- Microsoft introduced a new feature in the Bing Wallpaper app
- This launches a Bing search when you click on the Windows 11 desktop
- This will probably confuse people – or annoy them – given that it’s unexpected and strange behavior, and the feature is enabled by default.
Those who use the Bing Wallpaper app – which is not installed by default in Windows 11, I should clarify – are experiencing harmful new behavior.
Windows Latest reports that Bing Wallpaper now launches a Bing search in your web browser if you click anywhere on the Windows 11 desktop, in one of the more bizarre moves Microsoft has taken to promote its search engine.
The search is on the topic of desktop background displayed by the Bing app, in case you want to know more. But it’s obviously a problem when a single click on the desktop, which you might do by accident, triggers your browser with the Bing search engine.
I imagine there will be a lot of confused Windows 11 users who may have missed a click on a folder they wanted to open and were seriously surprised to be faced with an explanation of what a two-toed sloth is (the example photo highlighted by Windows Latest).
What is going on here? Well, it turns out there’s a new “feature” in the Bing Wallpaper app that you’ll find in the settings: a slider for “Clicking the desktop opens Bing” that does exactly what it says. And here’s the thing: it’s enabled by default, whereas an ability like this should clearly be disabled unless you choose to enable it.
Analysis: capitalize on occasional clicks
There are some small graces here that are worth noting. First of all, as mentioned at the beginning, you need to install the Bing Wallpaper application to have it on your PC; This is not something set by default in Windows 11.
Second, by some small miracle, Bing Search will open in your default browser, not Edge. So if you use Chrome, you’ll at least get Bing in Google’s browser, not a double promotion from Microsoft with Edge and Bing.
The other small relief here is that if you click on the desktop again, shortly after you’ve already launched the Bing search, you will no longer be presented with that search. Windows Latest experimented a bit, and it looks like there is some sort of timer with this feature that means it won’t repeat in a short period of time (or it might only happen once a day). Even Microsoft isn’t stupid enough to open a Bing search over and over again every time you click on an empty space on the desktop.
These are indeed minimal pardons, however, and the fact that this feature is enabled by default is pretty ridiculous, frankly. By all means, enable this feature, but leave it disabled, so that it’s only used by those who actually want to be able to click on the wallpaper to find out more (on the off chance that some people actually like the idea).
As it stands, this is clearly just another way to unfairly attract Bing traffic, and one wonders how much of Microsoft’s search traffic comes from this type of misdirection in Windows. This is exactly the kind of tactic that puts me off using certain Microsoft products – and I’m sure I’m not alone.
I don’t use Bing Wallpaper anyway, but by all accounts it was a pretty neat and streamlined app for bringing daily color to your Windows 11 backgrounds when it first appeared. Unfortunately, it seems to have slowly been transformed into more annoying and sneakier software, so maybe it’s time to turn back the clock, Microsoft?
Or, more broadly, in all corners of Windows 11, can we shift the user experience to “Microsoft Experience” more often, please?
As an alternative in Windows 11, you can always enable Windows Spotlight (in Settings > Personalization > Background, in the “Customize your background” drop-down menu) to stock up on rotating wallpaper rather than using said Bing app.
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