Searching in file contents of unindexed files

[Ralph Sanchez]

I've been using Vista 64 for about two months now and despite all of the
negative press, I have been more than satisfied with it. There's only one
thing that I haven't figured out how to do, though...

I prefer not to index my filesystem because, in my eyes, the benefits of
indexing aren't worth the overhead and disk space that it takes to
essentially put everything on my hard disk twice. However, I do rarely have
to search within the contents of LSP files (which are just text) for a
specific sequence of characters. For example, I might have to search within
x:\Source\*.LSP for every occurence of the text MAPCAR. Using windows
2000's search function, that was very easy to do. With XP's search function
it was still possible, even with indexing turned off, but I first had to
follow the instructions here http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309173

With Vista, I can't seem to get a definitive answer as to whether it's even
possible or not. Does anyone know if this can be done and if so, how?

 

[theclyde]

I've been using Vista 64 for about two months now and despite all of the
negative press, I have been more than satisfied with it.  There's only one
thing that I haven't figured out how to do, though...

I prefer not to index my filesystem because, in my eyes, the benefits of
indexing aren't worth the overhead and disk space that it takes to
essentially put everything on my hard disk twice.  However, I do rarelyhave
to search within the contents of LSP files (which are just text) for a
specific sequence of characters.  For example, I might have to search within
x:\Source\*.LSP for every occurence of the text MAPCAR.  Using windows
2000's search function, that was very easy to do.  With XP's search function
it was still possible, even with indexing turned off, but I first had to
follow the instructions herehttp://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309173

With Vista, I can't seem to get a definitive answer as to whether it's even
possible or not.  Does anyone know if this can be done and if so, how?

It can be done very easily with third party search tools. I use Agent
Ransack

 

[PaulB]

Indexing does not put everything on your disk twice.

 

[Celegans]

I prefer not to index my filesystem because, in my eyes, the benefits of
indexing aren't worth the overhead and disk space that it takes to
essentially put everything on my hard disk twice. However, I do rarely
have to search within the contents of LSP files (which are just text) for
a specific sequence of characters. For example, I might have to search
within x:\Source\*.LSP for every occurence of the text MAPCAR. Using
windows 2000's search function, that was very easy to do. With XP's
search function it was still possible, even with indexing turned off, but
I first had to follow the instructions here
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309173

With Vista, I can't seem to get a definitive answer as to whether it's
even possible or not. Does anyone know if this can be done and if so,
how?

In theory, the Advanced Search's "include non-indexed, hidden and system
files (might be slow)" option allows such searching, but I've never been
able to get it to work on my machine.

Like someone else suggested, the third party Agent Ransack,
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/, restores much of the search
functionality in Windows that was present from Windows 95 - Windows XP, but
was left out of Vista.

While I have been generally happy with Vista itself, Microsoft's total
disregard for fixing search is a deal breaker. I'd love to go back to
Windows XP, but Microsoft wants more money to downgrade. I have wasted hours
over the last year manually finding files in Vista because Microsoft's
"improved" search didn't work. The new search was fast, but it is badly
flawed.

During my next computer upgrade I will very seriously consider abandoning
Microsoft (I've been in their camp since DOS 1.0) because of their total
lack of respect for customers. Instead of dealing with and fixing the search
problem when I complained, Microsoft's solution was to block my E-mail to
them. My E-mail bounces when sent to at least two Microsoft E-mail
addresses now. One of the E-mail addresses that bounces is Nick White's,
who did their Advanced search technques blog:
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/05/09/advanced-search-techniques.aspx
The bottom line is Microsoft simply does not care about customers. Nick
certainly doesn't care about getting search to work in Vista.

After about a year with Vista and Office 2007, I am generally proficient
with Office 2007 applications. But at what cost? I've suffered a lot of
lost time and productively, because of stupid user interface changes in
Office 2007 that often end up with the same dialog box as before. The user
interface is mostly different, not better. Why learn or use Microsoft
products if they make arbitrary changes that destroy productivity in future
versions? Why trust Microsoft at all anymore?

There's a Mac or a Linux box in my future. There's no reason to tolerate
Microsoft's lack of respect for customers. No one at Microsoft listens.

 

[Kicking Albright]

I've been using Vista 64 for about two months now and despite all of the
negative press, I have been more than satisfied with it. There's only one
thing that I haven't figured out how to do, though...

I prefer not to index my filesystem because, in my eyes, the benefits of
indexing aren't worth the overhead and disk space that it takes to
essentially put everything on my hard disk twice. However, I do rarely have
to search within the contents of LSP files (which are just text) for a
specific sequence of characters. For example, I might have to search within
x:\Source\*.LSP for every occurence of the text MAPCAR. Using windows
2000's search function, that was very easy to do. With XP's search function
it was still possible, even with indexing turned off, but I first had to
follow the instructions here http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309173

With Vista, I can't seem to get a definitive answer as to whether it's even
possible or not. Does anyone know if this can be done and if so, how?

<http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/9f592ee9-b397-46d6-a607-47bdab5529ec1033.mspx>

If you get to the Advanced Search features of Vista Search, then use the
Alt-key and go to Tools/Search and change the Search characteristics.