Microsoft may at last give users what they want, as a new experimental feature separates Windows local and web search results. Finally, it looks like things are going back to the way they used to be after years of complaints.
One thing that many Windows 11 users agree on is that its search engine is as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle. While it wasn’t brilliant before, the forced integration of Bing made it even worse. This meant that aside from the bad results, you also had to filter the online ones you didn’t ask for. As someone who uses Windows Search as an app launcher, priority for local results is mandatory.
Thankfully things may change soon as Insider reports talk about a new design that separates local and online Bing results. From the looks of it, the local storage tab shows up by default, with web results available on a second tab if needed. While this change wouldn’t have been needed if the current engine was good at finding stuff locally instead of jumping hastily to Bing, at least now there is no risk of interference.
If you want to give it a try, Windows Latest indicates that Microsoft is testing this change in three Insider Channels: Release Preview with Windows 11 24H2, Beta channel with Windows 11 23H2, and Windows Canary channel. Note however that, as things stand, the new Search is only available for the European region, meaning that the US and UK are still stuck with the old Search. Hopefully, the final version gets a worldwide release, even though Windows’ region switching is kids’ play.
Aside from this major overhaul, Windows Search is also scheduled to integrate an AI-powered engine that finds stuff based on users’ descriptions. The idea is, for example, to find a picture simply by describing what you remember from it, instead of the file name. Though great for anyone who stores more than a dozen pictures, this also brings up a lot of privacy concerns. Thankfully, nowadays modern machines pack their own AI processing units, so it’s just a matter of will from Microsoft.
This is a great change that I bet many are eager to see. Depending on how things advance, we may see it before summer. I think the next step should be bringing back the basic/light mail and calendar apps, because Outlook is just a glorified web browser.
