Search doesn't find

[Miles]

Search has been indexed for over a year, and I recently changed folder
options/search/what to search to the 2nd option -- to search everything.

Still it won't find most files. For instance I copy an .exe file
located in C:\Programs\Program files(x86). (well, can't copy a file
name in WinExpl, so copy from the properties window.) And then search
either in Program Files(x86) or C:\ and it isn't found. Have tried
this with several .exe's with same result.

In prior nuances of windows I used another program, but forget what it
was, and never had a problem. What's up with Win Search?
Miles

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Search has been indexed for over a year, and I recently changed folder
options/search/what to search to the 2nd option -- to search everything.

Still it won't find most files. For instance I copy an .exe file
located in C:\Programs\Program files(x86). (well, can't copy a file
name in WinExpl, so copy from the properties window.) And then search
either in Program Files(x86) or C:\ and it isn't found. Have tried
this with several .exe's with same result.

In prior nuances of windows I used another program, but forget what it
was, and never had a problem. What's up with Win Search?
Miles

Quick answer from a non-expert: even if you say to look everywhere,
Windows Search won't look in such places as program files.

I believe you can tell it to do so in settings or configuration
somewhere.

Eventually, but not on a Saturday night, others will both give you
better answers and sneer at me for my error

 

[Miles]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 09-Jun-13 11:43:

Quick answer from a non-expert: even if you say to look everywhere,
Windows Search won't look in such places as program files.

I believe you can tell it to do so in settings or configuration
somewhere.

Eventually, but not on a Saturday night, others will both give you
better answers and sneer at me for my error

Thanks, Gene, what in the hell did MSFT have in mind to exclude
Program Files? And FYI, program files is included in indexing if that
makes any difference.

 

[Jeff Layman]

Search has been indexed for over a year, and I recently changed folder
options/search/what to search to the 2nd option -- to search everything.

Still it won't find most files. For instance I copy an .exe file
located in C:\Programs\Program files(x86). (well, can't copy a file
name in WinExpl, so copy from the properties window.) And then search
either in Program Files(x86) or C:\ and it isn't found. Have tried
this with several .exe's with same result.

In prior nuances of windows I used another program, but forget what it
was, and never had a problem.

"Everything" is very fast, but can only search for file/folder names:
http://www.voidtools.com/

"Agent Ransack" is also fast, but can search within files too:
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack

Neither of the above bothers with indexing. If you want an index, try
"Copernic Desktop Search"
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/

All the above are free for personal use.

What's up with Win Search?
It's a pile of crap. Next question...

 

[Dave]

"Everything" is very fast, but can only search for file/folder names:
http://www.voidtools.com/

"Agent Ransack" is also fast, but can search within files too:
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack

Neither of the above bothers with indexing. If you want an index, try
"Copernic Desktop Search"
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/

All the above are free for personal use.

What's up with Win Search?
It's a pile of crap. Next question...

I don't know about the others, but Agent Ransack has a regular expression
option. You can refine your search to specific pathname selection. Regular
expressions can be very powerful for content search.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Search has been indexed for over a year, and I recently changed folder
options/search/what to search to the 2nd option -- to search everything.

Still it won't find most files. For instance I copy an .exe file
located in C:\Programs\Program files(x86). (well, can't copy a file
name in WinExpl, so copy from the properties window.) And then search
either in Program Files(x86) or C:\ and it isn't found. Have tried
this with several .exe's with same result.

In prior nuances of windows I used another program, but forget what it
was, and never had a problem. What's up with Win Search?
Miles

I don't use search too often, but I've been prompted by your posting to
put it to the test. The results I've got are quite staggeringly good,
and I can't praise the thing highly enough.

I keep lots of documents with all kinds of languages; many in alien
scripts. So I did simple searches for words; and it found every one,
file names and contents both, Greek and Cyrillic included.

Next I created a text document called "Edisace" and put in it one line
"Edisntace"; and saved it. I did a search a second later, and it found it.

What more than that could you ask for? I give that 100/100!

Ed

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 09-Jun-13 11:43:

Thanks, Gene, what in the hell did MSFT have in mind to exclude
Program Files? And FYI, program files is included in indexing if that
makes any difference.

I can't really answer your question, since I don't read Microsoft's
mind, but I'd guess they are protecting us from ourselves.

Sometimes I do need that kind of protection, but not in Windows

 

[Miles]

* Ed Cryer wrote, On 09-Jun-13 23:06:

I don't use search too often, but I've been prompted by your posting to
put it to the test. The results I've got are quite staggeringly good,
and I can't praise the thing highly enough.

I keep lots of documents with all kinds of languages; many in alien
scripts. So I did simple searches for words; and it found every one,
file names and contents both, Greek and Cyrillic included.

Next I created a text document called "Edisace" and put in it one line
"Edisntace"; and saved it. I did a search a second later, and it found it.

What more than that could you ask for? I give that 100/100!

Ed

Thanks, Ed, but my search is different. I was looking for a file in a
program which was included in C:\Program Files and apparently Windows7
Search does not search program files which I find quite ludicrous in
light of that is the most common search I use, other than searching
for text as you did.

 

[Ian Jackson]

* Ed Cryer wrote, On 09-Jun-13 23:06:

Thanks, Ed, but my search is different. I was looking for a file in a
program which was included in C:\Program Files and apparently Windows7
Search does not search program files which I find quite ludicrous in
light of that is the most common search I use, other than searching for
text as you did.

I've just tried both on my XP and W7 Pro machines, and Search seems to
find things in C:\ Program Files with any problems whatsoever.

 

[Paul]

I've just tried both on my XP and W7 Pro machines, and Search seems to
find things in C:\ Program Files with any problems whatsoever.

It's possible the answer lies in "Indexing Options". From start,
you can type Indexing, and it should show up in the results. In
there, you can change what it indexes.

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/indexingoptions_thumb.png

If indexing is not enabled, I don't know how Windows 7 figures out
where to look. By default, it doesn't like to look everywhere.

Personally, I expect a search to look everywhere. I value
thoroughness, over relevance. When I search for a file,
I expect no stone to go unturned. (That covers the case,
where a file got moved to an irrelevant directory, and
now I can't find it.)

Paul

 

[Ed Cryer]

* Ed Cryer wrote, On 09-Jun-13 23:06:

Thanks, Ed, but my search is different. I was looking for a file in a
program which was included in C:\Program Files and apparently Windows7
Search does not search program files which I find quite ludicrous in
light of that is the most common search I use, other than searching for
text as you did.

Then change it so that it does.
"Search" in box.
Change how Windows searches.
Do whatever you like in there, including modifying excluded folders.
Win7 will probably have to rebuild its index again, but after that your
system's your oyster.

Ed

 

[Jason]

* Ed Cryer wrote, On 09-Jun-13 23:06:

Thanks, Ed, but my search is different. I was looking for a file in a
program which was included in C:\Program Files and apparently Windows7
Search does not search program files which I find quite ludicrous in
light of that is the most common search I use, other than searching for
text as you did.

Then change it so that it does.
"Search" in box.
Change how Windows searches.
Do whatever you like in there, including modifying excluded folders.
Win7 will probably have to rebuild its index again, but after that your
system's your oyster.

Ed[/QUOTE]

I use Search all the time. I changed the options to index *almost*
everything on the system. By default, Search doesn't index quite a lot of
what I regard as important. Now it does - I have just a bit more than
600,000 items in the index and searches are nearly instantaneous. From
what I read on the MS site, the default coverage for indexing excludes
the Program folders (Programs & Program Data) in order not to slow things
down. Including them hasn't seemed to have much effect.

I don't know how important it is, but I occasionally defragment the index
files. I suspect they are subject to LOTS of changes as files come and
go.

Jason

 

[Miles]

* Ed Cryer wrote, On 10-Jun-13 19:05:

Then change it so that it does.
"Search" in box.
Change how Windows searches.
Do whatever you like in there, including modifying excluded folders.
Win7 will probably have to rebuild its index again, but after that your
system's your oyster.

Ed

I don't find a way to make the change you suggest. In the left side
field I have it to search "computer." Doesn't that include C drive?

Also I have read in Help that it doesn't index C drive. Is there a
setting to change that?

Am currently rebuilding the index. Concern is that most of the
hundreds of file types are set to use "file property filter." There
is the laborious option to change each one individually to "properties
and file contents." Hopefully that trip isn't necessary!

 

[Miles]

* Miles wrote, On 11-Jun-13 02:56:

* Ed Cryer wrote, On 10-Jun-13 19:05:

I don't find a way to make the change you suggest. In the left side
field I have it to search "computer." Doesn't that include C drive?

Also I have read in Help that it doesn't index C drive. Is there a
setting to change that?

Am currently rebuilding the index. Concern is that most of the
hundreds of file types are set to use "file property filter." There
is the laborious option to change each one individually to "properties
and file contents." Hopefully that trip isn't necessary!

Forgot to mention that indexing is set to index drives C, D, & E.

 

[Jason]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:58:23 +0700 "Miles"

Forgot to mention that indexing is set to index drives C, D, & E.

By default, it won't index much of what resides on C: unless you change
it in Indexing Options. It will index user folders on C: without a
change.

 

[Jason]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:56:49 +0700 "Miles"

* Ed Cryer wrote, On 10-Jun-13 19:05:

I don't find a way to make the change you suggest. In the left side
field I have it to search "computer." Doesn't that include C drive?

Also I have read in Help that it doesn't index C drive. Is there a
setting to change that?

Am currently rebuilding the index. Concern is that most of the
hundreds of file types are set to use "file property filter." There
is the laborious option to change each one individually to "properties
and file contents." Hopefully that trip isn't necessary!

It's not necessary. You just want properties for most files -
executables, images, etc.

 

[Paul]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:58:23 +0700 "Miles"


By default, it won't index much of what resides on C: unless you change
it in Indexing Options. It will index user folders on C: without a
change.

Agreed. You won't be happy, until you get in there and see
what a crappy list of things they include by default. It definitely
needs some custom tweaking.

What I also like about Indexing Options, is how hard it is to
make the thing just index all of C:. It fights you all the way.

Paul

 

[Jason]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:58:23 +0700 "Miles"


By default, it won't index much of what resides on C: unless you change
it in Indexing Options. It will index user folders on C: without a
change.

Agreed. You won't be happy, until you get in there and see
what a crappy list of things they include by default. It definitely
needs some custom tweaking.[/QUOTE]
That was not my experience.

What I also like about Indexing Options, is how hard it is to
make the thing just index all of C:. It fights you all the way.

How so? I didn't have any trouble setting options to include, among other
things, the Program Data folder where Help files generally are stored - I
wanted them indexed.

 

[Miles]

* Jason wrote, On 11-Jun-13 05:47:

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:58:23 +0700 "Miles"


By default, it won't index much of what resides on C: unless you change
it in Indexing Options. It will index user folders on C: without a
change.

Guess I'm not following you. Indexing options on C doesn't exist,
except for a few meaningless-to-me choices. One of which is to
individually change file types to "plain text filter" (index
properties & file contents), which I understand isn't necessary and
would be very laborious.

Indexing has been working for 6 hours and has indexed 225,000 files
when that is only a very small portion of the total -- drive E with
backup alone has 6 million. To ease that situation I've removed E
from indexing, although I'm uncertain if that's the way to go as I may
be looking for a file such as a contact in a backup of Thunderbird.

Also the indexing reads "indexing speed is reduced due to user
activity." How can this be eliminated? Once I restarted indexing
and with no user interface and that remark still exists. Obviously
full speed is needed!

 

[Paul]

* Jason wrote, On 11-Jun-13 05:47:

Guess I'm not following you. Indexing options on C doesn't exist,
except for a few meaningless-to-me choices. One of which is to
individually change file types to "plain text filter" (index properties
& file contents), which I understand isn't necessary and would be very
laborious.

Indexing has been working for 6 hours and has indexed 225,000 files when
that is only a very small portion of the total -- drive E with backup
alone has 6 million. To ease that situation I've removed E from
indexing, although I'm uncertain if that's the way to go as I may be
looking for a file such as a contact in a backup of Thunderbird.

Also the indexing reads "indexing speed is reduced due to user
activity." How can this be eliminated? Once I restarted indexing and
with no user interface and that remark still exists. Obviously full
speed is needed!

I modified mine for "full speed ahead", and it still isn't very fast.
There is a hack to remove the throttle you're seeing. If you do that,
remove the throttle, it'll affect your real-time performance. It
competes with you for disk access.

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\DisableBackoff

More details. Including clicky reg files, so you won't need regedit.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/194374-indexer-backoff-enable-disable-windows-7-a.html

You can also go into Task Manager and raise the task priority
of two of the three processes involved. The third process does
not like to have its priority adjusted, and new copies of the
third one seem to be forked at regular intervals. Making the
Task Manager change, will lift performance a tiny bit. But with
your 6 million files, this will make no difference at all. It'll
still take an eternity.

The reason it is so slow, is the content indexing. It reads each and
every file. And even if you tell the indexer to not index content,
it ignores that and still reads every stinking file.

Mine takes three hours, flat out, and it is only a few hundred
thousand files.

Paul