Microsoft rolls out Windows Search updates and they're... quite good

os platforms

Who are you, and what have you done with Microsoft?

Microsoft has made good on a promise to make Windows Search less of a chore to use, making tweaks to remove "promotional content" from web results and options to focus on local results.

The changes are currently limited to Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel. March Rogers, partner director for product design for Windows at Microsoft, stated that they were on their way when Microsoft announced the Windows 11 26H2 update, and the scope of the changes will delight Windows Search users who are tired of the service's occasional unreliability and inaccuracy, and the clutter of its interface.

While Microsoft said it has reduced the likelihood of the service crashing, it also said there was "more work underway."

Still, even going by what is in the Experimental channel (which could easily change between now and release), it looks like the updates are a considerable improvement on what users have had to endure until now.

For starters, the results are clearer, it is easier to see where a hit came from, and promotional content has been removed from web results ("Web results show the most relevant answer, instead of first showing related products and promotions"). Plus, there are now settings to choose whether web and Microsoft Store results are shown alongside local results – you'll find them in the Search area of the Privacy & Security page in the Settings app.

Local results are prioritized when they are a better match, typos are better tolerated (Microsoft gave the example of "utlook" finding Outlook), and there's support for two-character file searches.

The Windows Insiders update is free of the word "Copilot." Microsoft tinkered with Windows Search improvements in 2025, but a Copilot+ PC was required to use them. The service itself has long been the punchline to many a Windows joke: there was the high-CPU usage incident of 2019 and the empty results page of 2020, for example.

This time around, Microsoft has taken the surprising step of deprioritizing "promotional content" while also improving the user experience. It would have been better not to have had "promotional content" in the first place, but this is a positive step.

We took a look on a PC with the Experimental channel and, after setting a Feature flag to access the updates, we were impressed. Perhaps we had low expectations based on what had gone before, but, freed of cruft, the results were clearer, and the whole experience snappier.

Microsoft did not say when the updates would reach general availability. However, Windows 11 26H2 or perhaps before would be a safe bet. ®