Why does Windows Explorer search sometimes miss some files?

Question

In my downloads folder I have a file called PB_2.22_b006.zip. If I go to that folder in Vista Windows Explorer, and then type pb or pb* or anything like that in the search box, it doesn't find that file. Why?

Answer 1

File searching in Vista and (and probably Windows 7 though I'm not sure) works differently to that in XP and older versions.
I'm not sure about the reality, but several pages I found via Google a few months ago imply that Vista searches for known words in file names, and wildcard searching (using ? and * characters) either doesn't work at all or has reduced support.

Now, here's a bit of opinion backed up by several other commenters on the web...
Vista file search is basically broken.
One of the best proofs of this that I've found on my own PC is as follows:
- I have a folder containing several files of the same type (i.e. same extension) and the same attributes (none of them are hidden or system files).
- I search for the extension only (e.g. "jsp"), and Windows shows some of those files in the search results, but not all of them.

Answer 2

Windows searches only for those file types registered for the "search" operation.

If you are familiar with the command line I would suggest using "dir file_to_search /a /s" or using alternative software like Locate32 (http://www.locate32.net/).

I have stopped using the Windows Search thing since 2000/2001 :) :P