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My Windows 11 start menu was unresponsive today, unable to find local apps. I disabled Bing search "feature" and then it started working as expected: Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search" -Name "BingSearchEnabled" -Value 0

Marc-André Moreau

@awakecoding.com

24 Mar 2025

@jenmsft.bsky.social I know Bing search being enabled by default is probably something imposed from higher up at Microsoft, but when it fails, it's extremely disruptive. All of a sudden I can't launch apps in a timely manner, and restarting explorer.exe didn't get it back on its feet.

Marc-André Moreau

@awakecoding.com

Assuming this decision will remain (Bing search enabled by default in Windows 11 start menu), here's something that might help: track how long it takes to "find" a locally installed application. If it takes longer than 5 seconds, disable it at runtime, and throw a corresponding telemetry event

24/3/25, 6:12 pm0 reposts5 likes

Marc-André Moreau

@awakecoding.com

24 Mar 2025

Now the system might just be sluggish as hell for reasons unrelated to Bing, so maybe re-run the exact same search internally with Bing search disabled, and include that in the telemetry. This would at least help point the finger at Bing search being the culprit for the degraded user experience