Add an option to hide Windows internal programs

[ericswpark]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

When searching using Open-Shell, sometimes the search results surface Windows internal programs, such as C:\Windows\System32\AggregatorHost.exe:

For most users these programs are not relevant to their everyday use and clutters up their search, making it more difficult to find the actual programs/files that they are looking for.

Describe the solution you'd like

These are some of the approaches to fixing the issue:

• A checkbox that would exclude "most" Windows internal programs inside Open-Shell settings

I say "most" here because users may still want to access programs like cmd.exe, which is also in C:\Windows\System32. Thus a blanket exclusion on the System32 folder would probably be not ideal.

Maybe the option name could be something like "Hide Windows internal programs from search"?

• An option that allows users to exclude items/entire folders from search

I don't think there is such an option currently, and it doesn't seem like Open-Shell follows the Windows Search indexer exclusion setting. (Please let me know if this is not the case and if I've missed anything!)

Area of issue

Start menu

Alternatives you've considered

No response

Additional context

No response

[ge0rdi]

You may want to untick Search the system path setting.

[ericswpark]

@ge0rdi this is similar, but like I said in the OP it also gets rid of utilities like cmd.exe. Also, any programs that I use and have put inside PATH no longer show up.

[ge0rdi]

You are right.
Search the system path in fact searches all folders mentioned in PATH environment variable.
For some reason I though it searches just system folders.