Microsoft Still Searching after All These Years
January 28, 2025
Finally, long-suffering Windows users will get a better Windows Search. But only if they are willing to mix AI with their OS. The Register reports, "Improved Windows Search Arrives… But Only for Copilot+ PCs." Reporter Richard Speed writes:
"Windows Search has been the punchline to many a Windows joke over the years. The service is intended to provide an easy way of finding content on a local machine, and has previously been mocked for being slow and unreliable. It was blamed for various failures, from causing high CPU usage and toppling over when bits of infrastructure had issues, to tripping up other applications, such as Outlook. Microsoft is making improvements in the latest Dev Channel release – although only for Copilot+ PCs – and is ‘introducing semantic indexing along with traditional indexing.’ This means typing some natural phrases into the Windows search box on the taskbar or searching in File Explorer, which will produce a list of documents that include items close to or related to the search terms."
For now, Windows Search continues to only work on files stored locally. However, Microsoft plans to expand that to documents in the cloud in a future release. The firm promises "no data gathered during the indexing is sent to the company or used to train AI models." Sure.
How many search systems does Microsoft have? How many work as users expect? Our suggestion: Use Everything search. Not only does that freeware tool work well, it does not require one to embrace AI to function. Oh, Microsoft, keep searching. One day you may find a way to locate information in a Windows system. Maybe?
Cynthia Murrell, January 28, 2025
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