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.
They can do whatever they want, it’ll be without me.
I’m not saying that my Linux installation was super easy to set up, but once set up, I’ve had fewer problems than Windows.
That’s been my experience too. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to game on Linux. There have been some games where I had some issues, but the same could be said for Windows too. I think the gaming specific aspect is roughly equal between the two operating systems.
The nice thing about Linux though is that when it does go wrong, I am better equipped with the information and tools to be able to effectively troubleshoot and fix the problem. At least, in theory — I am still learning, so I often find myself wading through logs that I don’t understand, with little progress. It does at least feel more empowering though, to have the abstract option of being able to fix my problem, even if I am not able to grasp that opportunity in practice.
Easier than installing and setting up Windows in my experience
I for one do miss my system restarting in the middle of some work to apply an update.
You can do that in Linux too! Just put an entry in crontab to reboot the system sometime during your working hours.
I just installed Linux the other week and it WAS super easy to set up for me. I was really surprised but everything just worked
The hardest part was getting my Windows-only games to play properly in Linux. Rocket League was relatively easy, but Skyrim was a real pain to get working. But now that Skyrim is working, it strangely feels either the same or slightly better than it does in Windows.
Searches the internet
Gets internet search results
“Yo what the fuck”
No, this is blatantly false.
Searches start menu Gets sponsored internet results Yo, what the fuck.
I think the complaint is that the start menu searches the Internet at all in the first place.
Step 1: Explicitly search not in browser but in menu designed to navigate your system Step 2: Hit enter to open first option because you just want to get there quickly Step 3: Automatically opens the browser you don’t want to use to search for “family photos 2025” because it decided that was more important than opening the folder you made yesterday with all the family photos, aptly named “family photos 2025”. Step 4: Generate returns for Microsoft’s shareholders when they say Bing search volume went up.
Stop trying to use your computer and get back to consuming damn it. Why are users so difficult!
Seriously, has no one thought of the shareholders!??!
“someone died because the cpr tutorial had 5 unskippable minute long ads”
<joke> you all are worrying about your small problems, but what about John the shareholder? why isn’t anyone thinking of John the shareholder? </joke>
yeah I use tone indicators like html tags, no, you can’t stop me
Lol
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.
… Until the next update enables it again
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).
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
If this comment was suggesting a Linux command to fix an issue on Reddit, rather than Windows aerobics on Linux, 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
I thought gpedit was a command line?
someone please correct me, I’m kinda confused
Win + r and running gpedit.exe is simply a terminal command with extra steps.
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.
How user friendly! So lucky he didn’t have to use a command line interface!
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. Job done, like a normal person.
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.
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.
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
Windows: where you enable to disable.
… Until the next update enables it again
Job security for the it admin <3 windows cares!
I said show me the true terminal!
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’m amazed the AI didn’t suggest a cancer clinic near you.
I managed to squeeze another year of updates from Windows 10 we’ll see how things go…
Switched to 11 to keep up with our employees updating their laptops. It’s been completely pain free. I managed 130 laptops at my last job, no problems. No idea how people are getting crap such as pictured.
. . . how about that.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
Win+R, wt, Enter
OR
Win-X, I
The start menu has sucked for a long time, but you don’t have to use it. I cringe when I see other IT folks using its search feature to launch common apps.
At least they are improving the app list with a nice category view and removing the All Apps button (still in preview). That’ll at least upgrade it from hot garbage to okayish.
You cringe, when you see other IT folks use it, but it’s literally what it was built for and how it works on Linux to this day. (And even in a well managed corporate environment it works 80+% of the time)
And it’s not like what you wrote works for any other application.
Funnily enough I started using the Win+Shift+Ctrl+Alt-shortcuts for OneNote, Excel and Word unironically as of late, because the start menu got sooo slow.
Modern start menu search was designed to drive users toward Bing and give MS-favored results to users. It’s hot garbage and has been for a while. So yeah, if you rely on as an IT pro it you probably aren’t very technical.
You can launch any common inbox or Office app and most MMC panels from the Win-R menu. And most of them haven’t changed since Windows 2000 / Office 95. Not being able to adapt and improve upon how you perform your job is sad.
then you probably aren’t very technical.
Lol.
Right?! I love the people giving ‘help’ on how to launch the terminal in other ways, lol, but, this was the worst of them.
This isn’t OOP saying “OMG! For terminal specifically, Windows is making it so difficult for me! Please, someone, show me another way to get to the terminal! Bonus points if you can be a jerk while doing so!” It’s them saying “Windows start menu search is fucking broke as hell and here is an example”
Saying that people are ‘cringe’ for expecting the search to work isn’t helpful at all (people giving tips on other ways to get to programs though, yeah, that can be helpful to try and help others work around MS breaking basic functionality). This is functionality that has been in Windows since Windows 7 and has been in every OS with a GUI that I’ve used for a really long time … expecting it to work isn’t absurd in the least.
Can’t we all just join together in our disappointment/hatred of the Start Menu Search functionality and the enshittification of the OS in general rather than having to try and make it into a “I’m so much better than you because I do this in a power user way”? Especially when that power user way isn’t even useful for a lot of applications!
It’s been broken and slow as hell since Vista. So yes, when IT “professionals” haven’t figured out other ways to run common programs by now, it hints at how remedial their skills are.
I get more frustrated at how many people, especially IT folks, don’t get that these anti-features are configurable.
5 minutes (at most) in regedit and/or Group Policy to disable this bullshit entirely? No, let’s add a three second mental hitch where I have to recall the magic key combo every time I want to open the program. And still leave the problem in place for everything else.
I just tried this and the terminal app is the first thing to show up.
Yeah, this is bullshit
How is it bullshit? You clearly see the screenshot.
Can you recreate it?
that’s a pretty silly thing to say, considering multiple technology websites have been posting similar screenshots and reporting on this for well over a year, ever since it was announced the ads were coming. was it bullshit when PC Mag reported on it? when CNET reported on it? when any one of the dozens of other sites did? was it bullshit when Microsoft themselves said they were coming?
it’s bullshit because why? you fanboy microsoft? ok, that’s fine, you’re entitled to your opinion, but ads all over Windows is a fact of life now, and no amount of denial from you is going to change the objective reality. they’ve said they are going to be pushing advertising to more areas of windows. they don’t give a shit if their users don’t want to believe that. they didn’t ask for your opinion on the matter.
Can you recreate it?
I would never subject myself to that sort of enshitified corporate bullshit. I value my time far too much to use windows. so to answer your question, I refuse to debase myself by recreating it. if you’re into that sort of stuff I won’t kink shame you too much, but that ain’t for me, fam.
So that’s a no then
you’re not particularly gifted with an overabundance of smarts, are you?
Here’s what I am gifted with: VMWare workstation pro and a Windows 11 25H2 iso. Just did a fresh install, and shockingly enough, TERMINAL IS THE FIRST RESULT FOR TERMINAL IN THE START MENU. No IMDB listing at all. So unless you are gonna to try and recreate the screenshot above, like I just did, STFU.
Let me lay this out for you: you’ve seen a screenshot - which may be real, or may not be, since screenshots are easy to fake - which backs a narrative which you and this service generally buy into. When that is pushed back on you don’t go, “huh, yeah I guess this might not be the slam dunk it’s presented as” but instead dig your heels in.
I booted up a windows machine and checked, and the first suggestion is the terminal application. I don’t know if the difference is due to trickery or misconfiguration, but I do know that it’s not particularly supportive of the narrative that you clearly subscribe to when a bunch of people don’t even get the supposed bad behaviour.
Assuming that all the people who don’t get the same result just turned off some option: my Linux laptop had an issue where it didn’t work properly with monitors behind MST hubs. I spent hours finding an imperfect workaround and dealing with said imperfections until eventually (years later) it was fixed. In comparison, finding and disabling whatever option this might be controlled by takes a few minutes (I assume - like I said, I can’t remember disabling it, if indeed I did, but I’m sure it wasn’t complicated else I would remember)
Now, I still prefer Linux; it’s the right trade-off for me most of the time. But y’all could stand to be less fuckin religious about it. Most people, I would think, would take the 5 minutes to google and disable something they don’t like over the hours of time I’ve wasted for this one issue.
Let me lay this out for you: you’ve seen a screenshot - which may be real, or may not be, since screenshots are easy to fake
I ain’t gonna bother reading any more of your comment than that, because the tone of your first sentence tells me everything I need to know about what you’re going to say. below is the page from microsoft themselves covering the advertisements in windows, specifically saying they will push products and services relevant to the personalized information they have on your usage. the advertisements have been covered by dozens of journalists since early 2024. just because you don’t want to admit it, doesn’t make them any less real. have a nice day.
here’s the Microsoft support page on advertisements. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy-settings-for-recommendations-offers-in-windows-11-807608ee-3de2-4498-8e7c-eb10d655567f
If you choose to turn on Personalized offers, we will use information about your device and how you use it, including Windows diagnostic data, in combination with your account info and data collected by other Microsoft products and services to offer you personalized tips, ads, and recommendations to enhance your Windows experiences. Personalized offers include suggestions on how to customize and optimize Windows, as well as ads and recommendations for Microsoft and third-party products and services, features, apps, and hardware to enhance your Windows experiences. For example, Windows might tell you about new features to help you get the most out of your device. If you stream movies in your browser, Windows might recommend an app from the Microsoft Store that streams more efficiently. Or, if you are running out of space on your hard drive, Windows might recommend you try OneDrive or purchase hardware to add more storage.
I ain’t gonna bother reading any more of your comment than that
Then don’t reply.
here’s the Microsoft support page on advertisements.
If you choose to turn on
Literally the best-case scenario for you is that you’re incensed over an optional feature.
Now go back and do the bare fucking minimum and read my comment before replying, since that’s what we could now be discussing instead of me complaining about how lazy you are.
Literally the best-case scenario for you is that you’re incensed over an optional feature.
personalized advertising is on by default. you have to opt out, the support page lied on that one detail. turning it off does not turn off advertisements, it just makes them generalized to people in your area because the advertising is not optional. this is pretty basic, and how all advertising platforms work, not just microsoft. and you know that, you’re just pretending you don’t.
Now go back and do the bare fucking minimum
I’m not gonna waste my time reading novels by fanboys just because your feelings are hurt. you’re under no obligation to like that. you can rage and throw a fit if you want, but I’m not going to play your game because I’m under no obligation to humor you in any way.
now, are we done here, or do you want to whine at me some more about how the thing that microsoft announced themselves can’t be true because a corporation would never be mean to you?
fanboys
See, now you’re typing falsehoods because you didn’t bother reading for fifteen seconds. How embarrassing for you.
Not bullshit. I don’t use it other than at work and its constantly doing bullshit like this. Just because you’re not seeing it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen to others.
So you can’t recreate the screenshot either?
Did I say I can reproduce it reliably or that it happens every single time? It’s obviously an intermittent issue or everyone would be able to reproduce it immediately. I don’t have Windows at home so I can’t even try. But good try, I guess? Don’t believe me, I genuinely do not give a shit.
Seems like you give a big ol shit
Stay mad bro
Shhhh… that doesn’t fit the narrative.
I know this is the wrong audience, but you can type cmd into explorer’s address bar and it will launch a terminal in that directory (I think this works with any command in your path)
Indeed. Also, tried this when I saw it and was surprised that, not only did the Terminal app show up first, but I saw no ads in the start menu at all. Turns out the settings I set on my Windows 11 partition back in 2022 are still there, and I just don’t see stuff like this.
Like yes, I prefer Linux and wish Windows 11 didn’t have so much crap like this, but… It’s so easy to turn most of it off and move on. Changed them once when I set up this machine and haven’t touched them since. Maybe I’m lucky, but I never had an update change back settings, either.
this is actually incredible, thanks
But OP wanted Terminal, not cmd.exe They’re not the same thing.
type “wt” instead of “cmd” then
I still need to use Windows for work so I appreciate it, I didn’t know that one
I’m more of a shift-right click > PowerShell kind of person, but this is good to know
I’m a windows key “cmd” enter person
