Microsoft Cortana Update Draws Users to Bing
January 22, 2016
The article titled Microsoft Updates Windows 10 Cortana With New Search Tools for Better Results on IB Times heralds the first good news for Bing in ages. The updates Microsoft implemented provide tremendous search power to users and focused search through a selection of filters. Previously, Cortana would search in every direction, but the filters enable a more targeted search for, say, applications instead of web results. The article explains,
“It’s a small change, but one that shows Microsoft’s dedication to making the assistant as useful as possible. Cortana is powered by Bing, so any improvements to the Windows 10 assistant will encourage more consumers to use Microsoft’s search engine. Microsoft made a big bet when it chose to deeply integrate Bing into Windows 10, and there is signs that it’s paying off. After the June 2015 Windows 10 launch, Bing attained profitability for the first time in October 2015.”
That positive note for Bing is deeply hedged on the company’s ability to improve mobile search, which has continued to grow as a major search platform while desktop search actually peaked, according to research. Microsoft launched Cortana on Android and iOS, but it is yet to be seen whether this was sufficient action to keep up the Bing momentum.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 22, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Disable Annoying Windows Web Search
July 23, 2015
In another attempt to Apple, Microsoft allows users to search not only their computer’s hard drive, but also the Web at the same time. This is a direct copy of Apple OS’s Spotlight Search, but unlike Apple, Windows’s increased search parameters are annoying. Windows users can disable this supposed “helpful” feature and GHacks has the directions to do it: “How To Disable Web Search In Windows 10’s Start Menu.”
Apple’s Spotlight Search does pretty much the same thing, but it categorizes results into organized categories and does not search the entire Web, only Wikipedia, iTunes, and preselected search engines. Microsoft has the tendency to go overboard and that usually equals slow response time. The article mentions the Windows 10 search results are also:
“I will never use the search for a couple of reasons. First, I don’t need it there as I want local files and settings to be returned exclusively when I run a search on Windows 10. Second, the suggestions are too generic most of the time and third, since a browser is open all the time on my system, I can run a search using it as well without having to add another step to the process.”
The good news is that the Web search feature can be disabled, but it is not available to all users. Does that surprise you? Microsoft has the tendency to release OS’s without fully fixing all the bugs. Windows 10 appears to be better than prior releases, but little bugs like this make it annoying.
Whitney Grace, July 23, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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