Over the years, Microsoft’s ubiquitous operating system has accumulated a lot of clutter. Anytime you bring up a search on Windows, you’re faced with countless promotions, web search recommendations, and other information that gets in the way. It’s a frustrating experience, one that might improve based on some testing currently underway.
A tweaked Windows Search Box is coming to Windows Insiders via the Experimental Channel, stripping away much of the clutter. Rather than showing results from external sources, it focuses on displaying content local to your machine.
“You’ve 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,” read a Windows blog post attributed to Jeff Petty and Anderson Aiziro.
In a series of before-and-after images, the revamped search box shows a list of previous searches instead of seemingly random web results. Microsoft says the new user experience removes promotional content from searches, while prioritising local files and apps.
Within the Privacy & Settings > Search menu, users can also disable web searches and Microsoft Store listings from appearing in search box queries entirely. As a result, on-device searches should be cleaner and easier to parse.
Given the gradual nature of the rollout, not all Windows Insiders will have access to the new search box experience immediately. Microsoft hasn’t specified when or if the update will come to more users later.
Based on the early look at Windows’ changes to search, it looks similar to what Apple tries to achieve with its on-device Spotlight search. Compared to Windows’ existing search experience, Spotlight is far less cluttered, focusing mainly on local files as opposed to web results.
Less clutter is always nice, so fingers crossed that Windows brings the update to more people soon.
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