Inhibit content search in Win7 Explorer

[BobH]

I wanna play, too!

Chris, you stated that your system is a 2yo Dell Inspiron but I didn't see it's specs for processors, chip speed and RAM capacity. I have 4 processors, 16GB of RAM and 3.2 GHz clock speed therefore have few problems with mobo performance. Most everything runs very fast.

I have 2 internal HDDs and 5 external USB-connected HDDs. A couple of them are pretty old and slow but the internal drives and 2 of the externals are relatively fast. Three of my Ext HDDs are USB 3.0 connected. Having said that, I often direct Explorer searches at "Computer" and have rarely ever had long waits for responses.

You stated that your drive letter was "T" or "P" which leads me to believe that they are external devices and I would suspect that they are USB 2.0 cabled. That might be the cause of your slow responses, especially if you have a number of apps open and or running.

Have you watched Resource Monitor as you run the searches? That might offer some clues, too.

HTH

[hlewton]

I wanna play, too!

Chris, you stated that your system is a 2yo Dell Inspiron but I didn't see it's specs for processors, chip speed and RAM capacity. I have 4 processors, 16GB of RAM and 3.2 GHz clock speed therefore have few problems with mobo performance. Most everything runs very fast.

I have 2 internal HDDs and 5 external USB-connected HDDs. A couple of them are pretty old and slow but the internal drives and 2 of the externals are relatively fast. Three of my Ext HDDs are USB 3.0 connected. Having said that, I often direct Explorer searches at "Computer" and have rarely ever had long waits for responses.

You stated that your drive letter was "T" or "P" which leads me to believe that they are external devices and I would suspect that they are USB 2.0 cabled. That might be the cause of your slow responses, especially if you have a number of apps open and or running.

Have you watched Resource Monitor as you run the searches? That might offer some clues, too.

HTH

After reading the above I just did another search because the one I reported for the 2 TB drive was an USB 3.0. I just did the same search on a 500 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive and it was slightly slower but hardly discernible at all, still around one second whether I searched for file name and content or just for file name.

[ChrisGreaves]

To search for a filename you enter filename: into the search box followed by the search string, for example

Thanks Stuart.
Now THIS is as fast as I expect it to be.
(I am still wading/experimentng through all the other responses ...).

If I recall, back in (say) Win 3.1 one typed the file name and got the file.
It seems to me that in Win7 one has to state explicitly that it's a filename search (as you show!) otherwise Explorer assumes a content-and-name search.

I'm currently trying to ascertain why it did a content search; the answer seems to be "Because nowadays name-and-content is the default; if you want just the filename you have to be explicit".

Is that correct?

[hlewton]

I'm currently trying to ascertain why it did a content search; the answer seems to be "Because nowadays name-and-content is the default; if you want just the filename you have to be explicit".

Is that correct?

I think you're correct because that is how it seemed to work in the experiments I did. Unless I put filename: ahead of the actual file I was searching for it found both filename and files with that search criteria in the content.

[Rudi]

It seems to me that in Win7 one has to state explicitly that it's a filename search (as you show!) otherwise Explorer assumes a content-and-name search.

Windows does a default filename AND content search for all indexed locations, and only a filename search for non-indexed locations.
If you want a content search for non-indexed locations, you must explicitly specify this in the search options. In Win 8.1 it looks like this:

1.jpg

[ChrisGreaves]

I think you're correct because that is how it seemed to work in the experiments I did. Unless I put filename: ahead of the actual file I was searching for it found both filename and files with that search in the content.

Thanks hlewton.
This is was so mysterious!
I just went and searched for "*.mp3" in a small folder and the search is practically instantaneous without the filename tag.
I have probably been coddled in my regular use by searching, generally, small sub-folder trees.
The occasional time that I search a larger tree I've been annoyed by the slowness.

If I were always searching the entire T: drive, my searches would always have been slow, but because of my mix of small and large tree searches I've been confused.

It was only when I happened to have a catalog of filenames in the same folder as the files that the aberration poked me in the eye, in a manner of speaking. :hooray:

[ChrisGreaves]

... and only a filename search for non-indexed locations. If you want a content search for non-indexed locations, ...

Well thanks a lot, pal, for adding to my experimental load (GRIN!).

I did dabble in indexes last night after re-reading this thread.
Up until then, and in particular at the time I did the search that heads this thread, I did not have indexed locations.
My situation back then seems to have been that Win7 was doing a file and content search for that AVI file on non-indexed trees.
All of my searches in Explorer are meant (by me) to be filename only; I'm kinda old-fashioned that way.
When I want a content search I turn to FileBoss (which is probably equivalent to some of the other software identified in this thread)