--- title: I stopped using Windows 11's built-in search and... description: Windows 11's built-in search tries to do too much — mixing web results, files, and settings when most users just want to launch an app. PowerToys' Command... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-11-s-built-in-search-and-switched-to-something-faster-yvtfkq8ad twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I stopped using Windows 11's built-in search and switched to something faster | daily.dev og:description: Windows 11's built-in search tries to do too much — mixing web results, files, and settings when most users just want to launch an app. PowerToys' Command... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-11-s-built-in-search-and-switched-to-something-faster-yvtfkq8ad og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/YVTFkq8AD.png og:image:alt: I stopped using Windows 11's built-in search and switched to something faster og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I stopped using Windows 11's built-in search and switched to something faster **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Windows 11's built-in search tries to do too much — mixing web results, files, and settings when most users just want to launch an app. PowerToys' Command Palette offers a cleaner, Spotlight-like alternative that puts app results first with no animation delay. Beyond app launching, it supports extensions like Clipboard history, WinGet integration, and Everything search index support. While there's a learning curve with prefix commands, the author finds it far superior to Windows Search and now considers it their favorite PowerToys feature. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I stopped using Windows Search after finding Microsoft's better launcher](https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-search-after-finding-microsoft-s-better-launcher-za6ygzrqr) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I stopped opening the Start menu once I discovered this PowerToys feature](https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-opening-the-start-menu-once-i-discovered-this-powertoys-feature-l5ifur9tv) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [I'm sticking with PowerToys Command Palette until Windows fixes taskbar and search](https://daily.dev/posts/i-m-sticking-with-powertoys-command-palette-until-windows-fixes-taskbar-and-search-nkgc1lnjo) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Windows launchers do something the Start menu can't, and I finally understand why power users swear by them](https://daily.dev/posts/windows-launchers-do-something-the-start-menu-can-t-and-i-finally-understand-why-power-users-swear--m2of13cj7) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-11-s-built-in-search-and-switched-to-something-faster-yvtfkq8ad) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I stopped using Windows 11's built-in search and switched to something faster","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-11-s-built-in-search-and-switched-to-something-faster-yvtfkq8ad","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-11-s-built-in-search-and-switched-to-something-faster-yvtfkq8ad"},"datePublished":"2026-07-26T20:03:22.379Z","dateModified":"2026-07-26T20:03:45.135Z","description":"Windows 11's built-in search tries to do too much — mixing web results, files, and settings when most users just want to launch an app. PowerToys' Command...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c8719266a04e0599349fbded937b8fac?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c8719266a04e0599349fbded937b8fac?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-11-s-built-in-search-and-switched-to-something-faster-yvtfkq8ad","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"productivity,windows","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I stopped using Windows 11's built-in search and switched to something faster"}]} ```