Windows 7 Vs Windows Xp Filesearch Headaches!

Okay, I've been dealing with this little annoyance for ages now without really bothering to look for a solution, but now its just got to the point where I NEED to get this sorted lol! Basically, back in old XP Pro, we were able to search for files in what seems (from my experience) to be a much more simple & efficient way. All we had to do was click 'Advanced Search', then choose from a list of filters and criteria. Nice, simple, gets the job done, no BS.

Now, in Win7, they seem to have COMPLETELY removed this feature (what?) in favour of an extremely minimal, space saving, single search bar with virtually zero options. Apparently the same old XP style advanced filters can still be used, but you have to have an understanding of AQS (Advanced Query Syntax). Yes, thats right, you have to understand a kind of COMPUTER LANGUAGE in order to properly search on Win7 (I bet that makes you happy, doesn't it? All you people, who, like me, don't want to learn a computer syntax!).

Reading different sites has given me a few of these search 'operators' but this is an annoyance, I'm sure many will agree. I also can't 'Add Filters' because the 'Add Filters' button is (and always was) greyed out.

I'm not a Syntax wizard, so I really dont want to learn a new pseudo language just so I can have the proper search functionality back, I just want to click a button, then click another button, then press search, like we could in XP!!

Huge thanks to anyone who can help me out here. Don't get me wrong, I REALLY like Win7 for many reasons, but this is just stupid!

 

This free program - 'Everything' - works well:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/everything.html

 

Thanks Max, I'll try that out, all the comments seem positive too (with one guy pretty much saying its better than the Windows search feature)!

 

Second vote for everything. On '8 the search function is just as tuff. Seems all windows versions need help for basic functions. Search, video playing and other daily tasks people use their computers to do.

 

It looks good so far. About 20 seconds after opening, it seems to have shown me 'everything' on my computer lol, so it lives up to its name!

I just need a few mins to get used to the interface I think. I figured out how to start a search from within a speicific folder (by enabling 'Match Path'), now I just need to learn about the different filters and how they work. I might even be able to use this program to keep ontop of my backups!

I think this is a keeper. Real quick and extremely small filesize, thanks both of ya!

 

Hmmm, normal internal HDD's are fine, but USB sticks appear as empty. My stick is already on the list of NTFS devices in the options though, so it knows its there, and I tried enabling 'Auto Include New Volumes' but it didn't seem to have any effect.

I have the option to 'Enable USN Journal' (looking at the Wiki explanation of USN Journal just didn't make me understand...) and 'Include in Database'. Both of these options are enabled for all other volumes, but they all have different Maximum Size & Allocation Delta KB's (I have no idea what either of those are referring to!) so I feel like enabling the options might not be a great idea right now! I checked through the Everything FAQ, but there was nothing about USB sticks not being accessed.

Could it be that I'm using the 'portable' version?

Reading this makes enabling USN Journal seem even more risky:-
http://forums.computershopper.com/showthread.php?t=4913

If I could get this baby to access USB sticks & drives, then I'd be cooking!!

 

Sorry for the triple whammy but you can't edit posts after 5-10 minutes...

I just took the dive and enabled those scary unknown options, and now my USB gets accessed just like every internal drive! I just wish I knew what USN Journals were, and why I couldn't search a drive without them enabled...

 

This wiki article explains what that is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USN_Journal
I don't, on the face of it, see a problem.

 

The installed version shows everything on all drives. No configuration required.