Why does Windows search show Bing results before my own files?

Start-menu search mixes apps, local files and web results, and there isn’t a simple “always put my files first” setting.

For file-only searches, use File Explorer: open the folder you want to search, or This PC for a wider search, then use its search box. That won’t return Bing results. In Start search, selecting the Documents filter can also narrow the results.

If your files are missing rather than just ranked lower, check Indexing Options > Modify and make sure their folders are included.

Turning off Search highlights only removes featured content; it doesn’t disable Bing search. Blocking web results through policy depends on your Windows edition and build, so there isn’t one registry tweak I’d recommend universally. For a work PC, IT can check which web-search policy is supported.