5 ms·

Of all the things I hate about Windows, unified search is the worst. If I want to search the web, I'll search the web--there's an app for that, the browser. Let

by Zanni 7y ago

Of all the things I hate about Windows, unified search is the worst. If I want to search the web, I'll search the web--there's an app for that, the browser. Let me just search my hard drive, please. I didn't experience this bug, but if I had, I'd be furious that I couldn't search my own local files without somehow getting an internet service involved.

taeric 7y ago
Curious. This is also one of the touted nice things on chrome books, right? I think I can agree. But the push by all browsers seems to be more search. Not less.
maest 7y ago
I believe there is a way to disable bing search by setting some flags in the windows registry. I was affected by this bug, and the way to fix it was to disable online search. There's a bunch of articles online on how to do it, eg: https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/02/05/its-not-just-you-windows-10-search-is-giving-blank-results/ https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/02/05/its-not-just-you-wi... Basically have to set HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search\BingSearchEnabled to 0 and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search\CortanaConsent to 0 However, I agree with you, that I would've preferd this to be turned off by default. Extra dependencies that bring no extra value are net negative, as seen in there current case where a server-side problem stopped my local search from working.
- eternalny1 7y ago
  ShutUp10 lets you turn this on/off easily with a toggle, as with MANY other "features" of Windows 10 like all the telemetry: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
  - kwhitefoot 7y ago
    Thank you!
- wtallis 7y ago
  Ironically, last year Microsoft pushed out a broken patch that caused search to stop working unless you set the "BingSearchEnabled" key to 1.
- service_bus 7y ago
  All of this information is in the article.
  - maest 7y ago
    Yes, that is why I posted the link.
craftinator 7y ago
'sudo find / | grep <search term>' has always worked as local search for me.
- enriquto 7y ago
  there's also, you know, locate
  - craftinator 7y ago
    I've actually had issues with locate finding things before. I haven't delved into it's docs, but on several occasions while searching for source code, libraries, etc, it hasn't turned up results that were obviously there. "sudo find /" only takes 3 or 4 seconds, and I get EVERYTHING. It's pretty perfect for me.
chapium 7y ago
What is the alternative? Mac does the exact same with spotlight.
- mthoms 7y ago
  Spotlight search is 100% local unless "Spotlight Suggestions" is enabled. Even then, the search works exactly the same but is augmented with online content (like sports scores, weather, suggested websites, etc) where relevant.
- netsharc 7y ago
  I use FARR: https://www.donationcoder.com/software/mouser/popular-apps/farr https://www.donationcoder.com/software/mouser/popular-apps/f... (I assume in works in Windows 10, I'm still on Windows 7. You can even install (and write your own) plugins for it, e.g. a calculator plugin.
- 1wd 7y ago
  Wox (Windows Omni eXecutor) "is a launcher for Windows that simply works", open source, plugins for searching other things https://github.com/Wox-launcher/Wox https://github.com/Wox-launcher/Wox
- chairmanwow1 7y ago
  Spotlight is also blazingly fast
dreamcompiler 7y ago
Apple has made this mistake about seven different times, the earliest being with Sherlock on OS9. Mixing local file search with Internet search solves no problem and causes chaos. The use cases for the two kinds of search are very different and users prefer using different tools for these jobs. Just stop doing this, Apple and Microsoft.
- mojuba 7y ago
  Totally agreed, and Spotlight does the same now on both macOS and iOS. I usually turn everything off in Spotlight except the file search, calculator and conversions. But overall it's still not nearly as bad as Windows'.
- Macha 7y ago
  It's weirder with Apple. You can see why Microsoft might do it - it's not in the user's interest, but it is in Microsoft's interest to get more Bing usage. But for Apple, they hardly care how much I use Google.
prostheticvamp 7y ago
I don’t know if I had this bug. Search on my desktop wasn’t working yesterday, but it almost never works right, so I /barely noticed anything was unusual/. Good job, Microsoft.

by Zanni 7y ago

taeric 7y ago

Curious. This is also one of the touted nice things on chrome books, right? I think I can agree. But the push by all browsers seems to be more search. Not less.

maest 7y ago

I believe there is a way to disable bing search by setting some flags in the windows registry. I was affected by this bug, and the way to fix it was to disable online search. There's a bunch of articles online on how to do it, eg: https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/02/05/its-not-just-you-windows-10-search-is-giving-blank-results/ https://www.windowslatest.com/2020/02/05/its-not-just-you-wi... Basically have to set HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search\BingSearchEnabled to 0 and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search\CortanaConsent to 0 However, I agree with you, that I would've preferd this to be turned off by default. Extra dependencies that bring no extra value are net negative, as seen in there current case where a server-side problem stopped my local search from working.

eternalny1 7y ago
ShutUp10 lets you turn this on/off easily with a toggle, as with MANY other "features" of Windows 10 like all the telemetry: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
- kwhitefoot 7y ago
  Thank you!
wtallis 7y ago
Ironically, last year Microsoft pushed out a broken patch that caused search to stop working unless you set the "BingSearchEnabled" key to 1.
service_bus 7y ago
All of this information is in the article.
- maest 7y ago
  Yes, that is why I posted the link.

craftinator 7y ago

'sudo find / | grep <search term>' has always worked as local search for me.

enriquto 7y ago
there's also, you know, locate
- craftinator 7y ago
  I've actually had issues with locate finding things before. I haven't delved into it's docs, but on several occasions while searching for source code, libraries, etc, it hasn't turned up results that were obviously there. "sudo find /" only takes 3 or 4 seconds, and I get EVERYTHING. It's pretty perfect for me.

chapium 7y ago

What is the alternative? Mac does the exact same with spotlight.

mthoms 7y ago
Spotlight search is 100% local unless "Spotlight Suggestions" is enabled. Even then, the search works exactly the same but is augmented with online content (like sports scores, weather, suggested websites, etc) where relevant.
netsharc 7y ago
I use FARR: https://www.donationcoder.com/software/mouser/popular-apps/farr https://www.donationcoder.com/software/mouser/popular-apps/f... (I assume in works in Windows 10, I'm still on Windows 7. You can even install (and write your own) plugins for it, e.g. a calculator plugin.
1wd 7y ago
Wox (Windows Omni eXecutor) "is a launcher for Windows that simply works", open source, plugins for searching other things https://github.com/Wox-launcher/Wox https://github.com/Wox-launcher/Wox
chairmanwow1 7y ago
Spotlight is also blazingly fast

dreamcompiler 7y ago

Apple has made this mistake about seven different times, the earliest being with Sherlock on OS9. Mixing local file search with Internet search solves no problem and causes chaos. The use cases for the two kinds of search are very different and users prefer using different tools for these jobs. Just stop doing this, Apple and Microsoft.

mojuba 7y ago
Totally agreed, and Spotlight does the same now on both macOS and iOS. I usually turn everything off in Spotlight except the file search, calculator and conversions. But overall it's still not nearly as bad as Windows'.
Macha 7y ago
It's weirder with Apple. You can see why Microsoft might do it - it's not in the user's interest, but it is in Microsoft's interest to get more Bing usage. But for Apple, they hardly care how much I use Google.

prostheticvamp 7y ago

I don’t know if I had this bug. Search on my desktop wasn’t working yesterday, but it almost never works right, so I /barely noticed anything was unusual/. Good job, Microsoft.