Windows 7 was peak windows, past the mess of driver signing in vista, before they started screwing up the start menu search and turning the whole os into an ad platform.
Windows 7 was the first version that finally implemented 1970s-style user-based security successfully. XP was useless if you weren't an administrator, and Vista broke too many things too often.
Search in the start menu has absolutely been making windows worse, not better. If I recall correctly, it did work well in Windows 7, but since internet search and more crap has been bolted on, and combined with other anti-features, has made the windows start menu frustrating to use.
