Microsoft is finally giving Windows 11 users more granular control over what appears in their search results. The latest Insider build 26300.8697, released on June 19, 2026 to the Experimental channel, includes a hidden new setting that separates the toggles for disabling Bing-powered web results and Microsoft Store suggestions directly within the Windows Search interface. Previously, users had to rely on registry tweaks or group policy edits to partially reduce unwanted online content in local searches. With this build, both toggles are baked right into the Settings app, allowing testers to turn off each type of online result independently.
Insider build 26300.8697 isn’t a routine servicing update—it’s a feature build from the 26H2 development branch that will eventually become the next major Windows 11 release. While Microsoft hasn’t officially documented these toggles in the release notes, eagle-eyed enthusiasts quickly spotted the new settings buried in the Privacy & Security section after enabling a feature ID. The discovery signals that Microsoft is responding to years of feedback from users who find integrated web results intrusive, slow, and irrelevant when searching for local files, apps, and settings.
The new toggles appear under Settings > Privacy & Security > Search Permissions. One toggle reads “Show web suggestions from Bing,” and the other “Show suggestions from Microsoft Store.” When both are disabled, Windows Search reverts to a strictly local experience, returning only results from your installed apps, documents, photos, and system settings. The separation is crucial: a user might want to block Bing web links that launch in Edge without blocking Store app suggestions, which can be useful for discovering tools that extend Windows functionality. Conversely, someone who wants zero promotional content can flip both off with a single click.
Before this build, Windows 11 offered a single “Search online and include web results” toggle, but it was a crude instrument. Even when turned off, some web suggestions still slipped through in certain search scenarios, and Microsoft Store links were bundled under the same umbrella. The new implementation creates distinct, reliable kill switches. Behind the scenes, the feature is controlled by the “SearchWebStoreToggle” feature ID, which is disabled by default and must be activated using a tool like ViVeTool. This is typical for experimental features Microsoft deploys in a dormant state to gather telemetry before a wider rollout.
To enable the toggles right now, testers need to download ViVeTool from GitHub, open an elevated command prompt, and enter: vivetool /enable /id:49335513. A reboot then surfaces the new options in Settings. For many Insiders, the extra effort is worth it because it finally delivers a clean, distraction-free search experience that rivals third-party alternatives like Everything or Flow Launcher. Early reports from the Insider community indicate that the toggles work as expected, instantly purging Bing web links and Store suggestions from the search flyout and the full search home page.
The broader significance is that Microsoft appears to be dismantling the forced integration of its services into core OS components—a practice that has drawn sharp criticism from power users, enterprise admins, and privacy advocates. By providing independent controls, the company reduces the friction that pushes users toward registry hacks or third-party start menu replacements. It also aligns with recent regulatory pressures in the EU and elsewhere demanding greater user choice in default services. While this build doesn’t extend control to the Widgets board or Edge’s default search provider, it represents a tangible step toward a more modular Windows experience.
What prompted this change? Windows Search has been a flashpoint since Windows 10. The marriage of local and web results was pitched as a convenience, but in practice it often lags, displays ads, and mistypes—like searching for “notepad” and getting a Bing result for Notepad++ on a sponsored download page. Over time, tech-savvy users documented elaborate workarounds: disabling the BingSearchEnabled registry key, blocking Microsoft’s search endpoints at the network level, or banning the Windows Search process from the internet entirely. The new toggles sanitize that process, making it accessible to average users who wouldn’t touch the registry.
For IT administrators, this feature could be a game-changer. Group Policy and MDM templates will likely follow, allowing organizations to enforce search preferences across fleets. A policy like “Do not allow web search” combined with “Turn off Microsoft Store suggestions” would let schools and businesses lock down endpoints without resorting to custom images. That said, Microsoft has yet to confirm if these policies will ship in the final 26H2 release or be backported to current versions. Given the build number—8697—which is relatively high, this looks like a mature feature that stands a good chance of making the cut.
The community reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, though some skepticism lingers. Forum posts on Windows Insider hubs note that while the toggles work now, Microsoft could “forget” to add them to the public release or change their behavior later. Others point out that the search home page still displays a Bing search box by design, meaning the visual real estate for web search remains even if results are local-only. A separate “cloud content search” setting controls things like Outlook and OneDrive results, but that remains unchanged in this build. There’s also the question of whether disabling Bing results impacts Cortana or voice searches that route through the cloud—early testing suggests not, but the interaction isn’t fully documented.
Performance-wise, early testers report faster search indexing and a snappier UI when web results are turned off, because the system no longer pings Microsoft’s servers with every keystroke. On low-end hardware, this can noticeably reduce CPU spikes that occur when the SearchUI.exe process tries to fetch remote results over a slow connection. That alone makes the feature a potential battery saver for laptop users. However, it’s important to note that telemetry for search interactions is likely unaffected by these toggles; Microsoft still collects anonymized data about what you search for and click on, though the company insists it doesn’t connect that data to your identity.
What comes next? Microsoft typically uses the Experimental channel to get broad feedback before promoting features to the Dev and Beta channels. If no major bugs surface, the toggles could appear in a Dev Channel build within weeks and eventually land in the 26H2 update slated for the second half of 2026. There’s also the possibility that Microsoft backports the feature to Windows 11 version 24H2 as a cumulative update, given the high demand. The Windows team has done this before with user-facing controls—File Explorer tabs, for instance, were expedited beyond their original timeline.
In the meantime, the discovery of these toggles underscores the value of the Insider Program. Regular testers and community tools like ViVeTool serve as a bridge between Microsoft’s secretive development process and the millions of users who want to shape the operating system. When the company fails to communicate feature changes, the community fills the gap, often sparking public discussions that influence the final design. The new search toggles are a direct result of that feedback loop.
For users who aren’t Insiders, the wait continues. You can achieve similar results today by opening Settings > Privacy & Security > Search Permissions and toggling off the simpler web results option, then using a registry edit to silence Store suggestions: navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search and set the DWORD AllowSearchToUseLocation to 0, but this method is unreliable and may break other location-based features. The official toggles, when they ship, will offer a clean, supported path.
Windows 11’s search experience has improved dramatically since 2021, but it still trails competitors like macOS Spotlight in terms of accuracy and speed. Independent toggles for online content won’t single-handedly close that gap, but they remove a major annoyance that pushed power users toward third-party tools. Combined with the revamped search indexer introduced in build 25905 and the semantic search capabilities previewed for Copilot+, Windows Search is slowly transforming from a liability into an asset. Giving users fine-grained control over the content sources is the kind of respect-the-user move that wins back trust.
Looking ahead, it’s fair to wonder whether Microsoft will extend this philosophy to other areas. Could we see independent toggles for the Widgets feed’s news and weather sources? Or for the Start menu’s “Recommended” section? The company’s track record suggests that change comes incrementally, often in response to loud public demands. The search toggles prove that Microsoft is listening, even if it takes a few Insider cycles to act. For now, Insiders can enjoy a quieter, more personal Windows Search—and the rest of us should keep an eye on future release notes.