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Comment by jjoonathan | Hacker News Reader

My favorite is when I see the result I want flash by and then I accidentally type the next character -- correctly -- due to momentum, and the result disappears. Then I delete the last character in an attempt to bring back the result, and then I try retyping the whole thing, but the correct result never reappears. It is gone. Only useless web results remain.

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search] "BingSearchEnabled"=dword:00000000 "CortanaConsent"=dword:00000000

^ put this into a .reg file, run it, and never see those bullshit web search results again. Have been doing this first thing after a fresh install on every PC.

You need carriage returns.

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Search]
  "ConnectedSearchUseWebOverMeteredConnections"=dword:00000000
  "AllowCortana"=dword:00000000
  "DisableWebSearch"=dword:00000001
  "ConnectedSearchUseWeb"=dword:00000000

  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search]
  "CortanaConsent"=dword:00000000
  "BingSearchEnabled"=dword:00000000
  "AllowSearchToUseLocation"=dword:00000000

Much simpler is to just paste to a terminal:

    REG ADD HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search /v BingSearchEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
    REG ADD HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search /v CortanaConsent /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Yeah Windows Search is useless. I'd recommend Everything[0]. Though, it's more for general file searching than searching for programs. Can't remember if it learns your habits and pushes them to the top or not. Regardless it's instantaneous and I almost never use the Windows search since I discovered it

https://www.voidtools.com

Thanks "Everything" looks like something I will install and use.

I previously used a manually-triggered disk search indexer called Cathy.exe which works well [1]

For "real time (i.e. without the pre-cached index) live searches of filenames and/or contents by keyword/grep I like "Agent Ransack" [2]

It's one of the few things I always use on every windows machine I login to

[1] https://cathy.en.lo4d.com/windows

[2] https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

Everything is pretty much the only thing I miss from Windows. Maybe paint.net too. I haven't found a suitable Linux equivalent for either.

fsearch replaces "Everything" for me

fsearch is fantastic. Bind it, or various configured states of it, to keystrokes and never look back...

I quite like pinta as a paint.net replacement. Don't think it's as feature complete, but hits that ease of use sweet spot for really quick crops or adding text, etc.

I absolutely love "Anything", use it constantly.

Has saved my neck many, many times.

This! It's infuriating.

I also find that at first it pulls up File Explorer when I type "exp", but in a flash it switches to Edge. Just wanted a file management window, please.

In case you're not aware: Windows Key + E for a file management window.

I live in other OSes most of the time, so thank you for this.

Unrelated, but that last part of your comment tingled my Litany Against Fear sense. At least I know with which mindset I should encounter Windows 11 now.

This happens on Spotlight as well.

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