Faster, more accurate and more intimate use of Windows 7 search function

After the launch of Windows 7 (hereafter referred to as Win 7), all functions have been well received by users. Among them, Win 7's search function is a bright spot and has become one of the most commonly used functions of many users. Compared to Windows xp, which relies entirely on real-time search of computer performance, Win 7's search principle is completely different from the past, and its performance is greatly improved. But maybe you still don't know, by optimizing the usage, we can make Win 7 search faster and more accurate!

The easiest way to narrow down the search

We usually use Win 7 search The functions may be directly in the Start menu of Win 7, but such a search is to retrieve all the index files, and those files that are not included in the index can not be searched. In addition, although the index mode search in Win 7 is very fast, if you are searching for the first time, it will take some time to build the index file, so the time will be longer.

In fact, if you know the directory where the files you want to search, the easiest way to speed up is to narrow down the search, access the directory where the files are located, and then complete 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 also to search for any folder (as shown in Figure 1).

Custom Index Directory for Search Acceleration

As mentioned above, Win 7 uses a new index search mode, which can greatly improve the search speed. So naturally, whether the file or folder is indexed will directly affect the speed of our search.

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

Hint: The principle of index mode is like the catalog of books. When we want to query some parts of the book, we can quickly find the location of these contents through the book catalog. Of course, this metaphor is not enough, because the index is dynamically updated compared to the book's "dead" directory. We don't have to worry about the index being invalidated due to some file movements, so we can't search for files.

Customize the index directory, just enter "index option" in the search box of the system's start menu (or open the control panel and select the large icon to display, then click "Index Options"), open the "Indexing Options" "Set the window, enter "Modify" to add, delete and modify the index position.

In addition to setting 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, a message to add the folder to the index location appears below the dynamic toolbar of the explorer. Click on the information bar and select the "Add to index" option in the menu that opens. Folders can be quickly added to the index location (as shown in Figure 2).

In general, the index file is almost maintenance-free after it is created, but if you can't find a known file in the index or in other special cases, you may need to manually rebuild the index. Users manually rebuild the index, just open the "Index Options", in the "Advanced Options" dialog box, click the "Index Settings" tab, and then click "Rebuild". However, searching before the index is completely rebuilt may result in inaccurate results.

Tip: The index file is saved in the "PRogramDataMicrosoft" folder of the system partition by default. The size is related to the number of index options established by the system, usually in the range of tens of megabytes to one hundred megabytes. If you are concerned that the index will be cleared after the system is reinstalled, you can locate the index location to a non-system disk. Click the "Advanced" button in the "Index Options" dialog box, select the new index location in the "Advanced Options" dialog box, and confirm (as shown in Figure 3).

Do not search subdirectories Reduce search time

The power of Win 7 search function also includes not only searching for file names, but also searching for file contents. If you only remember part of the file and don't remember the file name, then this feature will definitely help you a lot. However, the actual situation is that the file content search user does not use much, after all, remembering the file name is much easier than remembering the file content. So by default, Win 7 will only search for filenames when searching for directories without indexes, not search for file content.

In addition, in order to make the search faster, we can further set up, choose not to search sub-directories, and set the search content keywords to match exactly, so as to further reduce the search time. , speed up the search.

In order to achieve better results, Win 7 defaults 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 subdirectory searches. Thereby speeding up. In contrast, choosing an exact match for a keyword may be more effective and can effectively filter your search results. Because if the keywords partially match, you may search for a lot of files that contain some of the content in the keywords, and these files 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 confirming, you can open the "Folder Options" setting window (as shown in Figure 4), and then in " In the "Search Method" column, you can choose to remove the "Include subfolders in the search results when searching for folders" and "Check for partial matches".

Narrowing the scope from the search results

When we search, we may also have a situation where there are many search results and we have to do it among many search results. Further screening. If so, it is equivalent to lengthening the search time. So at this point we can enter "modify" or "modify time" in the search box, so that we can perform secondary screening in the search results according to the time range, thus effectively improving the search efficiency, which is also a new function in Win 7 search. (As shown in Figure 5).

Accelerated Search Tips

Manually Adding New File Types

When you need to search for infrequent file types that are not recognized by the index, you can also use the advanced index option. Added in to allow searching in the system by this file type. In the "Index Options" window, click "Advanced → File Types → Add New Extension to the List", manually type the file extension, then click "Add", then click "Index only for attributes" or "For attributes and The contents of the file are indexed, so the setup is complete.

Searching with wildcards

Wildcards are special characters used to replace one or more unknown characters. There are two commonly used wildcards:

asterisk (*) : Can represent any string in the file.

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

For example, to search all JPG files, just type "*.jpg" into the search bar.

Searching in Natural Languages

Sometimes, we may want to search for files that require multiple filters, and then use the natural language search feature to filter once. For example, if you want to search for DOC format or XLS format file on your computer, just type "*.doc or *. xls" in the search bar, then all DOC format and XLS format files will be searched.

The following are some commonly used relational words:

AND: The search content must contain all the keywords connected by AND.

OR: The search contains any keyword that contains an OR.

NOT: The specified keywords cannot be included in the search content.

Tip: To use the natural language search function, you must first check "Use natural language search" in "Search Mode" in "Folder Options" to confirm.

Save search results

Search is a very time consuming process, especially when the search conditions are very complicated, so sometimes it is a good choice to save the search results, which can save you. Less time and effort. On the search results, click the right mouse button and select "Save Search", or just click the "Save Search" button on the toolbar.

Save time, turn on preview function

When the searcher lists all the files that meet the requirements, you can use the preview function to preview its contents without opening the file, which saves A lot of time. To turn on preview, just click the "Show preview pane" button below the search bar.

Searching for Q & A

Why is the index indexed but the file still not searched?

This may be caused by the security settings of this folder. The folder to be indexed and its contents must be configured to have "system" privileges. Most files already have this privilege, but in some cases, the folder may be missing the "system" privilege. The permissions of a file or folder can be modified in the "Security" tab in the "Properties" of the folder.

The search box disappeared and how to get it back?

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

Don't worry, enter the control panel, double-click "Programs and Features" (View mode select "small icon" " or "large icon" can be displayed), in the window that opens, click "Turn Windows features on or off" in the upper left corner, and then check "Windows Search" in the "Windows Features" dialog box that opens. After confirmation, the system will display the “Change function” window, then a dialog box will pop up, click the “Restart now” button, the system will start “Configure Windows function”, then restart, before entering the system, it will also be the first After "configure Windows function", after entering the system, the disappearing search box is back!

Can I index the whole computer?

This should not be done, which would make the index too large, or if the system file location (such as the "Program Files" folder) is included, the daily search will be slower. For best results, it is recommended to just add folders that are frequently searched.

I am using a public computer, can I disable search records?

Yes, if you are using Win 7 Home Edition or above, you can use the system's Group Policy feature; if you are using Win 7 Home Edition, or are not familiar enough with Group Policy, This feature can be disabled using third-party optimization software such as Windows 7 Optimizer.

Using the Group Policy function, you can click "User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Explorer" after opening the Group Policy Management window, and then find "In Windows Explorer" in the right pane. In the search box, close the Display of Recent Search Entries item, double-click to open the Properties window and change the status to Enabled.

Tip: After closing the search record, the search suggestions will not be displayed during the search. If you need to clear the history in the address bar, just right click when the address bar is a button. In the address bar, select “Delete History” from the shortcut menu that pops up.

Comment: Win 7 search performance is good, but its default settings do not necessarily apply to every user, so through personalized settings, we can make Win 7 search more in line with their own habits . For example, narrowing the search scope and not searching subdirectories can effectively improve the search speed; custom index catalogs can make the search more suitable for their own usage habits, and can also effectively improve search efficiency and search speed. In addition, some tips, such as combining wildcards and multi-condition search, can speed up the search speed of Win 7.