If anyone wants a fix for this, yes I know Windows sucks etc, I have to use it for my job:
Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and hit Enter.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.
Double-click Do not allow web search and set it to Enabled.
Double-click Don’t search the web or display web results in Search and set it to Enabled.
Click Apply and OK.
Windows: where you enable to disable.
… Until the next update enables it again
Job security for the it admin <3 windows cares!
lmao “cares” <3
Why do people still suggest using Group Policy for this?
It’s complicated for the average user, it’s non-existent for the vast majority (Windows Home doesn’t give access to
gpedit.msc).Just go Search -> Settings -> turn off Web Search, like a normal person. Job done.
That can get reverted when windows updates, the group policy doesn’t
No one on Lemmy should be running Windows Home lol
That can get reverted when windows updates, the group policy doesn’t
I set mine through settings 7 years ago on my laptop. It went from Windows 10 (with all updates) to Windows 11 (and all updates) and it didn’t change.
No one on Lemmy should be running Windows Home lol
Huh? Why not? Is this some sort of elitist cabal where we look down upon people who can’t dish out the extra money for features 99% of the population don’t need? Or are we somehow advocating for piracy for… clout?
Setting can revert, look at this thread. I regret replying, I was mostly joking about Windows Home but he main reason is because it requires a MS account though. Calm down.
Setting can revert, look at this thread
Like, I said:
I set mine through settings 7 years ago on my laptop. It went from Windows 10 (with all updates) to Windows 11 (and all updates) and it didn’t change.
It was around 10 years for my PC, although that didn’t go up to Win11.
No settings changes observed. I don’t know, maybe it’s a regional thing - I’m in the EU.
I regret replying, I was mostly joking about Windows Home but he main reason is because it requires a MS account though.
Well, when your joke sounds exactly like what a lot of people are actually saying, and you don’t add the infamous
/stag, don’t be surprised when someone doesn’t interpret it as a joke.
I wish to run linux but dad doesn’t understand shit about it so I’m not allowed to linux mint (chill im a noob) his laptop but he does want me to flash 11 on it because it’s been used a decade no resets and storage is full. the forced update actually deleted a summary i needed for a book project for school lol
when i get my computer to work, ill linux the thing, whatever i find most comfortable with as a safe distro, multibooted with whatever i’m experimenting with. all i need is a power supply, a case, and an on button
In many if not most cases, you can just add the registry entry for the setting, even in home versions, though to your point, it’s harder than it needs to be.
Really, it shouldn’t be an issue in the first place, but here we are.
Really, it shouldn’t be an issue in the first place, but here we are.
The average user utilises this feature quite a bit (as exemplified by the fact that the feature still exists - the dreaded telemetry is what would tell Microsoft if it was a dead feature). The average user would have no clue how to turn it on (or even that it’s a possibility). The “power user” has no problem turning the feature off.
Which is why the feature is on by default.
I’m skeptical. The average user is an office worker or creator that wants to get their task done and uses search engines of their choice in the browser of their choice for searching, not the start menu, because the start menu opens their query in edge instead of the browser they use.
I’m not convinced.
You know how every now and again the “pro user” community is pissed off because a useful feature gets axed?
That’s because the “pro user” community goes out of their way to fully disable telemetry, which means - according to the data Microsoft receives - nobody is using said features. No point in maintaining something that nobody uses, so it gets the axe.
Web search is not only still around, it’s being developed, and will get extra features in the upcoming updates.
It’s complicated for the average user,
The irony that M$ does this to its users
Group Policy is not intended to be used by average users, it’s for system admins.
Average users have Settings, in which you need to click five times to get the same result as going through GP gives you.
Not sure what’s ironic about that.
If this comment was suggesting a Linux command to fix an issue on Reddit, rather than Windows aerobics on Lemmy, it’d have a thousand comments about how Linux is not ready for end users because nobody wants to browse obscure options to fix usability problems.
But we all know that Windows isn’t ready for end users…
They still didn’t open a command line
True. They opened a dialogue box that uses a 2007 UI, changed one specific obscure policy, “enabled” the policy to “disable” the feature (how intuitive!) and are now praying it doesn’t reset after a system update. All of that to be able to use search, a feature computers had mastered in 2002. Let’s also hope Group Policy Editor is enabled on their version of Windows.
How user friendly! So lucky he didn’t have to use a command line interface!
I’m not your enemy here, I’m using cachyOS right now, I’m just saying how the layman thinks, and they are deeply afraid of a black screen to type commands.
Win + r and running gpedit.exe is simply a terminal command with extra steps.
I thought gpedit was a command line?
someone please correct me, I’m kinda confused
… Until the next update enables it again
that sort of thing on my work computer pissed me off so much that I finally swapped to Linux on two of my computers at home
lol yeah, but to be fair group policy usually doesn’t reset… Until it does. If it were a managed device the domain controller or MDM (Intune) would be resetting it every time you log in so it would stay off but with local group policy you don’t have that kind of guarantee. Strangely to me Intune doesn’t use grop policy and instead uses a separate configuration API that it calls “Configuration Service Providers” that can lock these settings too.
One of the reasons I run linux at home is that I don’t need to do this for my own computer that has been pretty stable on Debian with XFCE going on 20 years (different hardware too, just migrated home).
new linux user here (or trying to be, when i get a power supply, case, power button for frankenstein)
tips? also which distros, de, wm, etc would you recommend (yes im this new, i installed mint twice and grandma thinks its windows, so we’re good. also its just on her 1 computer she almost never touches)
I typed “add or remove programs” which is verbatim the name of the shortcut, clicked enter, and it searched Bing for the phrase.
Windows search bar is useless.
I’m hearing a lotta bitchin’ about Windows and not enough uninstalling.
survivorship bias - those who have uninstalled, are not bitching about windows anymore
Can personally confirm, linux has been such a blissful experience all the frustration just evaporated, no need for such reckless hate.
Certainly it looks like your trying to post a meme on Lemmy 👍🔥 Do you need help with that? Here’s my top memes brought to you by Raid Of Warfare get the new frog togs skin only $4.99.
Would you like to open this in edge? 💪🤔
Would you like to open this in edge? 💪🤔
I spent time over the holidays setting up edge on a relative’s laptop.
One where I could’t enable the play store.
Long story short, he has to run two bash scripts and can use it through a VM with debian 12 with KDE, because I tried to install wine on there last year.
jfc thats stupid
why did they want edge in linux? (if im understanding correctly)
Because he is the star of the hit IRL game “Boomers & Banks”
Someone told him to buy a Chromebook, and then he got a mail from his bank that he had to stop using Microsoft explorer and start using edge instead, so he wanted me to install edge on his Chromebook.
Can’t log in to admin menu, had to launch Linux VM in Chromebook.
DNS kept resetting so i made a script to update DNS and one to launch KDE
wow thats stupid its literally in the name of the device
… Edge is in Chromebook’s name?
no the lack of edge is in the device name
sorry wording while tired is wonderful
So, we moving to Linux?
I like debian, cause its old and boring like me.
I like Devuan, because Debian went to the dark side.
as a linux user (so, genetically superior in every way) i do not have this issue. hahaha…ah.
… sudo app install … a friend?
You forgot to mention that you use Arch BTW.
then it would be
sudo pacman friendor something like that. im not that fluent in arch, but i’m pretty sure
flatpak install companion.app 🥲
fuck flatpak
also how do i get it to stop gaslighting me into “i installed it in location” btw it says the place it installed it is real but i can’t find it I think flatpack is lying
sudo apt install friendaww it didn’t work :(
As a Windows user - same. I have no clue where people are getting these screenshots from, I haven’t seen anything like that, ever. Maybe a regional thing, I’m in the EU.
pov you just confessed that you’re a windows user
Extremist fundamentalism of any kind should be considered a mental illness.
sarcasm, however, is a sign of intelligence, as is the ability to recognize it.
sudo app install … a friend?
sudo apt install fortune
just run that once in a while for jokes. feed it into espeak if you want it to talk to you
EDIT : ‘fortune | tee /dev/tty | espeak’
Holy shit. Mac user here, that is wild.
Spotlight isn’t much better, ads creeping in, and in App Store, Apple TV, and tons of popups for apple subscriptions now
I guess I’m not running the latest macOS right now so I’m not seeing this stuff.
I have disabled everything except calculator, calendar and settings in results from apps and it’s somehow usable. Can’t disable stupid buttons.
I said show me the true terminal!
Maybe it’s my Win 11 Pro or the fact that I took 2 minutes to go to Settings and click a few toggles, but I don’t have any of this. 🤷♂️
A lot of these annoyances can be disabled somewhere in the Settings, but the problem is that there are so many of them tucked away all over the place. Windows 10 (I haven’t used 11) was better than Windows 8 in terms of how unified the settings were, but I remember a few instances where I had to go rummaging through the skeletons in Windows’ closet in order to change some stuff (e.g. having to go through the old-style control panel rather than the Settings).
Furthermore, Windows has the annoying habit of changing settings after updates, and it’s an unnecessary inconvenience to have to go traipsing through the settings again and again to revert unwelcome changes. Even if it’s only the minority of settings that get changed, and if those changes aren’t too frequent, it’s still draining on one’s executive function to make your PC actually behave how you want it to. People get burnt out, and then this contributes to them struggling to find the time and brain to go through changing things.
Mostly though, I am just irked that it’s necessary to go into the settings to turn this stuff off. I am a very techy person, and thus I enjoy tinkering (or perhaps "I enjoy tinkering, and thus I am a very techy person), and stuff like this annoys me so much because I know that I’m in the minority when it comes to willingness to wrestle my tech into the shape I want it. Most people won’t go to that effort, even if it’ll only take 2 minutes — the key thing here is that many of them don’t know it’ll only take a couple of minutes, and I don’t blame them for that.
Good software needs to have sensible default settings. If that were the case, then I think we’d see more non-techy people figuring out what particular settings align with their preferences. As it stands though, configuring Windows to work in a sensible manner is a Task, and the activation energy required for that means that many won’t do it.
I know I have to turn this shit off every time, and I even have a program that reverts my settings in one click. But I still forget every damn “security update” until I notice that fucking copilot is on again. I will never, ever find it acceptable for my changes to be reverted on a regular basis. When any other program fails to keep my settings, it’s a bug and it’s a bad enough one that I usually don’t use the software. But Microsoft keeps doing it on purpose and it absolutely infuriates me that there isn’t more of a backlash.
I really wish I could get more of my stuff working in Linux to make a complete switch. I don’t even need all of it; I’ll give some stuff up.
To turn off Copilot via Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot. Double-click “Turn off Windows Copilot,” set it to Enabled, and restart your computer.
It will never toggle back on.
I’ll give that a shot, thank you! That will alleviate the latest, greatest annoyance at least.
I’ll still have to run OOSU10 for like three dozen other settings I can’t even remember, but that’s never going to change. It shouldn’t be that hard just to keep your settings.
I really do appreciate the tip, though. I will enjoy having copilot fuck off forever.
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It’s a mess of proprietary software and drivers. Some of it I hopefully can get working, it’ll just take time. I’ve had a friend suggest a windows VM before, so I’ll definitely look into Quickemu and see how much I can manage. I swear one day I shall be free!
Windows 10 (I haven’t used 11) was better than Windows 8 in terms of how unified the settings were
A bar so low we need a geological survey to find it.
even a geological survey wouldn’t find it, the bar is buried below the 9 hells, right under where it’s creator will be
this is a joke plz don’t hurt me ms
Smart phones do this too, and now even searching for the setting initiates an app/web search that, many times, won’t provide a link to the local setting that you’re looking for.
This without even mentioning updates that suddenly make apps unremovable for…reasons. Looking at you Google/Samsung.
what apps became uninstall-able
A lot of these annoyances can be disabled somewhere in the Settings, but the problem is that there are so many of them tucked away all over the place
Search -> Settings -> “Disable web search” + “Disable suggested apps”.
This is the “all over the place” you’re talking about?
Furthermore, Windows has the annoying habit of changing settings after updates,
I had Windows 10 since day 1 (actually, since day -90, was test-driving it for three months before it went public release) and used Windows 11 since day 1.
Never seen any of this shit, not once.
Most people won’t go to that effort
Most people don’t see an issue and many actually utilise that feature. How do we know this? Because telemetry is a thing and MS hasn’t axed it yet.
Good software needs to have sensible default settings
“Sensible defaults” depend on the target audience. Techy people can turn all of this off, non-techy people won’t think to turn it on. That’s why, by default, it’s on.
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I had Windows 10 since day 1 (actually, since day -90, was test-driving it for three months before it went public release) and used Windows 11 since day 1.
Never seen any of this shit, not once. But, again, instead of fucking around with weird scripts or registry edits, I just disabled web search and search suggestions in Settings, like a normal person.
how dare you not having the same experience as the picture in the ragebait article?
Just Install Linux
Love how this is what the world’s talented and well paid humans are making.
to be fair, the talent and paygrade doesn’t matter if the management is ass. Modern dey corpos are a disaster in that regard
Talented in what
p000l probably means the programmers not the ceos?
. . . how about that.
This is the same kind of response when someone denies global warming/climate change because they looked outside and the weather around them appears normal.
That’s a pretty wild stretch.
It’s a like for like comparison, although I guess mine was done in 2026 so the meme is outdated.
So in other words, Microsoft saw the backlash specifically about searching “terminal”, so they fixed that one specific bug.
Yes. They cared so much about memes like this that they fixed one bespoke search term.
They’re in a massive PR situation with Windows 10 eol, and clearly an issue with tons of people doing literally everything they can do not switch. Social media is full of people complaining about it, and this goes viral. A simple tweak to the update they were going to put out anyway, and now it cannot be reproduced, so the people who were complaining look like liars.
Is it really that difficult to believe?
I just want to make sure you’re asserting that they went in and hardcoded it so that “terminal” pulls this up?
VS a more realistic “people complained about search and it’s been improved”
Or the real scenario: it’s a meme joke that doesn’t factually represent real life but is instead supposed to by hyperbole.
The techno-tribes asserting nefarious intent for the other techno-tribes is so so so very human.
All the problems these people bitch about with Windows never happen to me. Maybe it’s because I started with a plain vanilla ISO, no preloaded crap. 🤷🏻♂️
Best part? When I mention that I’m not having these problems I get downvoted.
I’ve definitely had this happen to me on Windows, more than once. I can’t remember what I searched exactly, but I typed it in and hit enter, assuming I’d get the installed app with whatever name I typed, but instead it opened the browser with some online search results. Very annoying.
I’m sure it can be turned off, and it probably isn’t as common as it’s portrayed online, but it does happen, and honestly… It should never happen. The start menu is not the place for generic Internet searching. Period.
I don’t know where you are, but it might be something about being within the EU. I am in the EU, and never get any of the ads and other shit people complain about. Like the biggest complaint I see about smart tv’s is that they’ll show ads on the smart screen, or install random apps, and neither my current Samsung tv, or my previous LG tv has ever done anything like that.
I have to use Windows at work and it’s inconsistent. Sometimes I can do a search in the start menu and it’ll immediately pop up with exactly what I was searching for. Other times I’ll get something like the OP shows. And other times it just returns nonsense results. I don’t get it.
it wouldn’t show you this ad unless you typically watch this sort of thing. the advertising is personalized, although I believe you can opt out of that in the control panel.
My brother, does your keyboard not have a Print Screen key on it?
I don’t use Lemmy or Piefed on that computer.
It’s just for playing games. No other activity.
I believe the claim that Windows search is “indeterminate”, and won’t give the same answer each time. I’ve had things I’ve tried that turned out like that.
Doesn’t this just prove that the search is inconsistent though… Unless you’re claiming the original screenshot is photoshopped/faked?
The inconsistencies in the win 11 search as well as the forced advertisements on a device that I not only own, but also built is ultimately what pushed me away from windows on all my devices. I don’t need a search bar that gets confused because it also needs to serve ads that are relevant to my telemetry they’ve collected, just find what I’m looking for and return it.
But equally I’m an engineer by trade, so learning a new OS isn’t a daunting prospect for me, I can fully appreciate that these are issues that wouldnt bother everyone/aren’t significant enough for people to want to make a change.
My claim is that the picture above is a fluke and what it may have been and it has since been improved.
The meme can be accurate, as were now in 2026 and not 2025 so it may have been fixed.
Of course! Call to action button is missing, should be a green, vibrating “PURCHASE” button
I’m amazed the AI didn’t suggest a cancer clinic near you.
I just finished converting the last computer in my house to Linux. I do have a couple laptops that dual boot with Win 10 LTSC, but only use it for some niche things that absolutely require it.
