Faster, more accurate, and more intimate with the Windows 7 Search feature

After the introduction of Windows 7 (Win 7), various features have been praised by users. Win 7 of the search function is a bright spot, become a lot of users most commonly used a function. The search principle of Win 7 is quite different from what it used to be, and performance has increased dramatically compared to the real-time search that Windows XP relies entirely on computer performance. But perhaps you do not know, by optimizing the use of methods, we can let the win 7 search faster, more accurate!

Easiest way to narrow your search

The search function we use with Win 7 may be done directly in the Start menu of Win 7, but such searches are for all index files, and those that are not included in the index are not searchable. In addition, although the index mode search in Win 7 is fast, if you are searching for the first time, it will take some time to build the index file, so it will be longer.

In fact, if you know the directory where you're searching for files, the easiest way to do this is to narrow the search, access the directory where the files are located, and then do so through the search box in the folder window. Win 7 has integrated the Search toolbar into the toolbar, not only to find files at any time, but to search any folder as shown in Figure 1.

Custom index directory for search acceleration

As mentioned above, the new index search mode is adopted in Win 7, which can greatly improve the search speed. Naturally, whether a file or folder is indexed will directly affect the speed at which we search.

However, by default, some of the index options are what we want, but some are not, and some of those who want to join are not in the default search list. So in order to speed up the search, we can customize the index directory, so that the search is faster, more accurate.

Hint: the principle of indexing mode is like the directory of books, when we want to query a part of the contents of the book, we can quickly find the location of these content through the book's Directory. Of course, the metaphor is not enough, because the index is dynamically updated compared to the "dead" directory, we don't have to worry about the problem that the file could not be searched because some file movement caused the index to fail.

Custom index directory, just enter the index options in the search box in the system's Start menu (or select the large icon when you open the Control Panel, click Index Options), open the Indexing Options Settings window, and go to "modify" to add, delete, and modify the index location.

In addition to being set in the Control Panel, we can also add it to the index when searching for a folder that is not in the index. When you search for a folder, the Resource Manager's Dynamic toolbar displays a message that adds the folder to the index location. You can quickly add a folder to the index location by clicking on the Information Bar and selecting the Add to index option in the Open menu (shown in Figure 2).

Typically, an index file is built with little maintenance, but it may be necessary to manually rebuild the index if no known files are found in the index or in other special cases. Users manually rebuild the index by simply opening indexing options, clicking the Index Settings tab in the Advanced Options dialog box, and clicking Rebuild. However, searching before the index is fully rebuilt may result in inaccurate results.

Tip: Index files are saved by default in the system partition's "Programdatamicrosoft" folder, which is associated with the number of index options established by the system, usually in a few 10 to 100 megabytes. If you are concerned that the index will be cleared after the system reload, you can locate the index location to a non-system disk. Click the Advanced button in the Indexing Options dialog box and select the new index position in the Advanced Options dialog box (shown in Figure 3).

Do not search subdirectories to reduce search time

The Win 7 search feature also includes its ability to search not only for filenames but also for file content. If you only remember part of the file and don't remember the file name, the feature will certainly help you a lot. But the real situation is that the file content search users do not use a lot of time, after all, remember the file name is much easier than remembering the contents of the file. Therefore, by default, Win 7 searches for directories that do not have an index and searches for only the filename, not the contents of the file.

In addition, in order to make the search faster, we can also make further settings, choose not to search subdirectories, and set search content keyword exactly match, so that you can further reduce the search time, speed up the search speed.

For better results, Win 7 is the default to search for folders and subdirectories contained in folders, but if we confirm the folder where the files are located, we can choose not to include the subdirectory search to speed up. By contrast, a full match of the selection keyword may be more effective, or you can filter the search results effectively. Because if the keyword is partially matched, you may be able to search for a lot of files that contain parts of the keyword, which are often not what we want.

The modification method is very simple, enter "Folder Options" in the search box of the system's Start menu, after confirmation, you can open the Folder Options Settings window (shown in Figure 4), and then, in the Search by column, choose to remove the check before the "Include subfolders in search results" and "find part matching" in the search for folders.

Narrow range filter from search results

When our search is complete, it is possible that there are a lot of search results and we have to sift through many of the search results. If this is the case, it would be equivalent to an extended search time. So at this point we can enter "modify" or "Modify Time" in the search box, so that we can filter the search results two times according to the time range, thereby effectively improving the search efficiency, which is also a new feature in Win 7 search (shown in Figure 5).

Speed Up Search Tips

Manually join a new file type

When you need to search for infrequently used file types that are not recognized by the index, you can also add them in the advanced indexing options so that you can search the system by that file type. In the Index Options window, click the advanced → file type → Add the new extension to the list, type the file name extension manually, and then click Add, and then click Index only for attributes or index for attributes and file contents, so the setting is complete.

Search using wildcard characters

A wildcard is a special character used to replace one or more unknown characters, with the following two types of wildcard characters:

Asterisk (*): can represent any string in the file.

Question mark (?) : can represent a character in a file.

For example, to search all jpg files, simply type "*.jpg" in the search field.

Use natural Language Search

Sometimes we might want to search for a file that requires more than one filter, and you can use the Natural language Search feature to complete the filter at once. For example, to search the doc format or XLS file in the computer, simply type "*.doc or *" in the search field. XLS ", all doc formats and xls files are searched.

The following are some commonly used relational expressions:

And: All keywords that are connected by and must be included in the search content.

Or: The search content contains any keywords that are connected by or.

Not: The search content cannot contain the specified keyword.

Tip: To use the natural language search feature, you must first check "Use natural language search" in "search mode" in Folder Options before you confirm it.

Save Search results

Search is a time-consuming process, especially if the search conditions are very complex, so, sometimes the search results saved is a good choice, can save a lot of time and energy. On the search results, click the right mouse button, choose "Save Search", or directly click on the toolbar "Save Search" button.

Save time, turn on preview function

When the searcher lists all the files that meet the requirements, you can use the preview feature to view the contents beforehand without having to open the file, which can save a lot of time. To turn on the preview feature, just click the "Show preview Pane" button below the search bar.

Search Questions Q & A

Why is indexing but files still not found?

This may be caused by the security settings for this folder. You must configure the folder and its contents for indexing to have "system" permissions. Most files already have this permission, but in some cases the folder may be missing "system" permissions. Permissions for a file or folder can be modified in the Security tab in the folder's properties.

The search box disappears how do you get it back?

By default, click the Win 7 Start menu search box to search for files or execute system components directly. But some friends reflect that after installing some software and restarting the system, the search box in the Start menu is gone!

Don't worry, get into the control Panel. Double-click Programs and features (see the option "Small icon" or "large Icon" to display), in the Open window, click "Turn on or off Windows features" in the upper-left corner, and then in the Open Windows Features dialog box, check the Windows Search "can be. After confirmation, the system will display the "Changing Features" window, then pop-up dialog box, click the "Restart Now" button, the system will start "Configure Windows Features", and then restart, before entering the system, the same will be the first "Configure Windows Features", access to the system, The Disappearing search box is back again!

Can I index the entire computer?

You should not do this so that the index becomes too large, or if you include the system file location (such as the Program Files folder), the daily search will slow down. For best results, it is recommended that you add only folders that you frequently search.

I am using a public computer, can I disable my search record?

Yes, if you use the Win 7 version of the home version, you can use the system's Group Policy functions to achieve, if you are using the Win 7 Home Edition, or not familiar with Group Policy, you can also use the Windows 7 optimization master, such as Third-party optimization software to disable this feature.

The Group Policy feature enables you to click User Configuration → Administrative Templates →windows component →windows Explorer after you open the Group Policy Management window, and then in the right pane, locate the "close the display of recent search entries in the Windows Explorer search box" item, double-click to open the properties The window changes the state to Enabled.

Tip: When you close a search record will not display the appropriate search suggestions, if you need to clear the history of the address bar, only the address bar as a button, right-click the Address bar, the pop-up shortcut menu, select "Delete History" can be.

Comments: Win 7 Search Although performance is good, but its default settings do not necessarily apply to each user, so through personalized settings, we can let Win 7 of the search more consistent with their own habits. For example, narrow the search scope, do not search subdirectories, you can effectively improve the search speed, the custom index directory, you can make the search more consistent with their use habits, can also effectively improve search efficiency and search speed. In addition, some tips, such as combining wildcard characters and multiple conditional searches, can speed up the search speed of Win 7.