Windows 10: Searching for files and programs unreliable

Hi, this has always been a problem I had with searching for files on windows for as long as I can remember.
The problem is the search function barely works, 90% of the time it will not find what I search for even though I know for sure the files are on the pc.


See my screenshot for what I mean....




This happens all the time, it even happened on windows 7. Surely I am doing something wrong.... is windows really so stupid it can;t search for a basic file name?

:)

 

Search option is not working properly in Windows 10

<Original Title: Search is unreliable>

That magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen that is supposed to be a search is completely unreliable. It is also not uncommon for the menu not pop up when you click on it, the start menu the same thing... sometimes they don't do anything when you click
on them. It is routine for newly installed programs to not show up in the start menu at all... so you have to search them to find them. If you should happen to forget the specific name of a program, well now it's lost on the computer. And as I said before
the search function regularly yields no results when I basically know a file exists, but was attempting to use the search for quickness.

 

I get searching for installed programs continuously flashing in my control panel

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

Apologize for the difficulties that you're experiencing in Windows 10.

Not to worry, we’re here to help you out.



Initially, I suggest you to start your computer in safe mode with Networking and check if the issue appears there as well. If it does not appear in safe mode with Networking place the computer in clean boot state to identify the culprit program running
in the background creating this error.



Step 1: Safe Mode with Networking

Safe mode is a diagnostic mode that starts your computer in a limited state. Only the basic files and drivers necessary to run Windows are started.



Refer the article below:

Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-10/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode



If the problem does not exist in safe mode, try to perform a clean boot and check.

Step 2: Clean Boot.

Clean Boot state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue.

Follow the article How to perform a clean boot in Windows in the below link and check if it helps:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135



(Applies to Windows 10 as well).



Disclaimer: A clean boot is performed to start Windows by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This helps eliminate software conflicts that occur when you install a program or an update or when you run a program
in Windows. You may also troubleshoot or determine what conflict is causing the problem by performing a clean boot. You must log on to the computer as an administrator to be able to perform a clean boot. Your computer may temporarily lose some functionality
when you perform a clean boot. When you start the computer normally, the functionality returns. However, you may receive the original error message, or experience the original behavior if the problem still exists. If the computer is connected to a network,
network policy settings may prevent you from following these steps.



NOTE: Once you perform clean boot do refer to the section
How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting to boot the computer in normal mode.



Hope it helps.



Let us know the status, we are glad to assist you further.

 

Click on the "File Explorer" link under 'Other places to look'

 

I don't think its you, I use FileSearchEX, others use void everything, and there are others. Search has indeed not gotten better, imo.

 

That half-works.
It's still excluding searching from several of my drives and the number of clicks/menus I have to use to get there kind of defeats the point of searching from the start button and it's bringing up a whole load of things unrelated to my search.

What exactly is being searched if I do not choose the other places to look option? The feature seems almost worthless if it can't find files.

 

Yeah, I don't like how it works either.
I just pin an 'mssearch' shortcut to the taskbar:





C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{9343812e-1c37-4a49-a12e-4b2d810d956b}

 

@silverz I agree with you 100% that's why when I want to find a file or anything I use Everything its a very good search app.
Also has a few options not found on Windows search at all. Take a look , its a Free app.
Everything Search Tool
voidtools

 

Windows search is a worthless piece of sh*t. Microsoft have a special talent for spending millions on f*cking up things that worked fine, while the real problems (e.g. searching for files) never get addressed.

The developer of Voidtools Everything is just one dude writing code in his spare time and, let me tell you, Windows Search doesn't hold a candle to Everything. Shouldn't Microsoft have hired this guy instead of spending $7.6 billion on Nokia?

It's just so infuriating that I was happy with Windows 7 and after upgrading to Windows 10 I've wasted so much time trying to just do what I was already able to do in W7. Some of the new features were so nice in W7... W10 brings some improvements but a lot of it is completely retarded. And before anyone says "Then why not install W7 again?", that's because W7 wouldn't install on my new laptop with Skylake CPU, USB3.0 and NVMe SSD, which apparently W7 doesn't support.

 

According to your picture: "Search is still indexing your files"

It is unable to find that file because it still hasn't been added to the indexer.
1) Search for and open Indexing Options
2) Observe that number on top: # items indexed
3) Check this every few hours. Make sure this number always gets bigger and bigger. If it gets smaller, that means the indexer is always infinitely resetting because of some error. That would suck if that happens, because dealing with finding what is causing the indexer to crash and reset SUCKS. Let's just hope it's not that.
4) When this number no longer gets bigger and stops at a big number, that means Windows Search should be able to find your file

 

Voidtools Everything should be the standard of any file search system: It is able to find literally any and every single file on your system, and it does so instantly. A file search function hat produces inconsistent results depending on which way the wind blows is unacceptable. Worse yet, when you search for a file or folder that you know exists because you are looking at it, and search can't find it, you know something is very wrong. This happens all too often.

I can only guess that people at Microsoft either are stupid or never need to search for files, since Windows Search has never worked as expected and nobody has done anything about it and yet Microsoft had enough resources to code plenty of useless features, like removing the "Up" button, removing the Start Menu, then bringing them both back, etc, etc.

 

Just to put some light on this..
One can install Win7 on system with Skylake CPU and USB3.x (I'm running it right now). For more info visit
Motherboard compatibility doubts Solved - Page 2 - Windows 7 Help Forums

I can't say about NVMe SSD, because I have none. But I assume it would work if it runs via SATA -if not, then there's maybe a solution similar as with Skylake/USB3 issue.

 

Cortana search for files and folders only finds what's been indexed.

'These results may be incomplete' - can also be related to an incomplete language change. As Pepanee says, check Indexing options which will say Indexing Complete, when it is.

 

If one installs a 3rd party app for search, as mentioned above, should one also disable indexing in Windows ? To preserve speed ?

 

You should not disable your indexing on your Windows 10. I have always used a 3rd party search app. Its not a good idea to turn it off. *Smile