Microsoft is testing a Windows 11 update that would give users an official way to turn off Bing web results inside the operating system's built-in Search.
Right now, Windows 11 Search mixes local file results with Bing-powered web suggestions by default, and there is no sanctioned toggle to separate them. Microsoft is reportedly testing a setting that would limit Search to local content only. The change has not shipped yet, so it could still be altered or quietly dropped before it reaches users. Until now, the only workarounds were registry edits and third-party utilities.
For power users, Bing in Search has been an irritant rather than a feature: a search experience shaped around Microsoft's business interests rather than the user's intent. An opt-out matters because it would signal that Microsoft treats Bing integration as a preference, not a fixture.
Microsoft is under antitrust scrutiny in Europe partly over how it bundles its own services into Windows. A voluntary toggle for Bing won't satisfy those inquiries, but it does remove one of the more concrete examples that regulators and critics tend to reach for first.