For years, Windows Search has mixed local results with results from web pages like Bing, and content from the web may pop up first even if the user is just looking for an app or file on their computer. Now, Microsoft is finally ready to give users a new switch that will allow Windows Search to get rid of Bing completely and only run locally.
Microsoft has previously admitted that the current Windows search experience is "far from ideal" and said it will prioritize local results instead of jumping to the web. In the latest preview version, related adjustments have begun to appear, but this does not mean that Bing will no longer appear in search results. According to reports, during an internal event for Windows Insiders, Microsoft quietly demonstrated a new search option that allows users to turn off web results in Windows Search and enable a fully localized search mode.
Microsoft is testing a new search toggle that will allow users to turn off web searches in Windows Search so that it only works locally, as well as turn off app recommendations from the Microsoft Store. Currently, when a user searches Windows Search for an app that is not yet installed but exists in the Store, a Microsoft Store entry with a Get button appears in the results to help the user download the app directly. Once you turn off App Store results in the new settings, such entries will also disappear from search results. Sources say these adjustments will be rolled out to test users in the coming weeks.
This change is seen as part of Microsoft's "return of power to users." Before this, it was almost impossible for ordinary users to turn off the deep integration of Windows Search with the web through official options. Currently, disabling web search can often only be achieved by modifying the registry. You need to create multiple key values under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Policies > Microsoft > Windows path to prevent network integration. For users who just want "clean local search", this approach has too high a threshold and is inconsistent with most people's expectations for basic functions. Microsoft seems to have finally realized this.
In addition to the new "Local Search" switch, Microsoft is also testing several performance and experience improvements for Windows Search. On the one hand, the system will provide a local search experience that does not include Copilot, Microsoft Store listings, MSN content, Bing search, and Rewards reward information, making the search interface more concise and pure. On the other hand, Microsoft claims that it will improve the speed of Windows search, especially when processing files with more complex names, to speed up indexing and matching efficiency. When web search remains open, the new search logic will still prioritize local results, and even if the user only types two characters, web content will be ranked second.
From a user perspective, one of the pain points of Windows search is "cannot find the file just saved". Many users are accustomed to locating newly created or downloaded documents, pictures, and compressed packages through taskbar searches, but the system sometimes gives results from the Internet, or ranks irrelevant content at the front, affecting efficiency. Microsoft has previously promised to optimize the search filtering, sorting, and indexing mechanisms to enable users to find truly important files faster and to locate system settings more intuitively. The newly added functions such as local priority and closing web search are regarded as early implementation signals of this commitment.
In terms of specific experience, with the June 2026 update of Windows 11, Microsoft has begun to adjust the search triggering logic: users only need to enter two characters to trigger a search for local files, instead of directly submitting queries to web searches when the matching degree is not high as in the past. Previously, if the search box failed to find the "closest" local result, the system would often jump to the Internet by default, which troubled many users who just wanted to find files on their computers. Now, the new policy requires searches to put local results first even when only two characters are entered, thereby reducing unnecessary web page interference.
At the same time, Windows Search also introduces the "substring matching" capability to further enhance the flexibility of file retrieval. In the existing version, users usually need to search from the beginning of the file name or enter the first few characters, otherwise the target file may not be matched. With new substring search support, users can enter "any part" of a filename to locate. For example, for an image file named "SavedYouAClick", users can not only find it by entering "Saved", but also directly enter "Click" or "You" to search, and the system can also identify and return the local file. This type of improvement has obvious practical value for users who have a large number of files scattered in different directories.
Overall, Microsoft hopes to create a more concise, controllable and faster system search experience for Windows 11 through a series of adjustments. From allowing Bing and Microsoft Store results to be turned off, to strengthening local priority and improving search speed, to supporting two-character triggering and substring matching, these changes all point to the same goal - making search truly work locally, rather than becoming a portal to promote web content. Whether these changes can fundamentally solve the deep-seated problems of search sorting, filtering, and indexing remains to be verified by the actual performance of subsequent versions.