Set Up Windows 10/11 PowerToys Run for Instant App, File, and Web Search (Alt+Space)
Difficulty: Beginner | Time Required: 10 minutes
PowerToys Run is a lightweight “quick launcher” from Microsoft that lets you open apps, find files, run commands, and even search the web—without digging through...
SharkTime Software’s new wList 3.0 ships as a lightweight, cache-first file search and directory‑listing tool for Windows, promising “super‑fast” local and network searches, three exportable list styles, Unicode compatibility, and an internal image preview—available starting January 7, 2026 as a...
Microsoft’s quiet, surgical tweaks to Windows 11’s search plumbing and December’s steady stream of Microsoft Teams feature updates together illustrate a familiar pattern: incremental under‑the‑hood improvements and targeted collaboration features are being rolled out with telemetry and staged...
I started using Windows File Explorer the way most people do—save here, download there, hope I remember where—and then discovered six deceptively simple tricks that instantly cut the time I waste on hunting and moving files; those same tips were the basis of a recent MakeUseOf guide you may have...
Find and Clean Up Large Files with File Explorer (size:>100MB)
Difficulty: Beginner | Time Required: 15 minutes
Finding and removing large, underused files can free up valuable disk space and keep your PC running smoothly. This guide shows you how to use Windows File Explorer to quickly locate...
Microsoft’s latest Insider checkpoint—packaged as KB5065793 and appearing in recent Dev and Beta preview builds—delivers a handful of practical interface changes and deeper platform plumbing that together reveal Microsoft’s current priorities: quicker diagnostic access, tighter Copilot...
Windows 11’s built‑in Search is useful — until it isn’t: slow responses for non‑indexed folders, a cluttered home panel, and inconsistent results have driven many users to lightweight launchers and desktop search tools that return answers in milliseconds. This piece examines six of the fastest...
Windows 11’s built‑in search can be handy, but for many power users it’s long felt sluggish, cluttered with web suggestions, and inconsistent when dealing with non‑indexed folders or massive file collections — which is why dozens of lightweight, keyboard‑first launchers and indexers have sprung...
Google’s experimental Windows app aims to remove the friction of switching windows to look something up — a floating, Spotlight‑like search bar you summon with Alt + Space that can search local files, installed apps, Google Drive, and the web, and that folds in Google Lens and the company’s AI...
accessibility
admin controls
ai assistant
ai mode
ai-powered launcher
alt key
alt space launcher
alt-space
app
app-experiment
beta
closed source
cloud ai
cloud search
command palette
cross surface search
cross-platform
dark mode
dataflow
desktop
desktop apps
desktop search
drive
drive integration
end users
enterprise
enterprise it
enterprise privacy
enterprise readiness
everything vs google
experiment
filesearch
generative ai
google
google app for windows
google apps
google drive
google drive integration
google gemini
google lens
governance
installed apps
integration
it admin
keyboard
keyboard launcher
lab-testing
labs
launcher
launcher overlay
lens
lens integration
lens ocr
lens-capture
local and cloud search
local and web search
local files
local indexing
local search
local-and-web
microsoft copilot
multimodal ai
multimodal search
ocr
open source
opt-in
os integration
os search ux
overlay
overlay launcher
performance
permissions
power users
powertoys
privacy
productivity
productivity tools
screen capture lens
searchsearch ecosystem
search labs
security
shell
shortcuts
spotlight
spotlight like search
spotlight-like launcher
start menu
telemetry
translation
unified results
unified search
user interface
ux design
visual search
web results
web search integration
windows
windows 10
windows 10+
windows 11
windows apps
windows search
windows ux
windows-labs
workflow
workspace
Google has quietly shipped an experimental Windows desktop application that puts Google Search, Google Lens and its conversational AI Mode a single keystroke away — a Spotlight‑style overlay that searches your PC, installed apps, Google Drive and the web without switching windows. Background /...
ai mode
alt key
drive and web search
enterprise
enterprise controls
filesearch
google
google app for windows
google gemini
lens integration
on-device indexing
privacy
productivity
search labs
security
spotlight like search
telemetry disable
windows
workspace exclusions
Google has quietly pushed a compact, Spotlight‑style search overlay to Windows as an experiment — a one‑keystroke gateway that stitches together web results, Google Drive, installed apps and local files while folding in Google Lens and an AI Mode for conversational answers. Background
Google’s...
ai mode
alt-space
data governance
drive integration
enterprise
enterprise controls
enterprise privacy
filesearch
google
google labs
google lens
labs
on-device indexing
privacy
productivity
spotlight like search
unified search
windows overlay
Windows ships with a tidy set of built‑in utilities that make a PC usable out of the box — but if you’re looking for speed, control, and features that actually match real workflows, the defaults often fall short and quietly slow you down. A recent roundup arguing that Windows’ bundled apps can...
A prominent tech writer has publicly abandoned the Windows 11 Start menu in favor of Flow Launcher, an open‑source, keyboard‑first app launcher — and in doing so rekindled a long‑running debate about how Windows should expose search, system commands, and shortcuts to power users. The transition...
If your Windows 11 laptop’s battery life feels shorter than it should, the usual advice—dim the screen, close background apps, choose a power‑efficient mode—helps, but it may not be the whole story; one often‑overlooked background system, the Windows Search Indexer, can silently chew CPU, disk...
battery life
excluded folders
filesearch
indexing
indexing options
outlook search
pause indexing
performance tuning
power settings
powercfg batteryreport
rebuild index
search indexer
search service
search tools
task manager
windows 11
windows search
windows.db
wsearch
Microsoft has quietly begun testing a conversational, meaning‑aware file and image search inside the Copilot app on Windows 11, bringing natural‑language discovery and a redesigned Copilot home to Windows Insiders on Copilot+ PCs as part of a staged Microsoft Store preview. Background / Overview...
cloud fallback
copilot
dlp
enterprise
filesearchfile types
image search
indexing
microsoft store
multilingual support
npu
on-device ai
privacy
semantic search
vision
windows 11
windows insider
Microsoft has begun quietly testing a conversational, semantic file and image search inside the Copilot app on Windows 11, bringing natural‑language discovery and a redesigned Copilot home to Windows Insiders on Copilot+ PCs as part of a staged Microsoft Store rollout. Background
Microsoft's...
copilot
data governance
embeddings
enterprise it
filesearch
image search
it admin
npu
on-device ai
phi silica
privacy
productivity
semantic search
slm
telemetry
user experience
vision-guided help
windows 11
windows insider
Microsoft has quietly begun testing a conversational, meaning‑aware file and image search inside the Copilot app on Windows 11, a change that lets you describe what you’re looking for instead of hunting for exact filenames — and it’s arriving first to Copilot+ PCs as a staged Windows Insider...
ai discovery
copilot
copilot vision
enterprise security
filesearch
hardware gating
image search
natural language
npu
offline inference
on-device ai
privacy
productivity
semantic search
vision
windows
windows 11
windows insider
Microsoft’s latest Insider update for Copilot on Windows shifts the app’s interface and search capabilities into a more integrated, AI-first direction — bringing semantic file search to capable machines and a redesigned Copilot home that folds recent apps, files, and conversations into a single...
Microsoft’s Copilot for Windows is taking another decisive step from assistant to workplace hub by adding a semantic file search capability to the Copilot app and rebuilding its home surface into an action-focused dashboard — currently rolling out to Windows Insiders and gated to Copilot+ PCs...
Microsoft’s Copilot now speaks file-finding: the Copilot app can search your recent local files and images using natural language, and a staged Windows Insider rollout has begun that puts semantic file search and a redesigned Copilot home in front of testers and early adopters. Background...