How to get old (advanced?) style searching in Windows 7?

[Jeff7]

Windows 7's indexing capability is kind of nice.
But they've done what many companies seem to love doing with software in terms of usability: They give everyone a bag lunch, and some mittens, so that no one can get hurt. And in the process, they make things damn near useless.

In Windows 7, apparently the only search filters I can easily use, without typing in things from a vast array of tag commands, are Date Modified and Size. (And under "Size", I can't even type in a custom range of sizes, the only options are those which Microsoft thinks I'll need.) There's a gray line that reads "Add a search filter", but clicking on it does absolutely nothing.

Some of the time, the new search function actually works.
But, when you try using wildcards, it fails. Just as a quick test, I told it to search for: *ootmgr*.exe*.
It found nothing.
I'd think that bootmgr.exe and bootmgr.exe.mui would fit that search string. And I believe Windows XP would agree.

So, what I'm after is:
- Is there some way of re-teaching Windows how to deal with wildcards?
- Is there a genuine, dedicated Search Window somewhere, with some other filters, like what WinXP had? Filters such as flexible file sizes, or heck, even just being able to filter by file type would be nice.

Two steps forward, three steps back.

 

[MrChad]

You can get the options you're looking for with the right query syntax.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx

For instance, "filename:*ootmgr*.exe" found those files just fine.

 

[Jeff7]

You can get the options you're looking for with the right query syntax.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/technicalresources/advquery.mspx

For instance, "filename:*ootmgr*.exe" found those files just fine.

Yes, I saw that page, and it sounds like Microsoft took the perfectly functional GUI of WinXP, and turned it back into a commandline interface. Every trend I see is to get away from text commands, and go toward graphical interfaces. They certainly gave it a shot with Office 2007. Why go backwards with Win7?

 

[ViRGE]

Honestly I'm wondering if that's a bug. Working through the permutations, *ootmgr, *ootmgr*, and *ootmgr*. all work correctly. Windows only stops returning results when it's *ootmgr*.e. I agree that doesn't seem right, and I can't find anything in the AQS documentation to argue that.

If you have the time, you may want to stop by MS's forums and ask about this. I'd bet there's a good reason for this.

Edit: I think when you specify a period in the query, MS is only looking at the characters after the last period in a file's name. So It doesn't find anything since nothing is named *ootmgr*.exe. There's only Bootmgr and the bootmgr.exe.mui files. Searching for *.exe in the /Boot directory only returns memtest.exe, ignoring bootmgr.exe.mui files.

 

[Tsavo]

W7 search is an example of everything that's wrong at Microsoft...it's a giant piece of steaming shit.

OP: size:>xMB works to find files larger than x.

 

[Modelworks]

Much better option is to get the free program everything.
http://www.voidtools.com/

Fast and no system load. I have over 2TB of small files, probably number serveral hundred thousand and everything can index them in a minute.
To find it with everything all I had to do is type mgr exe in the box , no wildcards or special syntax needed.

 

[homercles337]

Im going to bump this because i am also horribly frustrated with AQS in win7. I use Vista x64 at work and like the AQS option. Why was this removed from win7?

 

[Jeff7]

Im going to bump this because i am also horribly frustrated with AQS in win7. I use Vista x64 at work and like the AQS option. Why was this removed from win7?

I've got the idea that Windows 7 was made for a target IQ of about 70. Ooooh, there's flashy transition effects, and each window has only about 3 big, colorful buttons. Prettyyyyy! Durrrrr...
I appreciate things like better memory management and good search indexing. Things like the "autofix" thing that tries to solve bootup problems aren't so good, mainly because it doesn't offer me the option to cancel the process (It has a Cancel button, but clicking it says "This operation cannot be canceled." It might as well laugh at you then too.) Then once Win7 finishes fixing whatever went wrong, and doesn't tell you anything detailed about it, you get to your desktop to find that any application you installed or change you made in the past month has vanished too. Gee, thanks Windows. Like if you renovate your basement, and accidentally dent a wall, your house automatically restores the basement to the state it was in 2 years prior, and says "You're welcome."

(Sorry, I just watched a whole bunch of Zero Punctuation Reviews. )

 

[Binky]

Agent Ransack

 

[Paperlantern]

W7 search is an example of everything that's wrong at Microsoft...it's a giant piece of steaming shit.

OP: size:>xMB works to find files larger than x.

This is a GIANT opinion.

Everything is a good suggestion, or, don't lose the file in the first place... heh.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't have anything to add, but I appreciate your commentary Jeff7 :^D

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Thank you. i just tried this and it really helped me!

Much better option is to get the free program everything.
http://www.voidtools.com/

Fast and no system load. I have over 2TB of small files, probably number serveral hundred thousand and everything can index them in a minute.
To find it with everything all I had to do is type mgr exe in the box , no wildcards or special syntax needed.

 

[mrblotto]

Just tried this too as I was getting tired of the Win7 file search feature. Thx for the link!