Problem w/ Windows 7 'Search' feature

When I click on "Start" and use the SEARCH panel....I type in a name of an existing folder or file name and the search results always display nothing. I know for a FACT that the particular folder exists but Win 7 'search' never locates it.

Is this a settings issue or am I doing something wrong here? A while ago I did turn OFF 'Indexing'......could this be the reason why?

I would appreciate any assistance with this feature because it's completely useless/worthless right now and I am unable to search for any folders + files.

Thanks.

 

I hope this helps:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/36599-search-windows-7-a.html

 

Hi Dark_Hanzo. Thank you so much. That link was just what I was looking for.

I had the 'Windows Search' service disabled and nothing indexed. I next need to rebuild the index.

What are the recommended folders/locations that should be indexed?

Basically I need to include locations of obsolete folders and files from uninstalled/deleted programs.

Thanks.

 

I'm glad that worked out for ya...Cheers

 

Birdman - I have the search service 'on' (as you now have) but have disabled all indexing to avoid persistent disk activity.

Windows is still extremely fast at finding, even with indexing 'off' for all drives.

I've never seen any noticeable speed-up in searching with indexing 'on'.

philby

 

It is fast, unless you want to search for content within documents (in which case, you want to have the documents indexed). Also, with indexing on there is not persistent disk activity (occasional activity, based on how often files change, but not persistent).

 

OK, 'persistent' may have been an exaggeration.

Non-indexed doc-content search is extremely quick here (though admittedly, I don't hold a lot on the drives) - maybe the OP should try both ways and then decide...

philby

 

True, try both ways and see which works best. For me personally, I have ~20,000 documents indexed and I only have acceptable performance with indexing on.