“Search Programs And Files” only searches files and not programs

Question

I'm running Windows 7 professional edition and on this particular computer whenever I search on the search bar it only gives me search results for files only. Programs/applications are not included in the search. For example, if I type in "calc" it doesn't show the calculator program but only files and folders which have calc in it.

How can I enable it to search for programs?

Answer 1

Try this first:

• Right click on your Start Menu button and go to Properties.
• Go to the Start Menu tab
• Click on Customize
• Scroll down to the bottom and make sure that “Search Programs and Control Panel” is selected.

If this doesn't work, you might need a Widows 7 Search Bar Hotfix.

Answer 2

Another thing that might be worth checking is to make sure the "Windows" folder is being marked for Indexing.

Go to start then search "Indexing", you should see "Indexing Options", "Change How Windows Searches", and "Change search options for files and folders". Look around at the settings there and see if something is unchecked.

Answer 3

The program you are searching for probably doesn't have "calc" in it's name. You need to search for someting in it's name.