Windows 7 Search Window

[Bill]

I'm having difficulty using the search window at the bottom left of
the screen in Win7. As an example, I just saved a JPEG file and went
to search for it and no items were found, yet I know exactly where it
is! What am I doing wrong?

Bill

 

[Sunny Bard]

I'm having difficulty using the search window at the bottom left of
the screen in Win7. As an example, I just saved a JPEG file and went
to search for it and no items were found, yet I know exactly where it
is! What am I doing wrong?

Win7's search is poor, even in comparison to WinXP's search. Try
FileLocator Lite (or if you like it and want extra features FileLocator Pro)

http://www.mythicsoft.com/Page.aspx?type=filelocatorlite&page=download

 

[Big Steel]

I'm having difficulty using the search window at the bottom left of
the screen in Win7. As an example, I just saved a JPEG file and went
to search for it and no items were found, yet I know exactly where it
is! What am I doing wrong?

If you use the Start Window, which you are talking about, then the
search is only going to search indexed locations. The file may not be in
a indexed location.

You can use the Advanced Search to search indexed and non-indexed
locations. You can get to Adv Search by using the Windows-Key and F-key
combination. You can use Bing or Google to find more information on how
to use the Adv. Search on Windows 7.

<http://www.groovypost.com/howto/how-to/use-advanced-search-in-windows-7-similar-to-windows-xp/>

 

[Gordon]

What am I doing wrong?

So what did you type in the search box?
Is the location you saved this file indexed?

 

[Gordon]

Win7's search is poor,

I have absolutely no problem with the performance of the search function
in Windows 7...
I find it BETTER than the one in XP...

 

[Sunny Bard]

I have absolutely no problem with the performance of the search function
in Windows 7...
I find it BETTER than the one in XP...

I'm not talking about the speed, I'm talking about the ability to
*actually* find stuff based on criteria I care about ...

 

[Zaidy036]

I'm having difficulty using the search window at the bottom left of
the screen in Win7. As an example, I just saved a JPEG file and went
to search for it and no items were found, yet I know exactly where it
is! What am I doing wrong?

Bill

free and faster search is Everything from http://www.voidtools.com/

 

[Char Jackson]

free and faster search is Everything from http://www.voidtools.com/

Yep, that's by far my own favorite search tool. Most excellent.

 

[VanguardLH]

Bill says...

free and faster search is Everything from http://www.voidtools.com/

From their FAQ:

Does Everything search file contents?
No, "Everything" does not search file contents, only file and folder
names.

For the OP, this is unimportant since he can't enter any string to
search inside a .jpg file, anyway. For future use, scanning inside
files for desired content probably has some significance in choosing a
search utility.

Note that Everything generates a database. That is, it is an indexing
program, not a search utility. It indexes all files and folders and the
"search" is a filter you specify to reduce down the matching list.
Because it's an indexing utility is why ...

Can "Everything" index a mapped network drive?
No, "Everything" only indexes local or removable NTFS volumes.

To get around this limitation, they require you to install Everything on
every networked host and also run their ETP server which means you have
to open ports in your software firewalls. Personally I prefer a self-
contained search utility that doesn't require me to have continually
running background processes.

Does Everything support "searching" (indexing) of non-NTFS volumes? I
have to wonder since ...

How do I convert a volume to NTFS?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881

Why would they even bother to put this in their FAQ unless NTFS was
required for their indexing to work? In fact, in another FAQ regarding
system requirements they say, "Everything" will only locate files and
folders on local NTFS volumes."

Hopefully Everything supports more regex operators than they list in
their FAQ. For example, \b (looking for a word boundary) is not listed.
Their online documentation for regex dumps you over to the Wiki site
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regex) which discusses regular expressions
but isn't really a good reference doc. So WHICH version does Everything
support? POSIX, Perl (PCRE), or something else? If they "borrowed" a
regex library to incorporate into Everything, they may not know just
what regex is supported.

Support for Everything is hoping someone comes to the rescue in their
forums. Their bug report forum has more posts than their general help
forum. There isn't much traffic in either of them.

I'm not a fan of indexers but if that's what you like then this is a
contender amongst indexers.

 

[Paul]

I'm not talking about the speed, I'm talking about the ability to
*actually* find stuff based on criteria I care about ...

The "Start Search" in the lower left, is likely to work differently than
the more general "Search" in the upper right. Click the three links here
for more details.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Find-a-file-or-folder

But some of the other search features, will have you running for the hills.
Even Linux/Unix "find" is going to get me results faster than this. If you know
a file so well, to specify it in this level of detail, you likely know
where it is already (using your powers of ESP)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx

I think in the long run, the lousy interface on Windows 7 search, will
lead you to select a third party search, with a better designed interface.
So you won't be left wondering whether a Windows built-in search function
simply missed the file for some reason. You shouldn't have to "attend
night school" to be able to use search on a computer

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25672448-WIN7-Third-party-search-software

Paul

 

[Sunny Bard]

I think in the long run, the lousy interface on Windows 7 search, will
lead you to select a third party search, with a better designed interface.

It already has ... I will admit that I couldn't find the advanced mode,
and was thoroughly disappointed with the standard "top right" mode.

I'd previously had terrible experiences with search4.0 on XP, so I've
now uninstalled the built in search feature completely.

Similarly I'm on the verge of installing the Classic start menu and
explorer replacements, I've always used "classic" mode on XP/2003 and I
just don't think that pinning and jumplists give me enough control over
*MY* start menu, I feel less productive ... this after living with it
for at least a couple of months.

 

[Bill]

Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions! I have
downloaded both File Locator and Everything and I tend to like FL the
better of the two.

Bill

 

[Gordon]

I'm not talking about the speed, I'm talking about the ability to
*actually* find stuff based on criteria I care about ...

Performance is not just speed......I have no problems with Windows 7
search overall...

 

[Sunny Bard]

Performance is not just speed......

It was unclear whether you originally meant speed or functionality,
common parlance suggests the former.

I have no problems with Windows 7 search overall...

Perhaps the only problem I had was that the functionality I required was
so far buried that I thought it didn't exist, but that is still a
problem and it has lost out to FileLocater Lite ...

 

[Zanqeutil]

Bill schreef:

Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions! I have
downloaded both File Locator and Everything and I tend to like FL the
better of the two.

Bill

Snip

You could also have a look at Superfinder XT, it's free and also
available as a portable download (no installation needed)

http://fsl.sytes.net/ssearchxt.html

Download (Files only = portable version)
http://fsl.sytes.net/download.html#ssearch

Regards,

Zanqeutil

 

[Jesper Kaas]

You could also have a look at Superfinder XT, it's free and also
available as a portable download (no installation needed)

http://fsl.sytes.net/ssearchxt.html

SuperFinder worked fine on my home PC, but when installed on a Vista
PC at the office, it would not show networkdrives. I often need to
search for a textstring in something like 1000 files in a folder on a
networkdrive. Anybody know of a program that can do that?
Windows Explorer in Vista fails when the number of files is to big.
Windows 2000 does the job, but it could be nice to retire that old PC.

 

[Nil]

SuperFinder worked fine on my home PC, but when installed on a
Vista PC at the office, it would not show networkdrives. I often
need to search for a textstring in something like 1000 files in a
folder on a networkdrive. Anybody know of a program that can do
that?

Have you tried Agent Ransack (free) or their for-pay product
FileLocator Pro? I don't know if there is a file number limit, but
Agent Ransack can search network shares.

http://www.mythicsoft.com/

 

[Jesper Kaas]

Have you tried Agent Ransack (free) or their for-pay product
FileLocator Pro? I don't know if there is a file number limit, but
Agent Ransack can search network shares.

http://www.mythicsoft.com/

Agent Ransack works correct with large number of files, and it handles
networkdrives. Perfect for my needs
Thank you for the tip, and thank you to the developers.

 

[Nil]

Agent Ransack works correct with large number of files, and it
handles networkdrives. Perfect for my needs
Thank you for the tip, and thank you to the developers.

Yay! I like happy endings, but there aren't enough of them these days.

 

[Big Steel]

Yay! I like happy endings, but there aren't enough of them these days.

Must you kiss someone's behind?