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I've made a habit of making a 'Search Helpers' folder and dropping it in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Search Helpers. I fill this folder with shortcut icons to make Start-Search more efficient for me, but Windows 10 update has caused problems.

In there I add 4 flavors of shortcuts.

  • App short cuts with shorter names than standard, so I can type faster (i.e. 'VS2015', then just typing 'VS' in Start-Search pulls that instead of having to type 'Visual Studio...'). So I just copy shortcuts from standard start menu folder and rename them, or create shortcuts to custom applications I've built with .NET and put in folder.
  • Favorite folder shortcuts in the format of 'go*' where * is name. i.e. goRSApp1 would go to default folder on my Rackspace Application Server #1. These shortcuts actually run a *.vbs script passing in desired folder location...probably better way to do it, but it works. The short cut is just a standard windows shortcut to the *.vbs file, but then I alter the command of shortcut to something like: "C:\BTR\PowerToys\VBScript Files\Open Folder.vbs" folder:"\\192.168.100.130\c$\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15\Library\BTRTools"
  • Remote Desktop shortcuts in the format of 'r*' where * is server. i.e. rRSApp1 would open RDP to Rackspace Application Server #1. I just 'save' the RDP settings to a directory in My Documents then create a shortcut to that file.
  • Common URL shortcuts that I always hit (I just drag shortcut icon from browser address bar into the folder and name it to a short/quick name that I can use).

My problems with Start-Search are the following items are no longer 'found':

  1. No longer allows me to type r* shortcuts for RDP
  2. A 'handful' of the application shortcuts do not work (although some still do, can't figure out pattern of why some would work and some wouldn't)
  3. URL short cuts are never found
  4. A benefit I accidentally discovered in Win 8.1 is I could do 'first letter' searches, so with a shortcut of 'Data Updater', I could type 'D U' and it would find that. That no longer works.

Thanks in advance.

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    Possibly related: superuser.com/questions/956036/…
    – rlb.usa
    Aug 12, 2015 at 16:48
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    I don't think so. Just read, not completely sure what that post is implying I try, but I have problems with Start-Search not showing other shortcuts that do NOT start with 'r'.
    – Terry
    Aug 12, 2015 at 16:56
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    Do you have more than 512 items in your Start Menu? Go to the actual folder and "dir /s." If so, tidy up and delete a few older things. This is a known bug that will be fixed. Sep 29, 2015 at 0:48
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    @ScottHanselman In LINQPad... new DirectoryInfo( @"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" ).GetFiles( "*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories ).Count().Dump(); = 232. Is that the folder you were referring to?
    – Terry
    Sep 30, 2015 at 2:45
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    Please see my answer here: superuser.com/questions/1047230/… - I have found a way of starting up most things with "press Start" followed by just a few letters. For the record I regard my solution as a workaround: the W10 mechanism is, for my purposes, broken. Mar 14, 2017 at 18:32

1 Answer 1

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I do some similar things (put shortcuts in the start menu for quick "Win+S..type name (or few chars) of shortcut..press enter" ways of loading programs and scripts). I haven't noticed any problems with the new update, but here are a couple of things I would try in your case:

1) Make a backup of the folder that contains your shortcuts. Delete it and restart the computer. Then copy it back in (and possibly rename it). The thinking here is it might help the search index to rebuild itself.

2) Add the folder to your PATH. Here is a link on how to do it if you need to know how: How do I set system environment variables in Windows 10?

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