Windows 10, by default, sends everything you search for in the Start menu to its servers to give you Bing search results, so you better make sure you're not typing anything private into your computer 's Start menu . Or, you could just disable Bing integration in the Start menu
See also: What you'll encounter when installing Windows 10 October 2018 Update
It's worth noting that Android and even iOS also send search results to their servers to try to get more relevant results, but perhaps this looks different when you're on your personal computer and trying to search your personal files.
Fortunately, though, there's a way to easily disable web integration. It's also worth noting that if you want to use Cortana, you don't have any choice about whether the Start menu uses Bing, so you'll have to disable Cortana to disable web integration.
With the Windows 10 May 2020 Update, there is a new registry setting that controls this option. You need to edit the Windows registry to disable web searches in the Start menu.
See also: Windows 10 Enterprise on 1.5 million computers
To get started, open the Registry Editor by clicking Start and typing “regedit” in the search bar. Double-click the “Registry Editor” shortcut that appears (or press Enter) and click “Yes” to the UAC prompt.
Navigate to the following key using the left pane. You can also paste the following address into the Registry Editor address bar and press Enter:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionSearch
Create a new DWORD by right-clicking inside the empty space in the right pane and pointing to New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
See also: Linux users of Tails 5.0 should stop using it “for sensitive information”
Name the value “DisableSearchBoxSuggestions”. Double-click on it and set data to “1”.
You must restart computer , log out and log back in, or at least restart Windows Explorer for change .
