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Groups > alt.comp.os.windows-10 > #181555
| From | Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | alt.comp.os.windows-10 |
| Subject | Re: Searching for files |
| Date | 2025-01-18 18:00 -0500 |
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <vmhbq5$172mm$1@dont-email.me> (permalink) |
| References | <btqnoj56t1kndgg64ou8eafr1qc79im11f@4ax.com> |
On Sat, 1/18/2025 1:06 PM, Steve Hayes wrote:
> Is there a way to search for files in Win 10 without being taken on
> long detours by Bing or CoPilot?
>
> I collected a lot of text from the web intio a dile for research, and
> then saved it.
>
> When I wanted to copy it, it wasn't where I expected it to be.
>
> In Win XP or 7 I can just enter all or part of the file name into a
> search box, and it is found. But in Win 10, but comes Big with useless
> information.
>
> It suggested CoPilot could help, and after a long question and answer
> session suggested I go to the folder where the file was and search for
> it there, which was exactly where I had started -- it wasn't there, it
> was somewhere else.
>
> Eventually I called it up in the program I'd saved it from and saved
> it to a flash drive from there, but surely there must be a simpler way
> to find a file.
>
>
The built-in "Federated Search" in windows, generates an inverted index
including both filenames (which most of the answerers covered), as
well as the textual content (text searches are harder to get).
To set it up, requires using the control panel for it.
Start : Run : control (Pin "control" to taskbar)
"Indexing Options"
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/g0xFD166/windows-indexing-options.gif
It can take all day, for the Indexer to index a million files.
You have to be patient for the index to fill. The inverted index
is stored as "Windows.edb" (Jet Blue database) or in Win11 is
stored as "Windows.db" (SQLite3?). These files tend to be around
4GB in size. Common words are indexed multiple times, so
the word "the" is listed with a million file references :-)
As the OS runs, new file creations are recorded in the USN playback journal.
The SearchIndexer process "listens" to the good news about files that
are created or deleted, and it adds the items to the Gatherer list.
The indexer than makes corrections to the database file as appropriate.
The Index can be a little slow to update, but within a short time,
new entries should be available.
*******
Finding an authoritative list of search keywords, can be a challenge.
I don't know if Microsoft has finally fixed this or not. I'm not
even going to look :-) I'm sick of looking for a reference.
The files can be searched, from Explorer.exe search box in upper right corner.
filename:Vacation ext:txt
filename:"*cation*" # May need fiddling with wild cards in some cases.
# It is hard to say why some filename searches do not work.
content:"Top Secret" # On the US Military version, this won't work :-)
width>0 height>0 # Using known metadata patterns, locate every image file on the machine.
# Only images, have width and height declarations. The
# greater than zero specification is to trick it into action.
filename:foo AND filename:bar OR filename:baz # Be creative, try stuff, see what works :-)
If you can't find a reference for "Windows Search", then guessing
is as good as anything.
Using this one, causes a popup menu to appear, with some silly names
for the sizes of files. A few of the keywords, have an associated menu.
size:huge
That will find all the huge files on the machine.
But programming the dialog in the picture above, that's going to
cause a bit of hair loss, and is likely one of the reasons most
people give up on this tool. And NO, I don't want an AI helping
me with this, thank you :-) The software deserves to be fixed,
not smothered with useless AI.
Paul
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Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-18 20:06 +0200
Re: Searching for files D <noreply@mixmin.net> - 2025-01-18 18:47 +0000
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-20 08:32 +0200
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-20 04:45 -0500
Re: Searching for files D <noreply@mixmin.net> - 2025-01-20 13:19 +0000
Re: Searching for files Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-01-20 08:45 -0500
Re: Searching for files "Allan Higdon" <allanh@vivaldi.net> - 2025-01-20 09:29 -0600
Re: Searching for files Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-01-20 13:33 -0500
Re: Searching for files "Allan Higdon" <allanh@vivaldi.net> - 2025-01-20 14:01 -0600
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-20 15:45 -0500
Re: Searching for files Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-01-18 13:56 -0500
Re: Searching for files Michael Logies <logies@t-online.de> - 2025-01-18 19:58 +0100
Re: Searching for files Nil <rednoise9@rednoise9.invalid> - 2025-01-18 14:01 -0500
Re: Searching for files VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-01-19 00:50 -0600
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-20 08:34 +0200
Re: Searching for files VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-01-20 06:16 -0600
Re: Searching for files Nil <rednoise9@rednoise9.invalid> - 2025-01-22 19:57 -0500
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-22 23:49 -0500
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-02-21 03:18 +0200
Re: Searching for files Nil <rednoise9@rednoise9.invalid> - 2025-02-24 13:50 -0500
Re: Searching for files Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-02-24 22:01 +0000
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-02-24 18:34 -0500
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-02-25 05:39 +0200
Re: Searching for files GlowingBlueMist <zapbot@truely.invalid> - 2025-02-25 17:16 -0600
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-02-26 10:30 +0200
Re: Searching for files ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ <winstonmvp@gmail.com> - 2025-02-25 11:49 -0700
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-02-25 22:39 -0500
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-02-26 06:02 +0200
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-02-26 00:32 -0500
Re: Searching for files knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> - 2025-01-18 14:30 -0500
Re: Searching for files Hank Rogers <Hank@nospam.invalid> - 2025-01-18 13:49 -0600
Re: Searching for files "R.Wieser" <address@is.invalid> - 2025-01-18 21:39 +0100
Re: Searching for files Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> - 2025-01-18 21:44 +0100
Re: Searching for files Marion <marion@facts.com> - 2025-01-20 03:38 +0000
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-18 18:00 -0500
Re: Searching for files Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@gmail.moc> - 2025-01-19 02:10 +0300
Re: Searching for files Paul in Houston TX <Paul@Houston.Texas> - 2025-01-18 18:17 -0600
Off-topic: X-No-Archive header (was: Searching for files) VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-01-19 01:00 -0600
Re: Off-topic: X-No-Archive header Marion <marion@facts.com> - 2025-01-20 03:22 +0000
Re: Off-topic: X-No-Archive header "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2025-01-20 09:13 +0000
Re: Off-topic: X-No-Archive header (was: Searching for files) Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-20 09:00 +0200
Re: Off-topic: X-No-Archive header VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-01-20 06:31 -0600
Re: Searching for files wasbit <wasbit@nowhere.com> - 2025-01-19 09:36 +0000
Re: Searching for files Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-01-19 08:29 -0500
Re: Searching for files Michael Logies <logies@t-online.de> - 2025-01-19 17:48 +0100
Re: Searching for files Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-01-19 11:05 +0000
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-19 08:43 -0500
Re: Searching for files Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com> - 2025-01-19 09:43 -0700
Re: Searching for files knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> - 2025-01-19 14:06 -0500
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-19 15:12 -0500
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-20 08:57 +0200
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-20 05:37 -0500
Re: Searching for files Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-20 17:50 +0200
Re: Searching for files Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-20 14:09 -0500
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