Start menu calculations

Hi all,

W11 home here

I use(d) the start menu as a calculator frequently but sometimes it wouldn't calculate, but would consider the calc a search term and try to send me to the web.
I disabled access to the web (I don't remember how...) and now it doesn't calculate at all.

1) is there a way to use the start menu search as a calculator and NOT generate any searches outside my PC?
2) if 1 is no, then how do I just get back to the default settings?

Hello and welcome to the forum. I am slightly confused when you say that you use start menu as calculator. Calculator is an app usually pinned to your start menu by default. If not, you should have a calculator app in your 'all apps'. From there you can right click and pin it to start OR you can drag it to the desktop for a quick link.

If you calculate using your browser, you can also check in default apps to make sure calculator is set as default for url calculations within your browser. settings>apps>default apps>calculator

If your calculator app is missing you can reinstall it. Reinstall Built-in Apps in Windows 11 Tutorial

ChrisPbass said:

Hi all,

W11 home here

I use(d) the start menu as a calculator frequently but sometimes it wouldn't calculate, but would consider the calc a search term and try to send me to the web.
I disabled access to the web (I don't remember how...) and now it doesn't calculate at all.

1) is there a way to use the start menu search as a calculator and NOT generate any searches outside my PC?
2) if 1 is no, then how do I just get back to the default settings?

Click to expand...

I'm not into those fancy work arounds. But the calculator, lives here...

C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe


You can right click it, and create a shortcut, that you can pin to the Start Menu or the Taskbar.
You could also put that shortcut... anywhere.

ChrisPbass said:

Hi all,

W11 home here

I use(d) the start menu as a calculator frequently but sometimes it wouldn't calculate, but would consider the calc a search term and try to send me to the web.
I disabled access to the web (I don't remember how...) and now it doesn't calculate at all.

1) is there a way to use the start menu search as a calculator and NOT generate any searches outside my PC?
2) if 1 is no, then how do I just get back to the default settings?

Click to expand...

If you want to use calculator from the Start Menu, you will have to enable web search.

I can't say exactly what my search settings are, but the way I open calculator, is to click on the start icon, type calc and press enter. I have never done a calculation on the start menu, I did know that was even possible (if it is). What I don't like is that I have to mouse click in calculator before I can start entering numbers.

When I say I use the start menu as a calculator I mean I click the start menu button (windows key) on my keyboard which brings up the start menu (that is called the start menu right?) then I type 2*2 and it tells me 4. Or least it used to. I guess I have to enable web search.

Bizarre said:

If you want to use calculator from the Start Menu, you will have to enable web search.

Add or Remove Copilot and "Find results in Web" in Windows Search in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the "Ask Copilot" and "Find results in Web" (Web) icons on Windows Search toolbar for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows Search lets you search from your taskbar to find what you’re looking for, whether it’s on your device, in the...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

Lame but thank you for the clarification.

This is what ChrisPbass is talking about. Notice that she says that what you enter goes out via Bing to bring in the answer. I tried it and it works fine here. When I removed the Ethernet cable from pc, it did not work, as expected. The calculator used to do this is not within the OS, but external.
It also does conversions..... like pounds to dollars, etc. ChrisPbass, thanks for pointing this out... first time I heard about the feature.

ChrisPbass said:

Lame but thank you for the clarification.

Click to expand...

I know. This is the only reason I enable Web Search too.
It's faster than opening a Browser or the Calculator App.

mackie said:

This is what ChrisPbass is talking about. Notice that she says that what you enter goes out via Bing to bring in the answer. I tried it and it works fine here. When I removed the Ethernet cable from pc, it did not work, as expected. The calculator used to do this is not within the OS, but external.
It also does conversions..... like pounds to dollars, etc. ChrisPbass, thanks for pointing this out... first time I heard about the feature.

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this. Never even knew about that feature. Learned something today

Thanks