Microsoft Promises To Fix Search With Major Windows 11 Overhaul (windowscentral.com) 35
Microsoft is overhauling Windows 11 search to prioritize local apps, files, and settings over web results while removing ads, promotions, MSN/Bing clutter, and other distractions. "You've have been asking for search that is faster, more relevant, and easier to use -- whether you're opening an app, finding a file, or changing a setting," Microsoft says in a new blog post. "Because the Windows Search Box is where many people start, we focused first on making results more dependable, easier to scan, and clearer before you click." Windows Central reports: The company is highlighting several key improvements, including clearer results that does a better job at showing why a search result is appearing when a query has been typed, alongside prioritizing local results before reaching out to the web.
Search is also getting better at handling things like typos, which should help surface the right results even when the user misspells an app or file. The search home pane will no longer show MSN or Bing content, and promotional content and ads will no longer appear in search results.
These upgrades are now rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Experimental Channel, and are expected to roll out to all Windows 11 users later this year. Insiders may not see the changes right away as they are rolling out in waves. The full list of changes can be found here.
Search is also getting better at handling things like typos, which should help surface the right results even when the user misspells an app or file. The search home pane will no longer show MSN or Bing content, and promotional content and ads will no longer appear in search results.
These upgrades are now rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Experimental Channel, and are expected to roll out to all Windows 11 users later this year. Insiders may not see the changes right away as they are rolling out in waves. The full list of changes can be found here.
I can't Wait! (Score:5, Funny)
The best part (Score:4, Funny)
Every windows licensee will be given a share in the Brooklyn bridge.
Uh huh (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
For Insiders on the Experimental channel (Score:3)
Will any of this make it to real end users? Who knows, ad revenue is some real sticky goo that is hard to wipe off of your project once you have some on there and it tends to spread.
https://windowsforum.com/threa... [windowsforum.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Which is why this is suspicious. Just how do they intend to make up for the revenue losses? What fresh hell will the next "update" do to us?
Yes, Windows is slowed down mightily by the constant telemetry feeds, the ad campaigns and sheer bad code sloth.
They are not benevolent, and so their intentions are entirely suspect.
Re: For Insiders on the Experimental channel (Score:2)
Re:For Insiders on the Experimental channel (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
It means they'll fix it for the EU but won't do anything for the USA.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't believe that shit for a nanosecond. Spare me.
Re: (Score:2)
Who knows, ad revenue is some real sticky goo that is hard to wipe off of your project once you have some on there and it tends to spread.
Microsoft has to pay their engineers who work on Windows somehow. As for me? I'm still on Windows 10 ESR and will be until October 2028.
About frackin' time. (Score:2)
Users have only been asking for this since Vista...
Re: (Score:3)
Re:About frackin' time. (Score:4, Informative)
It already exists. https://www.voidtools.com/ [voidtools.com]
Returns results as fast as you type and can even index network drives. I’ve been using it daily for years.
Did they get rid of the spyware (Score:2)
Because it's the spyware that's the problem.
Re: (Score:2)
If Microsoft got rid of the spyware in their products, they would not have anything left to ship.
Windows! The most widely distributed virus since 1995.
Search Everything (Score:3)
Why bother, Search Everything already does a fantastic job. Microsoft couldn't create a usable search even if they wanted to. Windows search has been crap, well, since forever.
Re: (Score:2)
Windows search used to be kind of OK. Never as good as Everything, but Everything didn't exist for most of history. But they really fucked it up somewhere along the line, which I didn't notice because I was using Everything, and now it's very challenging to construct a complex search without learning a whole new language of keywords.
Fix my bloody right click menu first (Score:1)
I swear Windows 11 is the most user hostile piece of software I have ever used in my life and I have programmed on IBM mainframes...
Translation: (Score:3)
Linux is starting to eat our lunch and gamers are leaving our product for SteamOS in droves
They've got a long way to go (Score:4, Funny)
Clippy: "It looks like you're trying to deshittify Windows. Can I help?"
Zorin or Mint? (Score:2)
I keep hearing things like "my grandmother got so confused, I set her up on Zorin/Mint and she couldn't tell the difference."
The more people just use their PC's to get on websites the less they seem to notice if they use Windows or Linux.
AI is not enough. (Score:1)
I just had to kill and restart the search indexer (Score:2)
The index database had grown to 190 GB, with another temporary working storage file taking up another 50 GB. I had to stop the search service, delete the temp file, and rebuild the index.
And all that for a search that has never, ever worked.
Remember Google Desktop Search? (Score:2)
That's a search engine for Windows that actually worked. Too bad it was... https://killedbygoogle.com/ [killedbygoogle.com]
Few people even know you can search from Start (Score:2)
Click Start, start typing. When it works, it's the fastest way to start anything on Windows. But half the time, it shows you, for example, a web search result for "Control Panel" instead of showing you the...Control Panel.
Imagine... (Score:2)
... if I didn't have to search for apps because the Start Menu wasn't a piece of junk that does everything possible to hide the apps I want to use.
Less advertising (Score:2)
They are making it look more and more like macos. I doubt the people who run the company even use Microsoft windows.