Find any file with Windows Vista Search

We've all experienced it: you need to find something in a hurry and while you can remember what it was about, you've no idea when you did it, what program you did it in, what you called it or where you put it. A few years ago that wasn't a big problem, because hard disks were titchy and it didn't take long to browse their entire contents; however, these days we've got our entire lives on our PCs and finding a particular document, video or photo is like looking for a needle the size of an atom in a haystack the size of a galaxy. Windows Vista solves the problem, and it does it in style.

The search engine in Windows Vista is fast, flexible and incredibly effective, and if it can't find something then it probably doesn't exist. There are three ways to search: when you're browsing, you can use the Search box in the top right hand corner of the window; you can use the Search box in the Start Menu; or you can click on Start > Search to open the Search folder to carry out very complex searches. We’ll look at each method in turn.

Quick Hits

The fastest way to search is to click on the Start menu and type your search criteria in the search box. There's no need to hit Enter - the search results will appear as you type. By default Windows Vista searches your various file folders and your browsing history, but you can also use this search box to carry out an Internet search.

Search smarter

When you type text in a search box, Windows Vista looks for any occurrence of that text - so for example if you typed "john" then Vista would look for files called "john", documents containing the word "john" and files created by a user called John. You can change that by adding prefixes, such as:

• Name:John This searches only for files whose name includes the word "john".
• Modified: 2007 This searches only for files that were changed in 2007.

You can also use search operators such as AND, OR and NOT, as well as the greater than and less than symbols. For example, Summer AND Holiday Vista will show you files containing the word "summer" and "holiday".

Files containing just one of the words won't be listed. Summer NOT Holiday; Windows Vista will show you files that include the word "summer" but which don't include the word "holiday". Summer OR Holiday; it will show you files that contain either the word "summer" or the word "holiday". "Summer Holiday" the results will only show you files containing the exact phrase "summer holiday". date: <01/01/07 will only show you files created before the 1st of January 2007 size: <4MB ; will only show you files bigger than 4MB.

As you can see, you can create very complex searches simply by typing - but wouldn't it be great if you could use plain English instead? You can. Open Control Panel, click on Appearance and Personalization and then click on Folder Options. Now, click on the Sarch tab and then tick the "Use natural language search" box. Click on OK, and you can now search in plain English - so for example you might search for "documents by bert 2005".

Speak English

If you enable natural language searching (via Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Folder Options) you can use plain English terms such as "documents by Gary" to search your hard disk.

Using the search box while browsing

Whenever you're browsing your PC, you'll see a search box in the top right hand corner of the window. This works in much the same way as the search box on the Start Menu, but there's one key difference: the search box only looks in the current location, so if you're browsing the Pictures folder then Windows Vista will only search the contents of the pictures folder. Here's the search box in action.

Quick Pics

The folder search box only looks in the current folder, so for example if you search for something when you're browsing your pictures folder then it won't look anywhere else on your PC. You'll also notice that an extra toolbar pops up at the top of the window when you search: this enables you to quickly filter the results. Clicking on Document hides search results that aren't documents, Picture hides files that aren't pictures, and so on.

The Big Picture

If your search didn't find what you were looking for, you can expand its scope by clicking on the Advanced Search link at the bottom of the screen. The advanced options slide into view at the top of the window, enabling you to choose a different location and use more complex search criteria.

Using the Search Folder

The Search folder works in the same way as the Search box, but by default it looks at all your files rather than the current folder. To launch the Search folder, just click on the Start Menu and then on Search.

Simple Searching

When you open the Search folder you get the simple screen shown here. You can either type your search terms in the box at the top right hand corner, or you can click the Advanced Search arrow to show additional options.

Narrow It Down

As you can see, you get the same drop-down menus and fields as when you clicked Advanced Search in a folder - but this time, Search will look at all your files rather than a single folder.

Burn Baby Burn

The toolbar immediately above the search results includes some useful features including Burn, which burns the files to CD (or DVD, if you've got a DVD burner). You can also save your search criteria to the Searches folder by clicking on Save Search.

What Windows Vista searches - and what it doesn't

When you search in Windows Vista you're not actually searching your hard disk. Instead, you're searching the Index. The Index is a catalogue of the files on your PC, and Windows Vista updates it whenever your machine has spare capacity. The result is a comprehensive catalogue of your files and folders, and whenever you search Windows Vista blasts through the catalogue to find what you're looking for. It's much, much faster than looking through your entire hard disk whenever you're trying to find something.

The Index doesn't keep track of every single file on your computer, though. That's because your PC is packed with system files, hidden files and other components that, in most cases, you'll never look at. Instead, the Index looks at the folders you actually use: your home folder, your pictures folder, your documents folder, your browser history and so on. For most of us that's ideal, and while you can make the Index look at your entire hard disk if you wish that's usually a bad idea - why waste your PC's power on scanning for things you'll never search for?

That doesn't mean you don't need to tweak the Index, though. You might not want it to scan your browser history, or you might keep important files in folders that the Index doesn't scan. In this walkthrough we'll discover how you can customise the Index to your exact requirements.

You can access the Index in two ways: from the Search folder, or by clicking Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance >Indexing Options. In this tutorial we'll use the first option, which enables us to carry on from where we left off.

Expand the Index

If your search hasn't found what you're looking for, it's possible that the file you need is stored in a folder that Windows Vista doesn't monitor. To expand the index so it includes that location, click on Search Tools and then on Modify Index Locations.

Location, Location, Location

The Indexing Options dialog box should appear. To add new locations to the Index, click on Modify, Show All Locations and then browse to the appropriate folder; ticking the check box next to that location will add it to the Index. The reverse also applies: if you uncheck the box next to a folder, the Index will no longer keep an eye on it. Alternatively, you can change the way the Index works by clicking on the Advanced button.

Advanced Indexing

The Advanced Options dialog box enables you to rebuild the Index, which is a handy troubleshooting tool if files aren't turning up in search results when they should. You can also move the Index to a different location, index encrypted files or get the Index to treat similar words with diacritics - accents - as separate words. You can also use this dialog box to add new file types to the Index or to prevent the Index from looking at particular file types.

Find more files

Click on the File Types tab at the top of the dialog box. if you want to add a new file type to the Index, just type the file extension in the box at the bottom of the dialog box and then click Add new extension - although have a look at the list first, because it's very comprehensive. You can also get the Index to stop indexing certain file types: for example, if you don't want the Index to look at your MP3 files scroll until you see the listing for mp3 and uncheck the box next to it.