Search Me--and Every Other Version of Windows

Scott Dunn

In these days of gargantuan hard drives, it's easy to lose files. Windows has its own search feature, called Find (in Windows 9x) or Search (in Windows 2000 and Me), but few people take full advantage of it. Here are some ways to get the most out of your file and folder searches.

Start searching where you are: If you know that a file is somewhere in the folder you currently have open (or in one of its subfolders), don't start Windows' Find/Search utility from the Start menu. Either you'll have to type the path of your starting point in the 'Look in' box, or the utility will waste a lot of time looking through disks or folders that you know the file isn't in. It's faster to press F3 in any folder or Explorer window (hitting Ctrl-E in Windows 2000 or Ctrl-F in Windows Me will achieve the same result). This step will open the Find All Files window in Windows 9x or the Search Explorer Bar (the pane on the left with the search settings) in Windows 2000 and Me. Specify the search parameters you want, such as 'Include subfolders' (in 9x) or Advanced Options, Search Subfolders (in Me and 2000), and click Find or Search Now.

Get a bigger view of results: When you search in Windows 2000 or Me, you can get more room to see your search results by pressing F3, Ctrl-E, or Ctrl-F to toggle the Search Explorer Bar on and off.

Preview and navigate: The Search Results window in Windows 2000 and Me adds a few other features not found in previous versions of Windows. If you're searching for image files (such as.bmp,.jpg, or.gif files), you can select an item in the search results list to see a thumbnail of it at the top of the window. (In Windows 2000, you can also preview many sound and movie formats.) To open the folder of any file listed in the results, select the file and click its path name in the area at the top of the window (see Figure 1).

You can accomplish the same thing by right-clicking a file in the Search Results window and choosing Open Containing Folder, or by selecting the file and pressing Alt-FI. If you select more than one file, you'll also see the total space the files occupy--handy information if you need to copy the results to a disk that has limited space. In Windows 9x, you have to right-click the group and select Properties or press Alt-Enter to see this data in the files' Properties sheet.

Use your search options: If you're overwhelmed with results, you can refine your search. Specify a range of dates within which the file was created, or list a file-size range. In Windows 9x, choose the Find window's Date or Advanced tab to see more search options. In Windows 2000 or Me, click the Search Explorer Bar's Date, Type, Size, or Advanced Options check boxes to set your options.

Don't forget wild cards: If you don't know DOS, you're not missing much, but DOS command-line syntax can be useful when using Windows' Find utility. An asterisk (*) serves as a wild card for one or more characters in the name of a file or folder you're looking for, and a question mark (?) replaces any single character (see Figure 2).

For example, if you want to find all files that start with the letters dis, tell Find/Search to look for dis*. You can use the asterisk and/or question mark first, or even multiple times, as in *win*1* to find all files with win followed by 1 anywhere in their names. To find files of a particular type, use the asterisk followed by a period and then the file type's extension, as in *.mp3. And to find all files with either a.tif or a.gif extension, just type *.?if.

Find a better Find--FindX: Microsoft's free FindX utility allows you to customize your Start, Find or Start, Search menu with additional shortcuts. In the March 2000 Windows Tips I wrote that FindX does not work with Windows 2000, but in fact it does--though you may need to log on as the administrator to install it, and then log off and back on again to use it. FindX is part of Microsoft's PowerToys utility, which is available from the Downloads library at PCWorld.com.

Find Files Fast With Indexing Service

Windows 2000

The search feature will save you time when locating documents, but if the file you need is lost in the ocean of data on your hard disk or network, even this tool can make you drum your fingers with impatience as Windows churns through billions and billions of bits and bytes. To the rescue comes Windows 2000's Indexing Service, a little-known feature that can find many types of files in a trice.

Index we trust: Indexing Service employs special filters to analyze files and create indexes that it consults whenever you do a file search. Out of the box, Windows 2000 is able to index Microsoft Office documents, HTML and text files, and Internet mail and news documents. You can also install third-party filters for other file types. For example, Adobe Systems makes a filter for indexing Acrobat PDF files.

Start your engine: At the simplest level, you can use Indexing Service's built-in catalogs (collections of indexes and settings for specified folders) to scan the contents of the files on most of your local hard drives. Log on as the administrator, and choose Start, Search, For Files or Folders. If the underlined Search Options link is followed by '>>', click that link to open the search-parameters box. At the bottom of the box, click Indexing Service. In the Index Service Settings dialog box, check Yes, enable Indexing Service and run when my computer is idle, and click OK.

Get ready to tweak: For the greatest benefits, tweak Indexing Service and its catalogs to make certain that it indexes only the documents you want and doesn't waste memory and processor cycles on directories you never search. Launch the Computer Management utility: Choose Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. In the tree pane on the left, double-click Services and Applications, and then double-click Indexing Service. Many catalog-related tasks require that you stop and restart Indexing Service. With Indexing Service selected in the tree pane, choose Action, Stop, or right-click Indexing Service and choose Stop. Use this technique to stop indexing every time you run your backup software or perform a virus scan, because these programs can lock files and cause Indexing Service to abandon its update.

Catalog it: To create your own catalog, either right-click Indexing Service or right-click in the right pane and choose New, Catalog. In the Add Catalog dialog box, type a name for your catalog. In the next box, you can type the path to the folder in which you want to store the catalog, or you can click Browse to locate and select the target folder.

Two notes on security: A drive formatted with NTFS will prevent users from seeing documents listed in search results unless they have permission. (In case you're wondering, Indexing Service never indexes encrypted files.) And don't store your catalog on a Web site because a catalog stored in a virtual directory or Web root may be locked by Windows 2000's Internet Information Service, causing Indexing Service to hog your processor as it tries in vain to update the catalog.

Designated directories: The more files Windows indexes, the more memory Indexing Service requires. Microsoft recommends 64MB of RAM for indexing up to 100,000 files, and 256MB or more to index around 500,000 files. To save resources, limit Indexing Service to scanning only the documents you typically search. Double-click your new catalog in the right pane of the Computer Management window, then double-click the Directories folder inside the catalog. Right-click an empty area inside the pane and choose New, Directory. In the Add Directory dialog box, type the path to the folder whose files you want to index (see Figure 3), or use the Browse button to find and select the target folder. You can also enter network paths and specify any required user name and password information in this dialog box. Select Yes under 'Include in Index?'. When you're done, click OK.

Be exclusive: To exclude subfolders from a folder's index, repeat the steps above to specify the folder to exclude from the index, but select No under 'Include in Index?'.

Rather than simply fine-tuning your own catalog, why not customize the default System catalog so it doesn't waste time indexing folders you never search? In Computer Management's tree pane, select the System catalog under Indexing Service, and double-click the Directories icon in the right pane. Now you simply double-click the directory icons of folders you don't want indexed, select No under 'Include in Index?', and click OK.

Fine-tune performance: For even faster indexing, right-click Indexing Service in Computer Management's tree pane and choose Properties. Uncheck Index files with unknown extensions to limit indexing to files whose three-letter extensions match Windows' known filters (for example,.txt,.doc, and.htm). Click OK. You can also right-click Indexing Service and choose All Tasks, Tune Performance. Select a usage level (Used Often for frequent updates, and so on). Or click Customize, set the Indexing slider to the desired levels for Windows index updates, and set the Query slider to indicate how frequently you make searches (see Figure 4). Drag the slider to the left to use the least system resources, or to the right for more up-to-date indexes and faster searching. Click OK as required to close all dialog boxes.

You're off and running: Restart the service to apply your changes: Right-click Indexing Service and choose Start. With Indexing Service selected in the Computer Management tree, the right pane will show how many documents you've designated for indexing and the number of documents that remain to be scanned.

Windows Toolbox: GRS--I Know Icon, I Know Icon

Whether you're building a Web page, enhancing your quarterly report, or just retouching your virtual desktop, icons are a useful category of artwork. But getting existing icons in a file format you can work with isn't always easy.

One solution is P&S Group's Graphic Stealer Pro (or GRS for short), a $15 shareware utility that lets you view and extract icons from.ico,.dll,.exe, and many other file formats. You can then save the icons in the.ico or.bmp format, or copy them to the Clipboard. Better still, you can select multiple icons and save them in a format that accepts many icons, such as.icl or.dll. GRS is well worth the modest price.

You can download the program from PCWorld.com's Downloads or from the P&S Group.

We pay $50 for published tips and questions. Scott Dunn is a contributing editor for PC World.