Vista search anomalies

[chasgl]

I created three files home exercise 1.jpg, exercise .jpg, exercise 3.jpg in
Public/Physical Therapy. When I searched for execise in Public none of them
showed up. When I searched for home only home execise 2.jpg showed up. I am
using Vista Home premium. The folder is index including both file name and
contents.
Any idea why something like thiw would happen?
Thanks,
Chas

 

[Jonathan Harker]

I created three files home exercise 1.jpg, exercise .jpg, exercise 3.jpg in
Public/Physical Therapy. When I searched for execise in Public none of them
showed up. When I searched for home only home execise 2.jpg showed up. I am
using Vista Home premium. The folder is index including both file name and
contents.
Any idea why something like thiw would happen?
Thanks,
Chas

Yeah... Vista search sucks.

Turn off indexing on all drives.

Use Agent Ransack (Google it) for your searches.

 

[Shankp]

where did you search for it, in the start menu or some other place?

 

[Dave T.]

Yeah... Vista search sucks.

Turn off indexing on all drives.

Use Agent Ransack (Google it) for your searches.

Jonathan, I've found that the only thing that doesn't work with windows
search is the search box in the start menu, and the fact that if you
have multiple drives you must have that drive open in an explorer window.

Try this experiment;

Since you mentioned the Public folder, click start > computer > C drive
(in the left pane)so that the contents of C is open in the explorer
window. At the top right of the explorer window is a search box. Type
the first 3 digits of the file you want. I use search 4.0 and I have
never been unable to easily find anything I want. I also have 3 external
HDD's along with my one internal C drive. You must search each drive
separately. You will not find a file in H when you search F. The windows
indexing apparently handles each drive individually.

Try this and let us know.

--
Dave T.


You can't imagine the extra work I had when I was a god. - Hirohito,
Emporer of Japan

 

[Dave T.]

Dave, you HAVE to be kidding! I can virtually never get Vista file
search to work. Like Jonathon, I have run experiments to prove that it
doesn't work. For example, today I searched my entire computer for all
my mp3 files because I wanted to back them up, searching for "mp3". It
found only a few files of the thousands of files on my one and only
drive, none of which had mp3 as an extension. But if I changed to one
of the directories that I knew has files and did the same identical
search, it found all of them. And if I selected just the C drive and
did the search, it found the same handful as when I searched the entire
computer. And these searches were done from the File Explorer, not
from the Start menu. I tried with Indexed on and again with it off. I
looked at every option in the Search options and tried everything I
could think of. Always the same incorrect result. This is typical of
what happens every time I try to use that lousy search. Next
experiment: I copied a few hundred mp3 files to a USB drive from my C
drive. Did a search of the entire computer and it found only the ones
on the USB drive but none of the ones on the C drive. Same files.
Copied, not moved - they still are sitting on the C drive. But search
simply doesn't find them. Why not?

If such a basic and necessary tool fails as badly and as consistently
as this one does, it makes the entire OS worthless in my opinion.

And what about the Advanced search features? You only get the option
to set the Advanced Search parameters by first doing a search and then
waiting for it to complete, which can be a long wait to do something
that you needed to do at the outset. It really is upsetting! I mean
it is the WORST!

Donfrench, I understand your frustration. I guess I don't have any
answers except to say that I have had NO problems with anything about
Vista. Everything works for me! I have had this (OEM, not upgrade) OS
for nearly 2 years and it is the best OS I have ever used and I have
been computing at work and at home since Win3.11. Not one BSOD, not one
failed driver, Search finds everything I look for, as long as I don't
use the search in the start menu. It is not as though I don't use it for
anything challenging. I use a USB turntable with Audacity audio editing
software extensively, along with photoshop, open office, Google earth
and I do a little gaming. The only changes I have made (other than
adding a ton of storage) is a larger power supply and an upgraded video
card.
One thing that did irritate me was MS doing push updates, but that is
not Vista specific.
I can't begin to relate to the problems that I read about on Usenet,
because I don't experience them. I know (my imagination?) that whenever
a poster lists the equipment they use, it always seems to be a short
list of manufacturers like Dell and Toshiba. I can't recall many people
complaining about an HP product, which is what I have. Again, maybe my
imagination.

--
Dave T.


You can't imagine the extra work I had when I was a god. - Hirohito,
Emporer of Japan

 

[chasgl]

It is from the search field in Windows Explorer.
Chas

 

[chasgl]

I get similar results starting from the start menu search box.

 

[Shankp]

I think you can try to have a look at the settings of "Customize Start
Menu"(In "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" > "Customize"). There are
several choice in it. I did the same search and it got the right result and
my setting is "Search entire index". I hope it helps.

 

[On Request]

Windows Vista search works well for me, especially if I use the various
recommended techniques. Here are a couple of useful references:

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/advanced-search-techniques.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx

 

[chasgl]

That is spooky. All three files are "mine" but from the start menu making
that change has the desired effect. From windows explorer the anomaly is
still there.
Thanks,
Chas

 

[Retroman]

Dave, you HAVE to be kidding! I can virtually never get Vista file
search to work. Like Jonathon, I have run experiments to prove that it
doesn't work. For example, today I searched my entire computer for all
my mp3 files because I wanted to back them up, searching for "mp3". It
found only a few files of the thousands of files on my one and only
drive, none of which had mp3 as an extension. But if I changed to one
of the directories that I knew has files and did the same identical
search, it found all of them. And if I selected just the C drive and
did the search, it found the same handful as when I searched the entire
computer. And these searches were done from the File Explorer, not
from the Start menu. I tried with Indexed on and again with it off. I
looked at every option in the Search options and tried everything I
could think of. Always the same incorrect result. This is typical of
what happens every time I try to use that lousy search. Next
experiment: I copied a few hundred mp3 files to a USB drive from my C
drive. Did a search of the entire computer and it found only the ones
on the USB drive but none of the ones on the C drive. Same files.
Copied, not moved - they still are sitting on the C drive. But search
simply doesn't find them. Why not?

If such a basic and necessary tool fails as badly and as consistently
as this one does, it makes the entire OS worthless in my opinion.

And what about the Advanced search features? You only get the option
to set the Advanced Search parameters by first doing a search and then
waiting for it to complete, which can be a long wait to do something
that you needed to do at the outset. It really is upsetting! I mean
it is the WORST!

Don,
I think that you will find that once you learn how to use it, Windows
Desktop Search 4 works very well indeed. The syntax, the options, and the
whole way it operates is very different from before. If you just plunge
in using the old ways, I agree that it can be very frustrating.

For example, to find all Mp3 files with an indexed search, use the query:
ext:mp3
from the "Indexed Locations" saved search in your user folder. If some of
your Mp3 files are in non-indexed folders, then use the "Everywhere" saved
search or set the option to include non-indexed locations.

You can see the Advanced Search panel before doing a search by using the
keyboard shortcut Win key + F and then clicking on the Advanced Search
button on the far right of the toolbar.

Keep in mind also that searches from the Start menu are restricted by
default and have their own setup options, in the Customize Start Menu
dialog.

Here are some MS links that explain how the new search function works:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/filetypes.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/tipsandtricks.mspx
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/help/9f592ee9-b397-46d6-a607-47bdab5529ec1033.mspx
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/e49c345a-cf3d-4298-8614-fde32a76426d1033.mspx
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/1a6626fa-3cc7-45b4-a973-cc96373dc0d51033.mspx

Doug M. in NJ

 

[chasgl]

Thanks I'll try the agent.
Chas

Yeah... Vista search sucks.

Turn off indexing on all drives.

Use Agent Ransack (Google it) for your searches.

 

[Dave T.]

Don,
I think that you will find that once you learn how to use it, Windows
Desktop Search 4 works very well indeed. The syntax, the options, and the
whole way it operates is very different from before. If you just plunge
in using the old ways, I agree that it can be very frustrating.

For example, to find all Mp3 files with an indexed search, use the query:
ext:mp3
from the "Indexed Locations" saved search in your user folder. If some of
your Mp3 files are in non-indexed folders, then use the "Everywhere" saved
search or set the option to include non-indexed locations.

You can see the Advanced Search panel before doing a search by using the
keyboard shortcut Win key + F and then clicking on the Advanced Search
button on the far right of the toolbar.

Keep in mind also that searches from the Start menu are restricted by
default and have their own setup options, in the Customize Start Menu
dialog.

Here are some MS links that explain how the new search function works:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/filetypes.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/tipsandtricks.mspx
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/help/9f592ee9-b397-46d6-a607-47bdab5529ec1033.mspx
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/e49c345a-cf3d-4298-8614-fde32a76426d1033.mspx
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/1a6626fa-3cc7-45b4-a973-cc96373dc0d51033.mspx

Doug M. in NJ

Thanks for this Doug. Although I have no problem with search, I learned
some tricks from this. I'm convinced that the biggest reason that Vista
is so hard for some people is that they just can't get out of the box. A
new world is awakening.

--
Dave T.


You can't imagine the extra work I had when I was a god. - Hirohito,
Emporer of Japan

 

[Retroman]

Thanks for this Doug. Although I have no problem with search, I learned
some tricks from this. I'm convinced that the biggest reason that Vista
is so hard for some people is that they just can't get out of the box. A
new world is awakening.

You're quite welcome, Dave. I agree. XP was current for a long time and
old habits die hard.

Doug M. in NJ

 

[Retroman]

Look, if you have to learn and use the advanced query search language to
find all files that include mp3 in their name, then it is a horribly
designed tool. But that isn't even apparently the whole story because I
searched Everywhere for files containing mp3 in their name and it found
all of them on the G drive and none of them on the C drive. How do you
explain THAT?

But what really, really gripes me is that Microsoft didn't offer people
the option of using the old familiar method, either for search or for
the File Explorer, both of which to tell the truth, worked amazingly
well. Why force people to change against their will? The File
Explorer and File Search were like old pairs of comfortable jeans that
everyone liked and used without problems for years.

But MS thought that it would be good to force everyone to change to a
new arcane system that is unintuitive, has a clumsy user interface, is
mostly unexplained, and if it works at all, you still can't prove it by
me. This was so inconsiderate of their user base that they deserve the
scorn that so many people are heaping on them for what they did to their
users with Vista.

It is clearly the most hated OS ever, at least since DOS. Why do you
think that is? They converted me from being a strong Microsoft
supporter to being an even stronger Microsoft despiser. Me and tens of
thousands of others, judging by the things I read. I started using
MSDOS in 1988 when it first came out and have owned and used every
Microsoft OS since then and developed software for many of them, so I am
NOT a clueless newbie. It is hard to fathom how Microsoft managed to
lose so much support so fast, but they did. And I believe it is because
they adopted an attitude of total disregard and disrespect for their
once-loyal user base with Vista and its "our new way or the highway"
approach, especially well-illustrated with File Explorer and File
Search. Vista has been an unmitigated disaster for Microsoft and I
really believe that it marks the beginning of the end for them. Such a
shame!

I am here to share tips with other users, you are here to rant about
Microsoft. That does not interest me, so I'm not going to respond to you
further. However, you might think about how it can be that this "horribly
designed tool", as you call it, works so well for Dave, for me, and for
many others, but not for you....

Good luck,
Doug M. in NJ

 

[Retroman]

Doug,

You are right, I vented inappropriately in your fine forum which is
hear to help peopl, and for that I apologize. FWIW, I am using a new
Sony Vaio with Vista pre-installed and when I could not, after many
hours of research and experimentation, get File Search to find my files,
I reluctantly decided I had to downgrade to XP. Unfortunately that is
when I discovered that Sony included audio hardware for which there are
no XP drivers.

I have thought quite a bit about why Search works on some systems and
not on others but I don't have an answer. I do know that I am not
alone. I see that it has come up several times on your forum and it is
a hot topic on other forums. Sometimes the problem is solved through
the advice given, but as often as not, it isn't. If you have a theory
and a solution for why Vista Search works on some systems but fails
miserably on others, I am sure that a lot of people would be interested
to hear it. I have spent days working on this problem with no
satisfaction and am now building a new XP system as a last resort to get
around it.

Again, sorry for venting my anger here.

Thank you, Don.

I see that it has come up several times on your forum and it is
a hot topic on other forums. Sometimes the problem is solved through
the advice given, but as often as not, it isn't.

A lot of the old discussions on Windows Search are out of date. They may
apply to old versions of search or to versions of Vista prior to SP1.

I don't recall a report of search working normally on one local drive but
not on another. That is quite odd. In your shoes, I would post details
of the problem in the MS search forum, which is monitored by the Microsoft
search team:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdesktopsearchhelp/threads/

You should include your version of search, the exact syntax of queries
that fail, and any non-default settings that you have in the search
options dialogs. Your search version is shown in Control Panel|Programs &
Features|Installed Updates. Scroll down to near the bottom of the list
and verify that "Windows Search 4.0" is shown.

Again, good luck.
Doug M. in NJ

 

[nork]

1st time here or any forum - yes vista search is so badddd...i started out with a digital camera jan 15 1999 so have many photos i dated them all in XP by date took a year, like todays photos 2009-02-0242 etc starting with 2009-02-0002 and then to help things i added letters or codes at the end 2009-02-0010qqqq and other ways to find and identify photos or files. and sometimes I missed the right key and instead of - I would have = when I search in vista for such errors it brings up every file and none of them have the = equals mark any more, i did learn that using qqqq or whatever at the end of a file name does work unless you have a - before the qqqq. anyway jus nice to find this site and i too miss XP search and the way it was so easy to rename and sort files and folders will go look at Agent Ransack


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