SOLVED How do you Abort a Search in Windows 7

[Plado]

I've been finding out how rapid and thorough the Windows 7 Desktop Search facility is, but when it starts to dig out thousands of files, and I have located the one I want at the top of the list - how do you Abort or Stop the search and browse through what it has found so far.

I can save an incomplete search result, but there seems to be no way to Stop it searching without closing the window and losing the history of what it found.

Esc key doesn't help and - closing explorer.exe from the task manager only hangs the PC up and forces a reboot.

I was hoping there would be a Stop button at the top of the explorer window but there's no drop down list either with a Stop searching button.

Any ideas please ?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Sorry I can not answer your question.

However you might be happier with this software.

Everything search engine

Locate files and folders by name instantly.

• Small installation file
• Clean and simple user interface
• Quick file indexing
• Quick searching
• Minimal resource usage
• Share files with others easily
• Real-time updating
• More...

For other Freeware that we here at w7forums recommend, check out our Free Software Database.

 

[Plado]

Thanks for trying for me. I'll hang about and see if anyone else has any ideas on it.

But regarding the Everything Search Engine, I have already got a really good search facility that was free in "lite" form, called Agent Ransack. It's pretty powerful too and has all the flexibility and more of the old XP type search.

Since using windows 7 (64bit) for a few weeks now, I had started to be quite impressed with the speed of the built-in desktop search. It finds files incredibly quickly compared with having to wait for half a day while XP used to search through all files including zips for a single word or phrase.

Anyhow I have found that when I use the Windows 7 Search in the top right hand corner box in Windows Explorer, the icons on the desktop all keep flashing and the search clearly goes right through everything and takes an age. This is the one I can't stop without forcing a reboot.

Using the other alternative search in the Start menu - you don't get the flashing icons on the desktop and it finishes the search in a very short time.
It's all a bit puzzling. I can't help thinking that MS have not even considered how to stop a search once it starts. It's rather like some forums where you can't unsubscribe and close your account. The procedure was never thought of to put in place. That's quite funny now I think about it.

Anyhow thanks for your help. I'll wait a bit and see if anyone else has any clues.
Cheers
--
Plado

Sorry I can not answer your question.

However you might be happier with this software.

Everything search engine


For other Freeware that we here at w7forums recommend, check out our Free Software Database.

 

[Plado]

I was hoping there would be a Stop button at the top of the explorer window but there's no drop down list either with a Stop searching button.

Any ideas please ?

I might as well post my own solution here in case anyone else is curious.

While the search was in progress and the file I was seeking appeared at the top of the list quite quickly, I right clicked the actual file it had found, and chose Send to Desktop create shortcut.
This made a copy of the path to get to the required file. I then right clicked the Search box and chose CUT to remove the search term. The search ended and the Windows Explorer window closed.

I expect it could be stopped by just closing the window or deleting the key-word that was in the search window. But how remiss of Microsoft not to give a CANCEL or FINISH search button at the bottom of the window allowing a termination of the search process. XP used to allow you to return to the search and change the parameters (it's common sense) no such facility in Windows 7. It's too clever for its own good I say. They must think we have all the time in the world to wait for the process to finish (which it has to be said is no more interesting than watching paint dry!)
--
Plado

 

[TrainableMan]

If a Windows Explorer search goes beyond about a second then a red X is automatically displayed where the refresh button normally is seen. Hitting that button stops the search but leaves the results found so far.

 

[Plado]

I had high hopes that you had done one of your usual "settle the matter" solutions and that you had found the answer. Sadly it didn't work this time.
I'd best just say I have Windows 7 Home Premium (64Bit) and I just did a test search for the word "Justin" using Windows Explorer search box top right in the usual way; The Refresh button didn't turn Red or into a red Cross at all. I do remember seeing it very early on in my first set of experimental searches but it ain't there now.

Do you think some kind of setting needs to be told to show a Stop X during the search process? It was very disappointing to find mine gives no such facility after searching for a few seconds or after searching for minutes.

Wass' goin' on there then?
--
Plado ps I'm determined to crack this problem somehow.

If a Windows Explorer search goes beyond about a second then a red X is automatically displayed where the refresh button normally is seen. Hitting that button stops the search but leaves the results found so far.
View attachment 3212
View attachment 3213

 

[TrainableMan]

As long as I can remember, the red X has always been there on my system and I can't help but wonder if Agent Ransack might somehow be changing this normal behavior on your system. I would recommend uninstalling it to see if there is any change; you can always reinstall it if it has no effect.

 

[Plado]

What an excellent idea. I'll go try that now and report back. Sounds like good detective work to me !

 

[Plado]

Well I uninstalled Agent Ransack and then rebooted.
Tested the W Explorer again and went to find a file by a single name searching all the C drive.
After about 2 seconds of searching the Red X appeared in the Refresh area for about 5 seconds and then went away.

It didn't return and I watched the search in progress, as it made all my desktop icons flash in a pulsing manner (rather odd type of monitoring).

Then very late in the search after about 4 minutes had passed the Green Toothpaste Fuel Gauge appeared and with the green bar progressing across left to right the Red X returned and I was then able to stop the search. This told me that the stop facility isn't becoming available until just before the search is due to stop anyway.
So either something is wrong with my W Explorer, or the software writers shot themselves in the foot when they fine tuned the Windows Explorer in 7.

What do you think?
--
Plado

 

[TrainableMan]

I get the "green toothpaste" progress bar and red X at about 1 second and the toothpaste is slowly expelled as the search progresses, I've never really noticed any desktop icons flashing, and my red X never goes away until the progress bar has filled and the search has ended. So if it isn't agent ransack causing the unusual behavior my next most likely suspect would be your anti-virus software.

 

[Plado]

Just testing the search one more time and waiting for the green strip to show up I started looking at a few menus and right click options and suddenly I got APPCRASH
Windows Explorer has stopped working. SHELL32.dll among other coded stuff and it asked if I wanted my computer to go online and look for a solution. I had hoped it would come back with some useful information or a list of words to swear at the computer to teach it a lesson ! But no , not a hint of a suggestion.
So it seems the computer has even foxed itself.
What next? Does it crash because it hasn't got the puff to carry out a full search? It's a brand new computer (HP)
--
Plaod

 

[TrainableMan]

Well the other idea that I was hoping to avoid is to recommend reinstalling windows as it's possible something has gotten hosed in the system. I think before I did that though, you might pop in the system repair disk or W7 OS disk to run system repair and make sure there are no corrupt files as that could possibly solve something without the extreme of a fresh install.

 

[Plado]

I was afraid you might suggest that!
One small problem that might be bigger than we think, is that this HP new PC came with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit pre-installed and there was no CD windows disc with it.
The Windows Operating System copy has its full Product ID which ominously has OEM in the middle of the number. The last time I tried using an OEM copy of Windows myself in XP days, the installation crashed and I had to pay Microsoft £60 or $100 ish, to get them to rescue a stuck installation on the phone. It would have been free they told me, had it not been an OEM version. I muttered a word under my breath as I parted with the money on Visa Card as I had no choice.

Anyhow with this new HP machine, I got windows to make its own rescue disc (apparently to save it from any serious crash) and that burned itself onto 2 DVDs and advised I label them Recovery Disc 1 and Disc 2. Then HP prompted me to make something similar which also burned onto D1 and D2 DVD discs and for all I know they could be identical.

Would these discs offer a Windows Repair option? or are they just rescue discs in case you can't get back into the BIOS or get a reboot to work?

Knowing my past luck with doing Windows OS tampering I'd probably end up with no PC functioning at all and no way of working out how to get back in without hiring someone who charges the cost of a house per hour of work!

I'm tempted to just leave it alone and rely on Ransack to find files and use the W7 facility for search in a more piece-meal single-tasking kind of way. Yes I am a bit of a coward but once bitten twice shy.

What do you think?

 

[Plado]

> So if it isn't agent ransack causing the unusual behavior my next most likely suspect >would be your anti-virus software.[/QUOTE]
Ah thanks, I nearly missed your response there.

It might be a good idea for me to try running a search with my AVG anti virus turned off.

I wouldn't bother testing it with the Anti Virus uninstalled as that would be I think a bridge too far. If this Anti Virus is interrupting the flow of a search function then what Anti Virus wouldn't do it?
There's no way on this earth I could be persuaded to run Norton or McAfee on my system, I've been down that infectious route before !

I could sway to Avast but certainly not to a paid for over-blown AV intrusion forcing my system to grind to a halt now that I've got a super fast turbo-like PC running for once.

I'll report back what happens if turning the AV off does anything to change the behavior so thanks for the tips.

 

[TrainableMan]

AntiVirus
Disabling Anti-virus rarely shuts it off it normally still runs in memory, you could try it but I doubt you'll see a change, the only way to be sure is to uninstall. There is no guarantee this is the problem, it is just something worth trying. What AV seems to work fine on one machine doesn't work well on others.

I personally have Norton but I don't recommend it and I won't be renewing it because they do not offer a 64-bit version which means if I run a 64-bit browser then I have limited protection.

For paid software F-secure has been mentioned a few times on this forum and, locally, it is also the software that my ISP gives out free to it's subscribers. In that thread you can also see rankings for other good ones like GDATA and BITDEFENDER but I have never tried those.

MSE is not as good but it's free and we recommend it rather than going "naked".

I can never remember between AVG, AVAST, and AVIRA which one is good and which ones are often attributed with BSODs; I believe AVAST is recommended and AVG & AVIRA should be removed but I'm sure someone will come along and verify that as I've never used any of them.

W7 DVD
If the software came preinstalled then it is usually stored on a back-up partition and can be restored from there. But besides that, normally on the first boot, Windows recommends you create a system repair disk and if you have that then I was suggesting you try popping in that rather than a complete restore. Also if you determine that you do not have W7 on a backup partition (because your HD crashed or whatever) then it is possible to download and burn a copy of W7 and then enter your key (I recommend doing this and writing your key on it just so you have a DVD). Most pre-built computers have OEM licenses because the manufacturer gets them cheaper that way but in return they are required to provide the support rather than Microsoft. The biggest issue with an OEM license is that you cannot transfer it to a new machine and even replacing your motherboard with a different mobo constitutes a new machine and invalidates your license. Another thing of note is that besides the standard install, most manufacturers add their own extras (much of which they get paid to "push" onto your machine) and none of that will be there on the W7 ISO copy; most of it you don't need but sometimes they include an on-screen volume indicator or software to use your touchpad or even programs like PowerDVD and NERO which you will need to get from the manufacturer or find an alternative.

Recommendation
So I would run a system repair, even if you have to create it on another machine that has same version and bit-rate. If that doesn't resolve the issue, I would uninstall AVG completely, reboot, and see if it works. Reinstall AVG if that wasn't the problem or install some other AV software so you are not "naked". Otherwise you can live with it or consider a complete reinstall paying close attention to the issues of missing manufacturer programs and the extra work required to back-up all your data/userids and having to reinstall all your software etc.

 

[Plado]

Well thank you TrainableMan for that comprehensive set of instructions.
It's all well thought-out and has to be more than useful to me in several ways. I don't want to insult you by suggesting that any of the information is un-usable or not useful. But I am sadly in a position where I am reluctant to step onto most of the alternative avenues to solve this problem. In other words I am almost abandoning this as it's getting too dangerous. Sorry to bang on about this. You need not read further if I've made my point in this first paragraph.

To answer your question Yes I have got some kind of a backup Factory Image on D:\ which uses up about 90% or more of 8.8gb. It is accessible by Windows Explorer but only contains a folder for Recovery and not Repair. It has a shortcut Control Panel folder and something related to HP but I haven't a clue what it does.

I daren't go into the BIOS to see if my system will boot from a CD Rom Drive disc. Some unfortunate experiences in the past with fiddling with the BIOS settings have left me certain that something of that technical depth is best left to someone who knows what they're doing. Someone like just going by sets of instructions that I've been given by a third party is far too close to 'Painting by Numbers' if you get my meaning. When something shows up as different in my system I have no map for what to do when a choice comes up that offers nothing that I was told would be in that list of choices. The potential for messing up big-time is colossal.

Incidentally the action centre and checks on searching for problems within my system and operating system shows nothing is wrong at all. No issues or anything out of the ordinary.

One of the reasons I came here with the question (it has to be said) was to find out if there was a shortcut or command I could use to stop a process in the middle without the window closing and losing what search had found so far. Task manager closes it and loses the search result. At least you can save a search result before it's finished.

I don't wish to have too much of "having a go" at MSoft as they're doing their best, but as someone once said, "If it is not necessary to change things, then it is even more necessary not to change them". The system worked, why mess it up by trying to be too clever? It spoils things. There are heaps of things that are really good about W7 but some of the bad things are really stupid and tend to spoil everything.

To conclude, I thank you muchly for your suggestions and the time you've afforded me on this problem. It still isn't cured and I think I would need an expert to walk me through the process of repair as I just don't feel confident enough to trust the system not to put trip-wires down at almost every turning once I start fiddling with it at technical levels.

Many thanks
--
Plado

 

[TrainableMan]

To answer your question Yes I have got some kind of a backup Factory Image on D:\ which uses up about 90% or more of 8.8gb. It is accessible by Windows Explorer but only contains a folder for Recovery and not Repair. It has a shortcut Control Panel folder and something related to HP but I haven't a clue what it does.

I daren't go into the BIOS to see if my system will boot from a CD Rom Drive disc. Some unfortunate experiences in the past with fiddling with the BIOS settings have left me certain that something of that technical depth is best left to someone who knows what they're doing.

This Recovery image would likely allow you to completely restore the machine or it may offer the non-destructive system restore facilities as well but you would have to start it to be sure.

The other system restore which I was referring to, is a DVD you create and I included a link as to how you go about creating it, but it should be done on a fresh machine without issues, not your current state. If you can create this system restore DVD on another machine you could then put it in your computer and boot up. Your system would likely, by default, see such a System Restore DVD on boot-up w/o any changes to your BIOS or there is often a key such as F2 that you can hit on system start-up to change the boot device to DVD w/o actually entering the BIOS but I can't be sure of your situation or current settings to say with absolute certainty. So I understand your apprehension.

Incidentally the action centre and checks on searching for problems within my system and operating system shows nothing is wrong at all. No issues or anything out of the ordinary.

Not unusual; generally worthless software it mainly echoes stuff other programs tell it.

One of the reasons I came here with the question (it has to be said) was to find out if there was a shortcut or command I could use to stop a process in the middle without the window closing and losing what search had found so far. Task manager closes it and loses the search result. At least you can save a search result before it's finished.

I don't wish to have too much of "having a go" at MSoft as they're doing their best, but as someone once said, "If it is not necessary to change things, then it is even more necessary not to change them". The system worked, why mess it up by trying to be too clever? It spoils things. There are heaps of things that are really good about W7 but some of the bad things are really stupid and tend to spoil everything.

Well I have my own pet peeve with the integrated search feature; I much preferred it in it's own window and then I could click on one item while it continued it's search. With it integrated, as soon as I click on one result, it shuts down the search and goes to what I click, loosing the rest of the results in the process.

BUT in your case, Microsoft DID provide a method of stopping the search part way through: the X button; that X button functions exactly the same as the old STOP button in XP's Find Files and Folders window (and there wasn't another way to stop it while keeping the results there either). So no stop button means not being able to stop and something you or the manufacturer installed (such as your AV) is preventing the stop button from working properly. That would take some experimentation of removing software to find out what.

I have looked for another way, such as ctrl+C or some other shortcut keys to perform that stop function but have been unsuccessful.

*****

If, at some point, it starts to drive you "nuts" and you want to reopen this for more ideas, feel free to do so.

 

[Plado]

I would like at this point to thank you for such a comprehensive and useful post.
You've been as usual very helpful beyond the call of duty.

I will print out your last reply and keep it by me as you never know when such a difficulty might prove too irritating to bear any more and I'll venture or try to venture down the road of repairing the system.

I'll continue to rely on this forum for some very handy help and information.
It has already helped me a lot - even before I bought the PC.

Best Regards
I think I'll close the thread so as not to be too much of a pest!
Cheers
Plado

 

[Plado]

A quick post script to confirm that you were right.
It was AVG anti virus causing the trouble.

I uninstalled it completely - then rebooted and tried a search and the Red X appeared early in the search in the proper way. I think it may have been hampered in some way by a File System Shield being used by AVG.

I took the precaution of downloading the installer for AVAST so I could put an alternative process into the PC for virus protection. I installed AVAST and un-ticked the File Shield but left most other shields working, email web network etc.

Tried the search again and it was still functioning the way it should.
So thanks again for your tip about the Anti Virus. I never thought I'd hear myself say this but anti virus programs can be more trouble than they're worth.
Cheers and Beers to all.
--
Plado

 

[TrainableMan]

Well every AV slows down your machine to some extent; it's just the nature of the beast having to get in the middle of every file access the machine does ... but some do it better than others.

It would be nice if people cared enough about their fellow man that they didn't wish to hurt them in such a way but alas that is not human nature so such tools become a necessary evil.

I'm glad you got it worked out.