- Microsoft has introduced a new feature in the Bing Wallpaper app
- This performs a Bing search when you click on the Windows 11 desktop
- It’s likely to confuse (or annoy) people, as this is unexpected and strange behavior, and the functionality is enabled by default.
Those using the Bing Wallpaper app, which is not installed on Windows 11 by default, I should clarify, are being treated to some annoying 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 strangest moves Microsoft has made to promote its search engine.
Search refers to the desktop wallpaper theme displayed by the Bing app, in case you want to learn more about it. But it’s obviously a problem when simply clicking on the desktop, which you might do by accident, activates your browser with the Bing search engine.
I imagine there will be many confused Windows 11 users who may have missed a click on a folder they wanted to open and been seriously surprised when faced with an explanation of what a two-toed sloth is (example image highlighted by Windows Latest).
What is happening here? Well, it turns out there’s a new ‘feature’ in the Bing Wallpaper app that you’ll find in settings: a ‘Clicking on desktop opens Bing’ slider that does exactly what it says. And here’s the kicker: it’s on by default, when an ability like this should clearly be off unless you choose to enable it.
Analysis: Take advantage of casual clicks
There are some small mercies here worth noting. First, as mentioned at the beginning, you need to install the Bing Wallpaper app to have it on your PC; It is not something that is found in Windows 11 by default.
Second, by some small miracle, Bing search will open in your default browser, not Edge. So if you use Chrome, at least you’ll have Bing in Google’s browser, and not a double helping of Microsoft’s promotion with both Edge and Bing.
The other small relief here is that if you click on the desktop again, shortly after you’ve invoked the Bing search once, you won’t be presented with this search again. Windows Latest did some experimenting, and it seems there is some kind of timer with this functionality that means it won’t repeat in a short space of time (or possibly only happen once a day). Not even Microsoft is dumb enough to open a Bing search over and over every time you click on a blank space on your desktop.
These are tiny mercies, however, and the fact that this feature is turned on by default is quite ridiculous, frankly. By all means, turn the feature on, but leave it off, so it’s only used by those who really want to be able to click on the wallpaper to find out more about it (on the off chance that there are some people who really like the idea).
As it is, this is clearly another way to drive traffic to Bing unfairly, and one wonders how much of Microsoft’s search traffic comes from this type of rerouting on Windows. This is exactly the kind of tactic that discourages me from using some of Microsoft’s products, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
I don’t use Bing Wallpaper anyway, but by all accounts it was a pretty neat app optimized for adding some color to your Windows 11 backgrounds on a daily basis when it first came out. Unfortunately, it seems like it’s slowly become more annoying and underground software, so maybe it’s time to back off, Microsoft?
Or, more generally, in all corners of Windows 11, can we put the user experience before the “Microsoft experience” more often, please?
Alternatively in Windows 11, you can always activate Windows Spotlight (in Settings > Personalization > Background, in the ‘Customize your background’ drop-down menu) to load up on rotating wallpapers instead of using said Bing app.
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