M*crosoft's search engine is borderline unusable

Unpopular opinion: dead internet is not only real, but GOOD. Once robots get good enough to autonomously sign up for websites and make convincing posts, this will force us humans to go actually outside, make friends, form deep social relationship, and build lasting, resilient communities. Meanwhile on the internet, websites that are willing to allow AI content for money will eventually die out due to lack of actual users. The only remaining websites will be run by individuals and organizations with non-profit motives, and a strict human-only policy with verification based on word-of-mouth / invite system.

On robots.net too

With stuff like Tesla and Twitter, it can keep away the weird nerds who search those terms in hopes of white-knight-sealioning a conversation into oblivion. I think it just became part of the lexicon.

I like the classic Usenet “Micro$oft.” Producers of Microshaft Wind-blows.

It conveys "I have such a disdain for that thing that I'm asterisking its name like it was a slur or swear word".

I'm not a big fan either, even if you can find some secondary roles for that (as keeping someone from finding it, like ilinamorato exemplified). It distracts the reader from what is being said to the author's personal opinion about what is being said.

It's ironic, except for when we're talking about the Fr*nch. It's self aware humor that you're being ridiculous. The tone it's supposed to convey in situations like thisis that you're being hyperbolically obtuse.

Honestly, it's better than: fck, blly and s*icide

speak of the devil and he shall appear

People are going to see this, so here's the answer.

Logitech's web UI is crap. See that tiny, unlabled triangle on the list on the left?

Click it and pick your OS version.

Then you get the download.

I unknowingly downloaded some software from there when I was a kid, and, from what I remember, it came bundled with some sort of update manager or something. Even if it's not outright malware, I would wager most people who are looking to download logitech's utility don't want some irrelevant third-party garbage on their system. So AT BEST it's crapware / bloatware

My elderly dad fell for something similar trying to call HP support, he googled the number and the top result was some bullshit. They had him set up remote access and compromised all his data. Old man had to reset everything.

He called me saying what happened, I had him shut down and unplug. I recovered what I could but he lost a lot of data.

This shit should be illegal. Like, I'm sure it is technically but there shouldnt be unofficial sponsored results above legitimate sources.

The latter.

Yes it is.

It's just a mirror for software that is or was free. Though it's been around for years, and hasn't been relevant or needed by most people for a long time now so it very well could contain viruses and shit these days.

Google: 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑💰💰💰💰💰

Just so I understand. I should not be downloading anything from there?

I clicked a link just yesterday, but something felt off so I backed out and went to the MSI page to download afterburner.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

.

Does anyone know exactly what malware they are serving? I'm tempted to run it though virustotal.

Well that was a spectacular read in your link, keep calling attention to it, 'cause it's gonna be a constant drip-drip-drip of people finding out. I didn't know, but starting today, I'm gonna experiment with SearXNG as my primary search engine, see how that goes!

Thanks

Yacy seems to be what I want but I am worried about the content that would get indexed

Thanks for making such an interesting guide! I'll read through this and hopefully learn more about search engines and what would work the best for me.

Do you have uBlock or some similar ad blocker installed?

EDIT: I went and looked myself. I do have an ad-blocker installed. I don't see the ad. But I do see more noise than OP (desktop, Firefox):

• There's a set of steps at the top left telling me to download and install the software, which is what OP was complaining about.
• At the top right, there's a large, blue button with a link that guesses incorrectly that I want to know about Logitech Unifying Receiver Pairing, and just sends me to another Bing search.
• Beneath that, there are a list of several questions that Microsoft incorrectly thinks I might be wanting to task and their answers.
• Then there are two "Explore more" links linking me to pages describing how to pair with the software. One appears to link to "logi.com" with apparently is a Logitech business support page that links to the software, albeit only the Mac version, which I'd guess isn't what OP wanted.
• Back on the left, I have what appears to be an AI spam question-answer site at thewindowsclub.com and another page on "how to unify" at robots.net.
• Beneath that, I have a link to the Logitech download section. So it's in my top results and on my laptop, visible on the first screen of results, though beneath some not-really-desirable stuff.

The screenshot is from Microsoft Edge running in Windows 10 (virtual machine) with no/little browsing history and no account connected. I'm hypothesizing here, but maybe these are the reasons:

• You don't see the ??? section because you're not on Edge. Bing AI only works on edge (it checks your user agent)
• You don't see the ad because you have an adblocker

Thanks for the tip! I use startpage already, it's pretty good. From what I understand, it uses Google's search index under the hood.

There's also Brave search which (claims to be) privacy friendly and (claims to) have their own independent search index, so you could give that a try as well. I wouldn't say it's better that startpage or google tho

Damn I'd love to use it but it does not have my country as an option to select region so pretty much useless to me sadly. Stuck to DDG abd google/bing it seems.

Doesnt Duck use bing?

I wouldn't call bing mainstream

sadly it seems that most other search engines (like ddg) can be quite lacklustre in their image results

That's disgusting.

Thanks, I've never heard of this. I've been using Brave Search + DDG + Marginalia

Is it still good for porn, at least?

Not sure, but I am a fan of Mpcrosoft's search

That's good only if their choice wasnt even worst

Isn't Edge based on Chrome?

They do?

Who'd use Chrome anyway?

I feel like most commenters here would think "no one wants the stupid ai response", but obviously some people like it or they wouldn't do it. I think if your searches are more general kind of "can I catch chicken pox from chickens" type questions it might be helpful ?

Clean up your tabs please. Omg

This is the first time I've seen Kagi, I'll check them out. I've been pretty happy with SearxNG.

Just Duck it!

How?

Thank you so much for this! I did not know Kagi was doing that, and I was about to cave in and start trying it out!

Yeah, you're totally allowed to cuss on the internet.

Can't you add it manually?

Dude. When you're looking at whatever search just right click in the url bar and there will be an option to add that search engine. Then in settings you can make it your default if you wish.

The reason I don't use SearXNG is because the public instances always seem to be slow and or broken.

So, did it never occur to you that you can manually add custom search engine into Firefox?

Settings>search>manage alternate search engines>add search engine

we got woogle which is a frontend for google

Try this https://social.tchncs.de/@miaplan/108808480948809477

It does, look it up in the addon marketplace- been working great for me

Which search engines do you use with it? Google? Bing? Something else?

Which one? Something paid or self hosted?

Not sure about Logitech, but most other companies where I need to download driver software it’s an absolute crapshoot. Search engines used to be good for implementing complex search on your site without need to spin up a custom search logic yourself.

Most of the time, a search engine can get me to the relevant page faster than it takes to click through someone's website.

Which I suppose might be something of a damning statement on the web design industry.

I typed the URL that was literally printed in the packaging of a [new] Logitech mouse, and the page didn't exist! Like, how?!‽

Sometimes brand websites are done well and you find what you're looking for within a few clicks, but more often than that, the website will be a horrendous experience.

Google search results used to usually bring up the direct link to the download page on that brand's website. Pretty much as the first search result.

To be fair, that also was a time where brand websites were really bad.