Windows 10: Need another reason that current web search integration is bad in Windows 10?

Reports are coming in that search is not working properly on many Windows 10 devices; the issue is different from the recent File Explorer search issue that users experienced and are still experiencing to a degree.

Basically, what is happening currently is that the search interface is entirely black and that searches don't work at all on affected systems. The problem, it appears, is not caused by users or administrators, but by Microsoft.

Microsoft made the decision to interweave Cortana, the digital assistant, and search when it released the operating system. While Cortana and Search have been untangled, Microsoft decided to integrate and improve web search functionality in recent versions.

Search in Windows 10 returns offline and online content by default. Local search works pretty much like it did back in Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, online search displays suggestions for the most part.

Microsoft may change search functionality remotely on Windows 10 machines, e.g. to adjust settings or other parameters without having to release a Windows update that does that. That's useful in theory, but not so much if remote issues cause search to stop working at all.

One would think that local search would continue to work if Windows 10 could not connect to remote servers or if some other form of remote connection does not work as expected; this is apparently not the case.

Affected users may want to use third-party search applications such as Everything or one of these desktop search programs to restore search functionality.

Windows Latest suggests that disabling Web Search on affected Windows 10 systems and rebooting the system restores search functionality as well on affected devices.



Here is how you do that:

1. Use Windows-R to display the run box.
2. Type regedit.exe and hit the Enter-key to start the Registry Editor.
3. Confirm the UAC prompt.
4. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
5. Locate BingSearchEnabled.
   1. If the value does not exist, right-click on Search in the tree hierarchy of the left sidebar and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value. Name it BingSearchEnabled.
6. Change the data value of BingSearchEnabled to 0.
7. Locate CortanaConsent.
8. Double-click on the value and set it to 0.
9. Restart the PC.

The change worked on one test PC that was affected by the issue.

The issue is not the first search issue of Windows 10. Microsoft broke search in 2017 in the operating system and Windows 10 version 1903 had several search bugs as well.

Check out our guide on making Windows 10 search faster and more useful.

Now You: do you use Windows 10's web search functionality?

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Need another reason that current web search integration is bad in Windows 10? appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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Disable Web Search Results in Windows 10 Start Menu

Hi Taira,

Disabling web results in the search box depends on the version and build of your Windows 10. We suggest checking the Windows 10 version and build installed on your computer. To check the version and build, follow the steps below:

• On Cortana search, type winver and press
  Enter.
• A pop-up box will appear containing the version and build of your operating system.

Meanwhile, you can try these steps on how to disable web results in the search box:

• Click the search box in the taskbar.
• Select the Notebook icon
  
  
  in the left pane.
• Click Settings from the list.
• In the Settings page, turn off the Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts and more option.
• Also, turn off the Search online and include web results option.

If you need further assistance, don't hesitate to reach out.

 

"Search the web and Windows" is disabled with the current configuration on my laptop

Hi,



Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community. I am sorry to know that you are facing issues with Windows 10.



I do appreciate your efforts and time, and will assist you with the issue.



To enable the "Search the web and Windows." Please follow the steps provided below:

• 
  Right click on task bar
  
  
  
• 
  Click on search or Cortana
  
  
  
• 
  Select “Show search box” from the options.
  

Hope this helps in resolving the issue. If the issue persists, do get back to us. We will be happy to assist you.

 

Looking for a particular web site ?

I remember seeing this here but i can't find it using the search thingy.

A guy posted a web site that had a comprensive list of all Windows update 32&64. I used to have it in my favorites before i formatted my HD.

Does someone know it?

They suggested a sticky for it but they never did.