Tools can be found all over the internet that allow you to search your hard drive and SSD better, faster and above all easier. Have you lost a file? You would almost forget that Windows Explorer already has an excellent search function on board. One with which you can search very quickly, if you arrange this well in advance!
Tip 1: You have to learn to index
‘s search function Windows can use an index that allows you to quickly search without having to go through all kinds of directories. But often you mainly search in the user folders. go to it Control Panel and the Indexing options†Select C: and click the button Modify†Then you can use the Indexed Locations To adjust. click on C: and select only the folder Users†Then close, after which the indexing is started again. Because why look for things you don’t need anyway?
Tip 2: Index elsewhere
By default, an indexing file is kept in this folder: C:ProgramDataMicrosoftSearch†There’s nothing wrong with that in itself, but if C: fills up and you index a lot, it can be a drag on storage space. go to it Control Panel and the Indexing options†Press on the button Advanced†At the section Index location can you click the button New location click to open the indexing file on – for example – D: to put down.
Tip 3: Search function set up (more quickly)
Cleverly setting the indexing options will definitely speed up indexing and later searching. Apart from that, the search function of Windows Explorer itself also has some properties that you can manipulate. Go to Windows Exploreropen the ribbon Imagego through Options nasty Change folder and search options†Go to the tab To search of the dialog box Folder options†Then uncheck all the check boxes. Set up this way, you only look for file names of normal files that have been previously indexed. And that goes fast!
Tip 4: Indexed Search
Indexed search is therefore lightning fast. But be careful, because if you search strictly indexed, you won’t be able to find anything in folders that fall outside the index. Strictly indexed searching must therefore be done ‘in’ an indexed folder.
Tip 5: The Search ribbon
Windows Explorer knows the ribbons Start†To share and Image†A lesser known (because often invisible) ribbon is the ribbon To search†That ribbon appears as soon as a search function becomes active in Windows Explorer. With on that ribbon To search a number of possibilities with which you can manipulate both the search function itself and the display of the hits.
Tip 6: Choose folders
In a search, it is always important where you are going to search. And by that we mean in (1) a single folder or in (2) that one single folder and in the underlying subfolders and in the subfolders that lie below it, and so on. on the ribbon To search click for the first choice Current folder and for the second choice on All child foldersâ€
Now pay attention, because in the first case you can find too little or nothing and in the second case much too much. With which we immediately notice that it is useful if you already know ‘approximately’ where you need to be.
Tip 7: Choose date
Enter any search query All child folders and wait for a while until there is a laundry list of hits on your screen. Looking at those hits one-by-one is of course impossible. In most cases, it will be a fairly recent file, whose name and location you’ve lost. And with that knowledge you then use the pulldown menu that appears when you click in the ribbon To search on the option Altered clicks. Today, yesterday, this week? That’s looking for a lot faster.
Tip 8: Choose type
It is also possible to search in a search query. If you got a list of hits back, you can click in the ribbon To search the pull-down menu Kind click open. A fairly extensive list of options will then appear that let you search for the type of file that is in that list of hits. And in this Windows goes quite far, because from E†mail message until Image until Task can it all be addressed separately?
Tip 9: Choose size
Furthermore, the ribbon To search also the pulldown menu Size†The operation of the options to be selected will be clear to you and needs no further explanation. Searching the list of hits by file size will mainly come in handy when you need to clean up your hard drive/ssd. Then start with the largest files, because that clears up the fastest!
Tip 10: Choose other properties
Finally, the ribbon To search still the pulldown menu Other features†With that you can search for Type on Name on Path to folder and on labels†Try the option labels give it a go, because that’s an option that photo and music lovers will take advantage of. You can then search for the underlying characteristics of your photo and music files.
