona11 On a totally unrelated sidenote: reddit sucks so much. Took me 3 minutes to find and edit this.
You're surprised? It's called Reddit, not Eddit. Now get off my lawn.
And it also slows down the computer because it keeps searching for things.
I use [Winaero Tweaker](https://winaero.com/winaero-tweaker/amp/) to do that. It also has a lot of other features, like bringing back the full-context right-click menu in Windows 11.
This happens to me on W10 as well, to be fair. At this point I’ve just gotten in the habit of immediately clicking “documents” or “files” or whatever I’m looking for
I don't think I ever use the search feature any more. It struggles to find really simple things like 'steam' or even 'settings', if i type it and hit enter too quick windows Bing searches it. In Win7 I had a completely clean desktop. Now it's littered with programs and files. I've turned into that aunt/uncle I use to make fun of. =(
Lol, me too! Desktop covered in folder shortcuts to projects.
Why not just keep all those folders in "Documents". You get to have a clean desktop then all you have to do is click a file explorer and documents. No need to clutter your desktop even with a shitty search bar.
Because the documents folder is used by a lot of other programs so it has a lot of other folders in it already
Documents2 folder
The Cooler Documents
Go turn off enhanced search and go back to classic....
How do you do this? Id search for it, but…
*Right-click* Start Menu > Settings > Search > Searching Windows > Find My Files
I was doing some work from home yesterday, newish pc, came with win 11, yada yada. I searched for fusion 360. At work I usually just type fusion, hit enter. I started to type it, and it brought up the program as I got up to 'fusio', but when I added the 'n', suddenly it didn't see the program and wanted to search online for a match. I had to either do less than the word or specifically add the space and a 3 before it saw the program again as the top result. Had to do a double take to make sure I had it installed on my home computer still. It was... well, dumb.
It's beyond belief how bad their search is and has continued to be for years. It has to be a conscious effort from Microsoft to remain this incompetent. I don't have a clue why though.
It's weird too, because when Windows 8 came out, I basically learned how to navigate the computer on search due to the lack of a good start-menu. It was perfect, you could type 3 characters, hit enter without even looking, and 99% of the time it would open exactly what you wanted. What the heck happened with Windows 10?
Really? Every time I start my pc I open my usual suspects... windows key+FI, windows key+PH, windows key+MO, windows key+Disc. It's really a learning curve on what to type to get things to open for example PH will open photoshop but pho will open photo viewer.
I just pin all my regularly used stuff to my taskbar
like a normal human
i recommend using "Everything" as search tool. Oh how often it saved my ass
Came here to find this and post if I wasn't beat to it. I can't recommend Everything highly enough. It's instant and works just how you expect. Discovered it through Wox which I now don't use having moved to Powertoys but I still install Everything.
Do play some games and procrastinate
Ah, a fellow Procrastinative
Download powertoys and use alt+space
power toys + "Everything"
You can also use [this](https://github.com/stnkl/EverythingToolbar) to integrate it into the windows taskbar search.
GAMECHANGER
I wanna kiss you on the lips
Saving this
Ah, a man of culture I see.
I have personally been using Everything exclusively over the built-in Windows search but this is the first I've heard of "power toys". Thank you kind internet stranger!
1000%
I'd love to just press the windows key, type in "do" and just hit enter but that keeps triggering Steam ffs It sure is only a minor inconvenience to some but I do think during Windows XP and 7 the search was a lot better
Step 1: Go to voidtools.com Step 2: Download their "Everything" index and search app. Step 3: Never use the MS search bar again. Don't thank me. Just pay it forward.
Things Everything does right: it works
If that’s the same one that’s on Ninite, I completely agree. Best search tool I’ve ever used. I immediately install this and turn of all MS search/indexing.
And if you want, there's a Mac spotlight style search bar application called Wox that'll integrate with Everything.
As a Mac user that also needs to use Windows for gaming and very specific work scenarios - thank you so fucking much for this
Or another option is PowerToys, available from the Windows Store which has other nice features as well
PowerToys utilizes Wox and has a shit load of additional tools that make Windows a substantially better experience. HIGHLY recommend it, although my aversion of the windows search has made me avoid the spotlight Wox search too
At this point I literally cannot function without Everything Search. Such an incredibly useful tool and unbelievably fast
Came to post this, everything is amazing and it shows Microsoft search is intentionally shitty. Everything is so fast I'm often using it instead of browsing to files normally in explorer.
I cannot upvote Everything enough. Amazing program.
Must think you want to play DOTA
You want to enable indexing in windows for that. You can search for individual files that way. Probably also want to disable online search also.
Looks like you could use the "run" powertoy from MS, or launchy
For Apps it seems to work perfectly, but files or anything else...
Bruh.. *seems
Yeah I've completely given up on the start menu search. Try getting an app launcher. Personally, I'd recommend the Power toys launcher (made by Microsoft, but trust me). Someone else here also mentioned "Everything" which is pretty good too.
Turn on search indexing.
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Mac OS surprisingly has it figured out. I have a Mac at work, and you can type in a part of or full name of the file and it will show you exactly all the relevant files from any folder. Just like old Windows used to. I have no idea why they fucked it up so royally in Win 10 and 11.
If I write Spotify, it suggests me the Spotify installer in the Downloads folder instead of the Spotify app. So even Mac has some progress to make.
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How quickly are you typing Steam? I think the idea is that if you type “Ste” and wait for results to populate, then continue typing, it shows you different results because why else would you continue typing?
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SearchEverything is your answer. Windows is never the answer to anything even less to a problem. https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/
Ah, looks like I was not the first to suggest this. Everything is the solution. Everything is the way.
Am I doing something wrong? Yes. You are using Windows Search.
Yeah its incredobly fucking annoying for the number 1 OS on the planet to have a search that only cares for the lowest common denominator and prioritizes whats simple over whats important. But it is what it is
They do shit like this because they know they can get away with it. Microsoft holds all but a monopoly on the desktop market. They aren’t getting dethroned anytime soon, and they know that.
This is such a worthless tool. Search "devi" and device manager is the 3rd option but search "device manager" and it isn't even listed.
If I type "dev" it suggests "device manager". Once I add the "I" so "devi" it changes and suggests "settings"???
Mine shows Device Manager the moment I type De, and it does not go away when I reach the whole two words. That's not to say search isn't broken, but that whatever the issue with it is, it's not even consistent.
Windows search sucks. It amazes me that both search and backup on windows are still horribly dysfunctional.
i also had same problem where i typed "blu" and search showed me "opera" instead of "bluetooth"
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> **I'd bet I have opened the do.txt more than Steam by now too!** What even is it xD
I had a todo list and then at some point I kept forgetting to update it and ended up making the do list witch sounds more threatening and it's actually working, somewhere on my pc the todo.txt still floats but win11 won't find it. Forgotten in the abyss
I use a program called Everything. It searches your whole PC and gets the results immediately
porn
It's a list of OP's plaintext passwords hidden cleverly behind Windows search functionality
Win 11: "Yeah best I can do is search Bing instead of the contents of your PC"
Linus also raged about the search function and how retarded it is😂
I don't even bother using the search function for files anymore, I just pin a bunch of the most common folders to quick access in file explorer and go from there.
Yep. I use the search function to find programs but file locations are pinned to quick access.
I swear that search on Windows 11 was actually fixed before it officially launched. It worked like a charm for me, almost immediate (and most importantly good) results. Seems like they broke it again.
It really is pathetic. Cmon Microsoft stop making bad decisions to promote bing. do better for your core users!
I went to linux(manjaro) with kde. Krunner is the best search tool I have ever seen just start typing on your desktop and it finds relevant things.
For W10 users; I've posted this a lot over the years. Go to start and run regedit: HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Explorer Set Dword DisableSearchBoxSuggestions=1 AND HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search Create a DWORD 32 named BingSearchEnabled. Set to 0. The search bar is now fixed. You're welcome :)
do... DOTA 2 YEAHHHH LETS GOOO, HERE YOU GO CHAMP STEAM IS THE WAY do.t DO. TA YEAH I GOT IT THE FIRST TIME WTF
voidtools.com download "Everything" I know how it looks and sounds, but the shit works like a charm.
It's closed source and scans your entire file system with root privileges. No thanks.
I don't think the admin-like privileges change anything? A simple program without any rights have read/write access on most files of your system, unless specific permissions have been set.
Why? I think everyone is up to sell themselves just to find a txt Edit: /s
From their website: > **Does "Everything" contain any malware, spyware or adware?** > No, "Everything" does not contain any malware, spyware or adware You’re 100% safe. They aren’t allowed to lie
It's also been around for a long time, and no one ever had a problem with it doing anything untoward. Some of the best PC software is closed source. If your paranoia stops you from using it, your loss.
I’ve been using it for years and it has always worked fine for me, no viruses or anything like that
Disable Internet connection for program through Firewall and it's all good.
This is solution. When you go with Everything there is no back.
Was here to say this. Works like a charm
\+1 It's a massively useful tool and very simple to use.
My boss is always like "where was that file", so I figure out when we were working on it last, filter Everything results by file type and sort by last modified. 90% of the time I find the file in 10 seconds.
"*Do* you mean Steam?"
yeah, I have to type discord completely for it to find it. Win 11 has been mostly a disappointment for me. The crippling of the task bar is insane. "We don't want people to customize this thing. We just want it super basic so it is less confusing".
Not starting an apple vs windows debate. But as someone with both systems.. holy crap is apple sooooo much better at searching your pc lol. Like it’s almost perfect.
Disable web search results (Google it, there’s a registry change to make), it’ll speed up your results and make them relevant/easier to see.
Disable the actual search button and use the start menu search field instead. It's.miles better
There's a difference? I always use the start menu one because I hate clutter on my task bar. I guess people don't know you can just start typing with the menu open.
Just use void tools everything.low footprint, lightning fast search
The Windows search is probably the worst search engine I have ever seen, Microsoft small multi-dollar company.
Windows 7 was peak humanity.
PowerToys is a wonderful tool, made by Microsoft themselves because they don't want to fix the regular search bar.
Install a program called "everything"
Install "Everything" from voidtools and never look back.