File search/delete in Vista is hopeless

[Nick Payne]

1. I try searching for files in a directory structure with .de. in the
filename by entering .de. in the search field in Windows Explorer. I not
only get files with .de. in the filename but also files whose names don't
match the search string, such as mozart-hrn3-defs.ily or decimal.py. If I
use quotes (".de.") as the search string then it correctly finds only .de.
files. Why should the quotes be needed? They aren't needed in WinXP Explorer
to get the same search to work correctly.

2. Having found the files (about 1300 of them), I select them all and hit
the Delete key. I get a dialog saying "Preparing to Recycle" and with zero
items found, and the count never goes above zero and no files get deleted. I
cancelled the dialog after about 15 minutes. I also tried Shift+Delete and
get much the same dialog saying "Preparing to Delete" and the same total
lack of deletion happening. On WinXP the same deletion takes about five
seconds to complete.

I had to use a 3rd party product to delete the files.

Nick

 

[Kerry Brown]

Press the Winkey+F to open the Search folder. Expand "Advanced Search".
Check "Include non-indexed .......". In the name field type "*.de.*" without
the quotes. Click on the Search button. You could also just type
"name:*.de.*" without the quotes in the Start search box but by default this
only searches indexed locations.

 

[Retroman]

1. I try searching for files in a directory structure with .de. in the
filename by entering .de. in the search field in Windows Explorer. I not
only get files with .de. in the filename but also files whose names don't
match the search string, such as mozart-hrn3-defs.ily or decimal.py. If I
use quotes (".de.") as the search string then it correctly finds only .de.
files. Why should the quotes be needed? They aren't needed in WinXP Explorer
to get the same search to work correctly.

Nick,

Windows Desktop Search was completely rewritten from earlier versions and
the search syntax is quite different. Normal searching is now word-based
rather than character-based, and ignores punctuation. Hence the need for
the quotes.

2. Having found the files (about 1300 of them), I select them all and hit
the Delete key. I get a dialog saying "Preparing to Recycle" and with zero
items found, and the count never goes above zero and no files get deleted. I
cancelled the dialog after about 15 minutes. I also tried Shift+Delete and
get much the same dialog saying "Preparing to Delete" and the same total
lack of deletion happening. On WinXP the same deletion takes about five
seconds to complete.

I have not encountered or heard of this problem so I can't comment. You
might want to post it in the MS WDS forum:

http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=847&SiteID=1

Doug M. in NJ