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Microsoft Limits Cortana Search Box In Windows 10 To Bing and Edge Only (venturebeat.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Microsoft has announced a big change for how the Cortana search box in Windows 10 will work going forward: all searches will be powered by Bing and all links will open with the Edge browser. This is a server-side change going into effect today. Once it takes effect on your Windows 10 computer, Cortana will no longer be able to serve up results from third-party search providers, like Google or Yahoo, nor take you to a third-party browser, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager of search and Cortana, said in a Windows blog post announcing the change, "Unfortunately, as Windows 10 has grown in adoption and usage, we have seen some software programs circumvent the design of Windows 10 and redirect you to search providers that were not designed to work with Cortana. The result is a compromised experience that is less reliable and predictable. The continuity of these types of task completion scenarios is disrupted if Cortana can't depend on Bing as the search provider and Microsoft Edge as the browser. The only way we can confidently deliver this personalized, end-to-end search experience is through the integration of Cortana, Microsoft Edge and Bing -- all designed to do more for you."
Seriously, stop trying. Accidentally Binging something is terrible, but even with the results right there in front of me... I still closed it down, went to google and typed the same search over again.
It is no longer uncommon to be uncommon.
This.
Often people are surprised at how well scanners work on Linux in general. For example, I was in the office recently and needed to scan a lengthy document, so I borrowed one of those nice Fujitsu scansnap-style scanners. The owner cautioned me that the software and drivers were a 300+mb download for Windows, and was astounded that it was fully supported in xSane and SimpleScan with *no* driver download. I have a similar one at home and knew the drill, but it was fun to see someone really take in how bad the experience is on Windows these days. I plugged in the USB cable, started xSane, threw 50+ pages into the feeder, clicked just a couple adjustments, and saved the project as PDF with no fuss, no driver fuckery, etc etc. Works better, faster, cheaper in Linux than the "fully supported" Windows config.
Otoh, there's no convincing some people, and I'm not the geek evangelist I used to be. More for me, I guess.
(Oh, and Hi there, fellow 2K slashdotter... )
I think not...(*poof*)
I do have a list of IP ranges that, if blocked, kill Cortana and all the other spyware. But you can't do them using the Windows firewall - system services are exempt, and there's also a whitelist of hosts that will always be resolved via DNS rather than the hosts file. You have to do it from the router. It'll also block Bing, Onedrive, product activation and pretty much everything else Microsoft.
Redstone or rs1 is the codename for the next rolling release of Windows 10.
Build 14332 was pushed out to the fast ring of the Windows Insider program 3 days ago.
It removes the ability to disable Cortana (you can still hobble the bastard by removing permissions) and removes the ability to turn off web search. Currently it performs web search with the users default web browser and search engine, but that is obviously going to change.
They also made the Start menu even worse.
This is absolutely 100% true. It brings up whatever filth your sordid mind desires - and shows related filthy searches, so you can travel on a filthy trail to whatever end. It's quite disgusting and fantastic at the same time. Works great for images and videos alike. It's the greatest thing microsoft has created.
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/Q...
There. I just didn't have them to hand at the time of posting.