Windows Search is the functionality built into the Windows OS for finding files, folders and programs on a PC or in connected storage.
191
votes
10answers
15k views
Why is Google so much faster than a hard-drive search?
When I search a file on my HD in Windows 7 or Windows XP it takes some minutes to finish the process. If I fill in a search term in Google, the answer is on my screen in milliseconds
How is it ...
118
votes
11answers
339k views
How to search inside files on Windows 7?
In Windows XP we can search for files which contains a defined keyword (inside all files types).
Windows 7 can look inside files for a keyword.
Okay, but only for text files. (*.doc, *.txt, *.inf, ...
28
votes
17answers
8k views
What search utilities can search by file name in Windows 7?
I've just installed Windows 7 64-bit and have found that it's file search really really sucks. What is a good alternative that I can load on my system to do file searching?
Note: I don't care about ...
25
votes
7answers
6k views
Automatically Disable Windows 7 From Indexing .svn metadata
There is a known issue with SVN repositories and the windows indexing service fighting over .svn metadata files. Here for more details.
How can we set it up so there are automatically no problems ...
22
votes
2answers
1k views
Is there a way to show all Windows 8 Modern UI search results on one page?
There are three search tabs: Apps, Settings, Files. I currently have to mouse click or navigate down to reach Settings and Files, as Apps is searched by default.
Is there a way to get all search ...
16
votes
5answers
54k views
Correct way to disable indexing in Windows 7
What's the best way to disable indexing in Windows 7?
All of the articles that I've found online instruct me to access services.msc and disable the Windows Search service. However, even after I did ...
15
votes
2answers
12k views
How to search for folders only in Windows 7, instead of folders AND files
I've had some issues with the new search function in Windows 7. The Search in Windows XP was packed with so many more options. The only options I can access now, is 'Date Modified' and 'Size'.
Any ...
10
votes
5answers
7k views
Windows 7: Search indexing is stuck
When I open Indexing Options, it says:
4,317 items indexed
Indexing in progress. Search results might not be complete during this time.
It's stuck at 4,317 though; no more items have been ...
10
votes
5answers
4k views
How to search for a folder from the Windows 8 Start screen
In Windows 7, if you press the Windows key and type the name of a folder, and the folder shows up among the Start menu search results. In Windows 8, if you do the same thing, no folders are listed. ...
7
votes
6answers
4k views
Trouble trying to use Windows Search to search for file with a question mark in the content
It seems that Windows Search is having trouble when I specify a question mark character as the content that I'm searching for within my files.
I've tried:
content:?
content:"?"
content:"\?"
...
7
votes
2answers
747 views
Search for files after a relative date using Windows search
I am looking for a way to save a search that includes a relative date. Specifically I am looking for a way to save a search that matches files that have a modification date that is 7 days ago.
I ...
7
votes
2answers
190 views
Windows 8 disable network locations from search
Using webdrive to mount external SSH/SFTP points, whenever I do a search using File Explorer / Search on Computer, explorer starts to scan these drives as well. Since I have a full ubuntu server ...
6
votes
3answers
411 views
Is it just me or does Windows 7 index-based searching still not work as well as Agent Ransack?
It really seems that this is the case....am I wrong? Or an I not understanding something about Windows 7 search and just don't know how to properly use it?
And as far as I can tell Agent Ransack ...
6
votes
3answers
4k views
Command line tool to search phrases in large number of pdf files
I'm using Opensuse 10.3 and like to know command line tools to search phrases in large number of pdf files inside a directory. In Windows XP the Explorer search allows this but is too slow. Is there ...
6
votes
4answers
4k views
Windows 7 Index Search does not work in Google Drive folder
I recently installed Google Drive on my Windows 7 laptop and began syncing all my files a few days ago. All was well until I needed to search for some documents in my local copy of Google Drive using ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
How to search inside PDFs with Windows Search?
I'd like to use Windows Search for searching through multiple PDFs in one go, but I see that in the Indexing Options' Advanced Options screen, PDF files don't have a registered IFilter:
What is an ...
6
votes
1answer
575 views
Encrypting search index using EFS
Is there anything wrong with encrypting the search index with EFS while letting the search service index encrypted files? I've encrypted the directory %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Search and I've added ...
5
votes
1answer
4k views
Exclude directories from Windows Search by wildcard
Search Indexing is interfering with our build process, and I would like to exclude all instances of our dev directories from the indexer (we have a trunk and branches setup).
I could exclude the whole ...
5
votes
1answer
126 views
Is it possible to remove an app's results from Modern UI search on the start screen?
How can I remove all search items (for example emails) from a particular pre-installed Modern UI app when searching by typing on the start screen?
5
votes
2answers
312 views
Can I make Windows 7 Start Menu search show items in order of most frequently used?
I work as a web applications developer; during the course of a day I open applications a lot.
The search box in the start menu that appeared in Vista & 7 has been a godsend. Hit the start key, ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
Can I do a “one-time” file content search in Windows Server 2008 without adding the folder to the index?
Can I search for files which contain a specific string in a folder if that folder is not in the search index?
So, lets say folder 'textFiles' is not in the index. I navigate to this folder in Windows ...
4
votes
5answers
7k views
Can I force full speed to the indexing service of Windows?
On windows 7 there's 'pause' and there's 'indexing speed is reduced due to user activity' but what if one wants full speed during desktop activity?
4
votes
2answers
14k views
can I use CMD to search for files in windows?
I want a command to search for a file in a directory and all sub directories in windows, I saw all the Commands but I couldn't find any command to do this issue!
4
votes
1answer
78 views
On Windows 7, how can I make the Start Menu search feature include matches from within words, not just the start of the word?
I have a program installed called WinSCP. When I press the Windows key and type "SCP", I get "No items match your search." Is there a configuration option I can set somewhere, so that this item will ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
How to find video files with a certain framewidth
I have the following problem: a large collection of video files of all sorts of formats with very different framewidths and frameheights on several hard drives.
I want to search for all video files ...
4
votes
2answers
54 views
Find all videos less than x seconds in length
I have a directory (F:\video) with many subdirectories containing various .mp4 videos. Is there any way I can get a list of all the videos less than 15 seconds long? Preferably using the standard ...
4
votes
2answers
102 views
Bug?: Windows Explorer search file extension aware
Can someone explain why I cannot find files with certain file extensions? The repro steps are below.
Create Folder.
Create TXT file with the following text. <root />
Use Windows Explorer to ...
4
votes
3answers
10k views
Index a low-cost NAS on Windows 7
Has anyone found a way to index the files stored on a Networked Attached Storage on Windows 7 so that the files can be available in Windows Search and Libraries? I am referring to the cheap and ...
4
votes
3answers
697 views
Force Windows 8 to search indexed files
When using search files in Windows 8 (win+f) I don't get expected results. For example, I installed VLC, it's in Program Files (86) folder, and that folder is selected for indexing. Search for files ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
How to easily use Windows 7 search advanced options?
Is there an alternative to trying to remember all the advanced search options? Like an actual GUI as we had for windows XP?
As powerful as Windows Search apparently is, I cannot possibly remember all ...
4
votes
2answers
144 views
Windows search, you should know that .flv files are videos
Windows Search does not appear to recognize flash video files as being video.
I frequently use Windows search to filter files in a folder. Occasionally I want to look for newly download video files ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
Windows XP classic search functionality in Windows 7?
There's a critical regression between the way Windows XP and Windows 7 perform filename searches. In XP, the default is that the entire filename would be searched as a string using using a ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
How can I change the priority of a Windows service process?
I would like to run the Windows Desktop Search indexer at below normal priority. When I try to set this via task manager, I get 'Access is denied'.
Is there a way to remove whatever restrictions are ...
4
votes
1answer
724 views
Windows 7 search does not return results from indexed folders
I am experiencing this issue over and over again and I just cannot seem to find the answer. It doesn't make sense, but search simply does not return results from folders that certainly have these ...
4
votes
2answers
522 views
Unable to resize Windows 7 Search box in Windows Explorer [closed]
I have the same problem as what's listed here: http://www.sevenforums.com/44531-post1.html
I can't modify the size of the search box in Windows Explorer. It's way too big. The double arrows appear, ...
4
votes
2answers
592 views
Disable / Turn Off Windows 7 Search Prompt / Warning Banner About Indexing
Whenever a search is performed in Windows 7 on a folder that is not indexed, Windows throws up a banner at the top of the Explorer window (below the address bar) blabbing about Indexing and asking you ...
3
votes
5answers
386 views
Free Tool to search IN files (even over a network)
I need to find some text in a ton of log files that are stored on my network (I doubt have them indexed).
The files all have a more or less unique extension. (Ie they look like this: ...
3
votes
7answers
3k views
Windows Search Not Indexing Contents of Text Files With .SQL Extension
I'm having trouble getting Windows Search to index the contents of a text file that have a .sql extension. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
Background:
I use a program at work called Navicat ...
3
votes
2answers
324 views
Searching for Extensionless Files in Windows 7
I cannot for the life of me figure out a way to have Windows 7 Explorer search for files with no extension. In XP it was nice and simple: just search for files named *. but in 7, that does not work ...
3
votes
2answers
149 views
Windows search indexes no items
For a while, using the windows explorer search to find files by their file name has been returning no items, even when I know there is a match. I looked into it and it appears that the index contains ...
3
votes
6answers
274 views
Find missing image on drive without knowing the name or extension
I have an image that I know somehow got renamed and does not have a normal image extension (i.e. it's definitely not .jpg .gif .png, etc) but rather some random non-image temp extension.
Is there a ...
3
votes
1answer
726 views
How can I add my Firefox and Chrome history to Windows Search
How can I add my browsing history to Windows Search (in Windows 7)? Internet Explorer History is included by default, but I use Firefox or Chrome.
EDIT: If there's no way to do this yet, it ...
3
votes
1answer
4k views
force windows7 to reindex a folder?
I asked Windows 7 to index my entire "Media" folder. After it was done it'd find anything in there, no problem.
Then I reorganized it a bit and moved some folders around, and now it doesn't find ...
3
votes
4answers
2k views
Windows desktop search fails to search inside .SQL files
I've set the index options for the .SQL extension to use "Plain Text filter" with "Index Properties and File Contents" selected, and ensure that the directories containing the SQL files are in the ...
3
votes
1answer
404 views
Windows 7 Search: Treat “.url” files as “Programs”
Is there a way to configure Windows 7 search (on the Start menu -- the "Search Programs and Files" field) to treat files of type ".url" as "Programs"?
The reason I ask -- I want to be able to enter ...
3
votes
2answers
963 views
Seach only no extention files on windows 7
How do i search files with no extension? For best effect i would like only <4kb and if i could search inside for the text thewordiwant
I also have visual studios but i dont think writing ...
3
votes
1answer
66 views
Windows 7 search context how to leave it?
When I do search and click result and it is a folder I am still in search context.
I see in location "> search results in [some folder] > [folder I have clicked]".
How to make it that when I click ...
3
votes
2answers
441 views
Search Skype history using Windows search?
Is there some addon for Windows Search to search inside of Skype text chat history?
I have found a solution for Google Desktop Search, but none for the Windows search so far.
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How to scan and annotate documents and receipts so metadata is searchable and embeddeded in document?
I'm getting tired of living in the modern age and still having a messy filing cabinet full of paper. I have a nice cheap scanner and want to scan receipts, warrenties, and so forth.
To make it ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
Search behavior of Windows 7 start menu
I'm coming to Windows 7 from XP, and there are aspects of the start menu search that I like. However, there are some behaviors that seem either inconsistent or surprising to me. For example:
If I ...
