Search is an integral part of the operation of any computer; in fact, it is its most important function. If you, say, need to find answers to basic questions, then, of course, there is no point in bothering with search settings. However, if you set more complex tasks for yourself and the computer, and the end result is important to you, it’s better to worry about it. A standard search in Windows 7, of course, will bear fruit and will produce many results, but will they be suitable and necessary? The question is rhetorical, but if you are still concerned about properly setting up your computer, I offer variations on the topic of how to upgrade/improve the built-in search in Windows 7.
First of all, let's understand how the search happens. You can only find indexed files and folders, that is, those that have been assigned an index. It is assigned to all elements that are in standard folders. In order to set up indexing, you need to do the following: go to the start menu, look for “search options” and select “Change search options for folders and files” in the drop-down list. In the window that appears, select the “Search” tab and check the boxes wherever you see fit, but it’s better to do it as in the picture below. By the way, I advise you not to choose a search by file name, but to give preference to indexed applications, this way you will limit yourself from unnecessary garbage.
It also wouldn't hurt to set up indexing by extension. To do this, click on the “Advanced” - “File Types” tab. This allows you to index exactly the contents of the folder if you decide to search by this parameter. Then everything is as usual: click “OK”, and go ahead, search through files in Windows 7. And in order for the search to happen as quickly as possible, from time to time use programs to speed up the work of Windows 7.
Search sources
In order to consolidate the material, let's clearly formulate the places where an extensive search for information will be carried out, namely:
- Start menu;
- main search window;
- libraries;
- other explorer windows, such as folders, open, save as.
In general, if you calmly sit down and figure it out, setting up a search turns out to be a fairly simple process. To do this, you don’t need to have any specialized knowledge at all, just follow the simple tips in this article, and I’m sure everything will work out for you!
userologia.ru
Finding files in windows 7
Good afternoon friends! Today we will continue our lessons with the Windows 7 operating system and learn another secret - how to properly configure and search for files in Windows 7.
It would seem, what’s wrong with that? A search engine is a search engine. I switched to seven about a year ago. And to be honest, in XP I tried not to use the built-in search engine. Absolutely inconvenient. And what you need is either not found, or found, but the process sometimes drags on for several hours.
I didn't expect much from 7. But just the other day, this OS pleasantly surprised me. I needed to search for one file in Windows 7, I didn’t remember its exact name, but I typed part of the name... and received my file in less than 2-3 seconds. Now I only use the built-in search engine.
Indexing service in windows 7
Microsoft developers did a good job. 7's search tool compares favorably with previous operating systems of this family not only in quality, but also in search speed.
My favorite browser is Chrome, and its search mechanism is very similar to the mechanism in Windows 7. The search begins its work as soon as you enter the first characters. In addition, there is a hint system based on the history of previous requests. If too many results are returned for a search query, the system suggests using dynamic filtering based on various criteria - date, file size, type, etc.
The basis for such effective work of the OS search engine is a special indexing service. It launches along with the operating system, works in the background, and creates a special database of file information. Updating and restoring the index in the event of any failure also occurs automatically, without user intervention.
It should be noted that the OS allocates a certain system resource for the operation of this service. For the service to work effectively, but not to the detriment of other programs, it must be configured correctly. We will definitely talk about this today.
Instantly search for files in Windows 7
7 provides two ways to instantly search for files.
- 1. Search using the Start menu. Click on the “Start” button and enter the required search query in the search field below. For example, “Christmas tree”.
As you enter data, search results will be displayed directly in the Start window. It should be noted that the search is also carried out by the contents of the files.
If there are too many results and you want to get acquainted with them in more detail, click on the “View other results” button.
The “Search Results” window will open. The files here are already sorted by type and the search query is highlighted in yellow.
You can make your search more specific. To do this, scroll to the very bottom of the list of search results.
And in the “Repeat search in:” section, select the appropriate option.
If you assume that the file you are looking for is in the OS Library, then select this option.
If you know approximately which folder to search in, select the “Other...” option and specify a specific folder to search.
If you want to search on the Internet, click the “Internet” button.
If you want to repeat the search on the entire computer, click on the “Computer” button. By default, the indexer goes through all files except OS system files and program files. This allows you to increase search speed and reduce the size of the indexer database. But really, how often do we look for system files? It's not often. By selecting the “Computer” option, the system will repeat its search, but only more thoroughly and, accordingly, will take a longer period of time.
- 2. The second option for instant search is to search in the “Windows Explorer” window. The principle of operation is approximately the same.
Setting up the indexing service
- 1. Go to “Start” -> “Control Panel” -> then in the search area enter “indexing” -> select the “Indexing Options” section.
- 2. In the window that appears, you will see all the folders for which the indexing service works. If you want to exclude any folder from the search (for example, you know that one of the partitions of your hard drive is used for backup, then, in principle, it can be removed from this list), click the “Change” button.
And uncheck the box next to the folder that you want to remove from the search engine. Next, click the “OK” button.
- 3. Next, click on the “Advanced” button. In the window that opens, on the “Indexing Options” tab, uncheck all two boxes. In 99% of cases we do not need these functions, and therefore there is no need for additional load on the indexing service.
- 4. If you want to transfer the index database from the system partition of your hard drive to another partition in order to free up free space on the disk, then to do this you need to specify a new folder in the “Index location” section on the same tab.
To successfully change the index database location, be sure to restart the indexing service or simply restart your computer.
- 5. Next, go to the “File Types” tab and edit the list of file types, leaving only the most essential (with which you work). This will significantly reduce the load on the system. By default, the indexing service processes almost all file types in use.
- 6. Finally, decide how the indexing service will process files.
If you select “Index properties only,” the indexer will process only the file name and its metadata (size, type, creation date).
If you select the “Index properties and contents of files” option, the document will be completely processed, including its contents. This will take longer and require additional system resources, but will increase the likelihood of search accuracy.
The choice is yours, my dear Reader.
- Next, click “OK” and “Close”.
Today we looked at the capabilities of the Window 7 search service and how to configure it. In the next article I will share with you another interesting tool (though from a third-party developer), which allows you to search adapted to the Russian-speaking population, taking into account declensions and cases.
pc4me.ru
Search in windows 7. Part 1 - operating principle, setup, new features
When switching from Windows Vista, search in Windows 7 only becomes more convenient and does not contain any special surprises. This cannot be said about many Windows XP users who are just discovering everyday work in the system with such a convenient tool as instant search. Searching in Windows 7 is really very simple. But, as in any search, the goal is to find what you need, and sometimes difficulties arise with this. With this article I begin a story about how search works in Windows 7, how to configure it, how to search, and most importantly, how to find.
On this page:
How search works
You've most likely heard about an index - a set of files that contain various information about files and documents stored on disk. When you use search, it is the index files that allow you to quickly display results. The index includes various file properties, and this is not just the path, name or size. For example, all tags of MP3 files are indexed - from the author to the bit rate. For office documents, data is indexed, which can be seen in the file properties on the Details tab, document contents, and so on. If this search is new to you, I recommend reading a couple of help articles to get some background information on searching. Minimize all windows, press F1 and in the Search field in the help, enter... Search.
Indexing happens constantly - if you add, delete or change a file in a folder, it will immediately be reflected in the index.
The screenshot shows the locations that are indexed by default. Therefore, if you store your documents somewhere in F:\Documents, they will not be included in the index and will not be found by a quick search - they must be added to the index separately. Setting up the search will be discussed below.
Search and indexing settings
To be honest, the standard search settings are quite good, and most users do not need to change anything in them, especially if documents and files are stored in standard folders. To configure settings, open the Start menu and type search options into the search box.
This is how we easily used one of the search features of Windows 7 - quick access to control panel items from the Start menu.
Change search options for files and folders
I will not duplicate the parameters that are clearly visible in the screenshot.
Please note the following points:
- By default, search within a folder searches all subfolders
- in non-indexed locations, only file names are searched and compressed files are ignored
- you can use language search, i.e. compose search queries in a more fluent language - for example, last week's video (there will be a lot of unexpected results mixed in here, especially in localized versions)
Indexing options and Windows Search services
Here you can configure many more settings. To add folders to the index, click Edit.
It is no coincidence that the windows and Program Files folders are excluded from the search - they will greatly increase the size of the index, and will be of little practical use. Programs can already be found by searching in the Start menu - after all, the main menu is indexed by default.
By clicking Advanced, you have access to two groups of settings:
- indexing technical parameters
- indexing options for file types
In the first of them, you can add encrypted files to the index, rebuild the index (which may be necessary in case of problems) and set a new location for it.
For file type (extension) you can:
- include or exclude it from the index
- determine whether only properties or content will be indexed
- add new extension
For example, if your instant messaging client suddenly saves history in text files with a LOG extension, or you just need to analyze logs, their contents will not be indexed by default. But you can easily customize the search - just type log on your keyboard to move through the list of extensions and enable content search.
How to search
When starting a search, it is advisable to immediately imagine whether the search object is included in the index. As I said above, the index covers the user's profile - libraries, files, etc. Here you can find the files you need relatively easily.
But if you open the main search window and expect to find something in the Program Files or Windows folder, you may generally get the impression that “the search finds nothing” - after all, only results from the index are displayed. We'll talk about searching in non-indexed places later, but now we'll look at general search methods in Windows 7. You can search:
- from the Start menu
- in the main search window
- in libraries
- in other Explorer windows – folders, “Open” and “Save As” dialogs
Search in the Start menu
When you search from the Start menu, the search results show not only files and documents, but also programs and Control Panel items. Now you can safely give up the habit of the Windows XP era - carefully sorting applications in the Programs menu. It is enough to enter the first few letters of the program name to find it. This is much more convenient, especially if you have many programs installed.
Advice. If you use portable applications, simply add their shortcuts to the %appdata%\Microsoft\windows\Start Menu\Programs folder (you can create a subfolder for them). In search results they will be displayed in the Programs group.
In Windows 7, search results in the Start menu are very conveniently grouped, and the number of results in each group is immediately visible - this point has improved compared to Windows Vista. As you can see in the screenshot, a search for the word word finds not only Microsoft Word and WordPad applications, but also offers results in other groups.
The Start menu displays multiple results for each group, and clicking on the group name opens a search box with all the search results for the group.
Searching in the Start menu is good when you have an idea of the file name or its contents - the first 5 - 10 results are visible immediately, and you don’t have to look far. In addition, the Start menu is indispensable for quickly accessing programs and Control Panel items using search.
Main search window
An empty search window can be opened by pressing the WIN + F key combination. It, in my opinion, has somewhat lost its meaning, since it no longer contains advanced file search capabilities. Searching in Explorer windows practically forces it out of the system. It seems to me that links to help on using search or a link to this article could brighten up its dull appearance.
However, the main search window still carries a payload. It opens with search results if you type a query in the Start menu and click the name of the search result group, or click See more results directly above the search field.
Libraries
Now I will explain why I separated the search in libraries and other Explorer windows. Notice how library search results are displayed. They correspond to the type of files in it and are very well perceived visually. For example, for music files, the album cover, large song name, size are displayed, and there are also “musical” options for organizing the results. This is a property of all libraries, which confirms the thesis - the capabilities of Windows 7 are best used together. In this case, it is searching in libraries, which has other advantages.
This is what a simple search in the Music library will suggest.
While in File Explorer, you can organize your search results by available file properties. The default display order is Best Results, but you can, for example, organize music files by album or genre. This feature is available along with the traditional Explorer tools of sorting and grouping (although the latter may be new to migrants with Windows XP).
In this case, the results will display several tracks from each album. You can view all the songs on an album, and then “fold” it if the one you need is not there.
If you don't find the file you need in the current folder, you can search again:
- In libraries, both standard and those created by you.
- All over the computer. The search is carried out in all folders on the computer, including non-indexed places, which can take a relatively long time. This is how you can search for files not included in the index if their location is unknown. In addition, searching your computer allows you to find shadow copies of deleted files, unless you have disabled system protection, of course.
- In other locations. This method, which also allows you to find non-indexed files, may be faster than searching your entire computer. Once you know the approximate location of a file, you can select multiple folders at once. In addition, you can include network resources in the search range.
- In the Internet. The search is performed using your default browser. It works flawlessly with Internet Explorer, but with others... well, try it yourself.
Other Explorer windows
In folders and libraries, the search field is the same as in the main window. But we must not forget that the same option is available in the “Open” and “Save As” windows, which are used even by those who prefer alternative file managers.
It is more convenient to search in folders when you know the approximate location of the file or document - in this case you will not get lost in the results. In addition, this method is useful when it is known for sure that the file is not included in the index. Finally, in the Open and Save As windows, you can quickly filter the contents of a folder using search.
I'm sure you've already tried simple search queries and you're probably completely satisfied with them. However, sooner or later you will need to find the file, and a simple query will not help with this. Next, I'll tell you how to use the advanced search capabilities of Windows 7 to find the files you need.
New advanced search features in Windows 7
To master search, of course, you need to practice using its capabilities. In articles about searching for Windows 7, I will give a number of examples that you can easily reproduce in your own home.
If you are upgrading from Windows XP, absolutely everything will be new for you in your search for Windows 7. Compared to Windows Vista, Windows 7 looks:
- search filters have changed
- added hints
Search filters
When you roughly know the name of the file or the topic of the document, finding the desired file is usually not difficult - you simply enter a partial or full query into the Start menu search. But this information is not always stored in the RAM of the brain, and it is simply often necessary to set special search conditions - size, modification date, or author of the file. Windows XP had a search assistant, and windows Vista had filters.
At first glance, there is nothing that stands out visually in Windows 7. In fact, filters are still there - they just become visible when you place your cursor in the search field.
Advice. To see more filters in the main search window and libraries, expand the search field - position the cursor on the separator between the field and the address bar and drag to the left.
In the screenshot you see a standard set of filters in the main search window.
Hints
Your search queries are remembered if they were entered:
- to the search window
- in explorer folder or library
- in the Start menu (assuming you navigated to results and didn't just open the file)
These prompts annoy some users, and they tend to turn them off immediately. And, in my opinion, they are doing it in vain. The tips remember not only the search queries as such, but also the search filters that you specified - for example, the size or date of modification of the file. Tooltips are very convenient if you want to use the full power of Windows 7 search. The old condition can be easily changed to suit the current query, and this is faster than entering it again. And you can always delete an unnecessary hint - just select it (with the mouse or cursor) and press Delete on the keyboard.
As I said above, the new features of Windows 7 are best used together. The connection between search and libraries is not only in the display of results, but also in the formation of search conditions. In the next part of the article I will look at:
- using filters to search libraries and mail
- search in Internet Explorer 8
- search in non-indexed places
- search operators
www.outsidethebox.ms
Setting up search in Windows 7
Windows search has settings, but in most cases there is no need to change them. But if suddenly you want to change something, then to do this you need to select the Arrange drop-down menu in the Explorer program toolbar, from which you need to select Folder and Search Options. We are already familiar with this window, since we used it to configure the Explorer program. Let's go to the third tab Search (Fig. 196). All settings are here:
 |
| Rice. 196. Search settings |
Homework:
- Create a text file, write an arbitrary phrase in it and save it under any name. Now try to find the file through the Start menu and then through the Explorer program. Search by both file name and content. If you do not see search results, then refer to the 3rd task.
- Find all files on your computer that are larger than 600 MB. Most likely, these will be videos and program installation files.
- Check your operating system's indexing settings. It is possible that you will not be able to complete the first two tasks if for some reason the logical drives of your computer are not added to the index. Add them and search again.
pc-azbuka.ru
Search in Windows 7 by content
In order to find any object on your computer, just enter the name of the file or folder you need in the Start menu. The computer will search for all files containing this name in whole or in part. But this is not always enough to find all the necessary information on your computer. There are times when you need to find document(s) with certain words in the text, for example: “free computer courses”, but by default in Windows 7 this function is disabled.
Setting up file search in Windows 7
To do this, open “Computer”, click on the “Arrange” button on the left and select “Folder and Search Options”.
After such a small setup, the search will work by file names, as well as by its contents.
Finding files in Windows 7 in practice [check]
Let's check if everything works correctly. To do this, open “Computer”, enter in the search field the word that you need to find in the files. For example, I chose the word “quality”. When you enter a word or phrase, the search will begin automatically (no need to click anything).
After the search completes the task on this word, files containing the word “quality” will appear below. You should also know that after searching for the information you need, you need to change the default settings (which were). This is due to the fact that the search will take much longer, since it searches not only the file name, but also its contents.
To quickly search in Windows 7 by content, it is best to go to the folder where your file may be located and search from there.
In this article, we will discuss searching for files on your computer and specifically look at searching for files in Windows 7.
If you have an operating system Windows XP, then the note: “” is more suitable for you
Find files on your computer may be necessary when the information on the computer is not organized into appropriately named folders so that it can be easily found.
But also searching for files and folders is quite convenient in the case when, simply knowing the name of a file or folder, you want to find it (or her) faster.
So, let's look at searching for files and folders in Windows 7.
Finding files in Windows 7 through the Start menu
To find a file or folder on your computer, click the button Start, where we immediately see a field for searching information ( Find programs and files):
- Enter a word or part of a word in the search field
- We immediately get the search result as shown in the picture:
Moreover, all folders and files that have this name, or this word that is part of the phrase of the file or folder, will be found. It will also show files in which this word is present (for example, in the text of the file content itself).
Let's move on to the next method of searching for files on a computer in Windows 7.
Advanced search for files and folders in Windows 7
In the method described above, searching for files and folders on a computer can produce a large list of results, in which it is difficult to immediately find what we are looking for, so we can use the additional search feature.
As shown in the picture above under number 3, we can click on the link: View more results. All search results will be presented and if you scroll to the end of the list, you can find additional options that allow you to:
- Narrow your search to a specific folder or library;
- Filter search by some parameters
In search it looks something like this:
The second option (search filter) is especially interesting, because if you use the filter Type, then you can find the required file by extension, for example, photo, jpg extension, video file, avi extension, etc. That is, by choosing from the proposed list of file formats, you can find the desired file of the desired type.
Thus, you can very conveniently and quickly search for files on your computer.
By the way, you can also search for files in Windows 7 by simultaneously pressing keys Win+ F:
To better understand how file search works in Windows 7, try to find something on your computer right now and then write in the comments if everything worked out?
By the way, in this article we looked at how to find files using standard Windows search. If you have difficulties finding files using a standard tool, I recommend using a third-party one, which allows you to find files instantly!
The search mechanism in Windows 7 is organized a little differently than in Windows XP, but it is no less convenient and is performed at a much faster speed.
How to start a search
To start searching for files in Windows 7, you need to open Explorer and select the folder in which you want to search, or, if you don’t know what directory the file is located in, select “My Computer.” Then the search will be performed on all hard drives.
You need to search for files of any format using the search bar, which is located in the upper right corner of Explorer in any of its windows. The keyword or phrase must be entered in this line.
The search is performed very quickly, similar to the request processing mechanism in any search engine. As you enter a query word, the system immediately begins scanning files and producing results with titles containing the characters, words, or phrases you entered.
How to use search filters
At first glance, it may seem that the usual filters available in XP, such as date created or modified, file type, size and author, are not available when searching in Windows 7, but this is not at all the case.
When you enter a search query in the drop-down line below, a list of filters corresponding to the desired file type appears, the conditions of which can be set right there in the search line. To do this, click on the desired filter and set its value, for example, the change date “Last week”.
How to find files of a specific type
To find a file whose format is known, for example audio, video, photo or document, but its name, creation date or other parameters are unknown, you can use a search by file type, specifying its extension in the search conditions.
Documentation . To search for documents in Word format, you need to enter the characters “*.doc” (for Word 2003 format) or “*.docx” (for Word 2007-2010 format) in the search bar. An asterisk denotes any sequence of any characters.
For Excel files you need to use the symbols “*.xls” (for Excel 2003 format) or “*.xlsx” (for Excel 2007-2010 format).
For text format files created using the Notepad application, you need to enter “*.txt” in the search bar.
Video. To search for video files, enter the video file extension in the search bar. The most popular extensions: “*.avi”, “*.mp4”, “*.mpeg”, “*.wmv”, “*.3gp”, “*.mov”, “*.flv”, “*.swf” " You can find out the file extension by right-clicking on it and selecting “Properties” in the context menu, where its extension will be indicated in the “File type” line.
Audio. The most popular audio file format used on computers is MP3, and to search for them you need to enter the characters “*.mp3” in the line.
Images and photographs. To search for pictures, you should enter the most used extensions of such files “*.jpg”, “*.jpeg”, “*.png”, “*.bmp”, “*.tiff”, “*.gif” in the search bar.
How to find a file in a large list of already found files
It often happens that the file attributes are unknown, or only one is known, and it is very uninformative. For example, we know that the document was created last year. However, over the past year, a huge amount of documents have been created and stored in different places. It is often not possible to view and check a huge number of files found based on one criterion.
To find the desired file in the list of already found files, you can use several filters simultaneously, setting and changing each of them during the search process as necessary. Each time you add a new filter, the selection will be made again in the list of found files, reducing processing time and the number of results, which greatly simplifies the search for the very desired file.
How to find a file by content
As a rule, files are searched in Windows 7 based on the content of the query in the file name, and not on the text that the file contains. To find a file with the desired word in its text, and not in its name, you need to make simple settings.
Let’s say the task is to find a document among 500 files with the word “Shovel” in its content. To do this, click “Arrange” on the control panel and select “Search folder options” from the drop-down menu.
It is worth noting that searching with this option will take longer, and when the need to search by content is no longer necessary, this option should be disabled.
How to save search terms
It often happens that files need to be searched frequently, for this the same search conditions are used, and there are several of these conditions. In order not to waste time entering the same search parameters every time, the list of these conditions can be saved.
To do this, you need to set the search conditions, wait for the results to be displayed, and upon completion, click “Save search conditions” on the control panel, and in the window that opens, enter the file name for the recurring query, for example, “JULY 2013.”
In the future, when the saved set of search conditions is needed again, the desired shortcut can always be selected in Explorer in the “Favorites” folder under the saved name.
How to clear your search terms
By clicking on the cross at the end of the search line, you can clear the previously entered information and filter conditions that were used for the search, and the line will become empty.
Having tried search in Windows 7 several times, you can verify in practice that it is practical, easy and fast. Now you know how to search for files in Windows 7.
Almost all users who switched from Windows XP to “Seven” were disappointed by the more meager set of search functions, since, at first glance, the search for programs and files in Windows 7 is not equipped with the usual filters. However, if you know the basic techniques for using the system in order to find the necessary data on the computer, it will not require a significant investment of time and effort, even for novice users. Below are all the main methods on how to quickly find any file or program on a computer with Windows 7.
Using the Start button
You need to do the following:
Note: As you can see from the example above, this same method allows you to find the program, not just the files.
As an example of quickly finding and launching a utility, consider launching the “Console”. You can simply type “cmd” in the same column, and a link to open the “Command Prompt” will appear in the top line.
Using a special search interface "Windows 7"
Of course, the relevance of this method has almost completely disappeared after specialists from Microsoft introduced a search field directly in the start menu, but knowing about its capabilities will be useful for any owner of a computer running a “Seven”.
The following sequential steps are required:
Via Explorer
The algorithm of actions consists of the following stages:
How to configure search parameters
The following steps need to be taken:
Quick search by file type
In the case when the user knows the type of file being searched, you can specify its extension, and only specific types of files will be displayed: images, videos, text, audio, etc.
To perform the operation only among “Word” files, you need to type the extension “*.doc” or “*.docx” in the column. Instead of *, enter characters from the document name. The procedure for Excel is similar, only “*.xls” or “*.xlsx” is used.
Examples for searching images, videos, text and audio files:
*.jpg, *.avi, *.txt, “*.mp3”. 
Search by content
“Seven” has a convenient ability to find the file you need based on the text it contains. For example, the user knows that inside the document there are definitely characters printed sequentially and next to each other - “Shovel”.
To identify the location of a file with such a word, you will need to perform the following steps of sequential actions:
Note: the search procedure will now take the user several times longer, so it is recommended to use this filter only when the others do not allow you to obtain a successful result.
Fixing search parameters
Users usually need to use the same search parameters. In Windows 7, there is a convenient option for saving them in order to eliminate the time wasted on re-entering them in the future.
For this purpose, it is enough to specify the necessary parameters once and, having received the result, click “Save conditions”. Next, a menu will be displayed in which you should type the name of the request and click “Save”.
During the next search with similar parameters, the user will only need to enter the “Favorites” section and click on the previously specified name of the request.
If you want to find something in Windows 7, then you probably came across a simple form that is surprising by the lack of familiar settings that were useful and understandable.
It has become unusual to use the search because most likely the developers followed the following logic - for ordinary users they need to make it simpler, and more advanced users will figure out how to make queries more complex.
So, let's find out how to search for files and folders in Windows.
Finding folders in Windows 7
1. To start the search, go to the logical drive or folder where we will search.
If you are looking on your hard drive, then go to “My Computer”; if on logical drive C, then you need to go to logical drive C.
2. Having opened the folder, you will see in the search window - the search area - the place where your computer will search.
If you are looking for the “Windows” folder in the “documents” folder, then your search will not be successful, so pay attention to the “Search Area”.
(Picture 1)
3. Enter the request.
You can enter not the entire word, but part of it.
Are complex queries done using symbols? And *.
? - any character at the beginning of a word
* - any number of characters
Example: ?lot*
The word plotter will match this query and if you have a document or file with that name, it will be displayed in the search window.
(Figure 2)
Example: *ter
The words hard drive and computer would fit this query.
(Figure 3)
Searching for files in Windows 7
The peculiarity of searching for files is that files have extensions.
If you need to find all the videos on your computer, enter the query *.avi and you will receive in the search results window all films and videos with this extension, at the same time you will find films with the mp4, 3gp extension only by changing the query.
Thus, you can find any files in Windows 7.
Search filters in Windows 7
If the number of files and folders found is too large, you can use filters; to do this, click on the form and select “Date modified” or “Size” in the drop-down context menu that appears.
(Figure 4)
Finding programs in Windows 7
There is another way to find something on your computer by clicking on the “Start” button - here you can also enter a search query.
(Figure 5)
conclusions
So, all the complaints about search in Windows 7 are groundless, since this function is still preserved, it can be used, the only thing is that it has become easier to get to.
Happy searching.