The second time I used Windows 7 Search, it came up empy-handed, again.
(not a good sign for $$$oftware, unless we are to do their work for them...)
I treated it just like Facebook & Internet Explorer 8:
I simply turned off/denied/deleted
ALL "new features."
(Why should I burden my CPU/RAM with sharing a bunch of stuff
I don't use or even have.)
-so-
As recommended, I used Windows 7 Search, entering the word "Search"
haha
The Indexing Options dialog box appeared.
Then, I ran the troubleshooter in the dialog box, specifying the problem as:
"Windows 7 Search"
[it takes a virus to kill a virus.]
not as haha, is it.
Evidently,
W7 Search has to be turned on, first, which it openly stated
had not been done.
(Observation: Windows 7 "installs" so quickly, because
it leaves out the
usual default settings and features...
- this information was originally included in the Windows 7 marketing materials
and was
prominently indicated during the beta trials)
When shown Indexed Search Locations, I clicked the one for Start Menu
hoping simply to disable it. For some strange reason, W7 instead showed me
a list of other places on my system, not yet indexed.
I marked the check-boxes for my C: drive and my 1TB USB storage drive.
"Naviguessing" - no, forcible naviguessing - to this juncture is my complaint.
Afterward, I clicked on something else, because as an intermediate/advanced
user, I could find no useful purpose in searching my Start Menu, and wanted
to remove it from Indexed Locations as a resource-wasting expent effort.
(Most of my installed everyday programs get a place on the QuickStart Menu
thus to prevent covering over any closely monitored screenspace with some
ridiculous list of folders and icons, err, Start Menu, but Windows insists
searching Features is a useful priority, if only to them and to those whose
experience with Windows is in their first two weeks, and it puts up a struggle
to protect it - go figure...) Mere bloat gets nothing done for the end-user.
Now that the Indexing has been going on for almost an hour
(the part of XP installations which takes so much time...apparently...)
and with no application, tools or background tasks running, Indexing Options
is
still telling me:
"Indexing speed is reduced due to user activity."
How the heck does it know I'm having a cigarette?!
Is it that needy? Sounds personal...
Yes, I will wait for the whole 250GB on my USB to get cataloged.
That includes the Service Pack folders (which it will obviously index first)
which Microsoft put on my USB drive, three operating systems ago, without
my approval, foreknowledge or access. I can't even delete them - it won't
let me open them, and the ones I have opened, are empty, like wrappers
from ABC gum, tucked under a cushion.
But it is indexing
them.
When (if) it finishes, I will go back and try to include the Windows folder on my
C: drive, excluded from Search, by default.
(
Useful things, like wallpaper folders and some shortcuts are found
only there -
-I don't like to have to naviguess to their locations.)
Microsoft needs to improve their definitions of words like 'new' and commit to
a standard of excellence based more on a consumer-centric policy of:
"User convenience, first - Advanced User loyalty, included - $oftware pride, no."
Computers are supposed to make things convenient & easy for people. Not the
other way around. Obviously, computers are getting help from somewhere...
"Do we have a deal, Mister ...Regan?
My apologies for the numerous edits, here. I don't have time to do
ALL of
MS's work, for them, I'm just one of those unintellectual commoners who
pays for their OS's inadequacies, requiring 3 apps to post legibly in a forum.
[EDIT] Additional Details
Hour (3) of Indexing has come and gone; an average of 10 items per second
continue to be indexed. A speedreader at 1400 WPM, I'm faster, pics or not.
The Modify button has been clicked, and all alien folders I did not myself
place on my USB Mass Storage drive have now been naviguessed and
unticked, with no detected hanging or freezing in the Indexing process.
Additionally, C: Windows has now been added to the Locations list, CSC
excluded by default,
as though W7 has learned intuitive reasoning. pffh.
[EDIT #2] RESOLUTION
Indexing aborted; Installed Everything search engine (
www.voidtools.com)
located in utilities folder I created on 1TB USB drive. Setup time: 75 seconds.
(Including time required to uncheck useless folders) Search time: (for file
unsuccessfully sought 3 hours, 45 minutes earlier, via Windows 7 "Search":
0 seconds.
That's right, the freebie I installed found the file before i finished naming it.
No registry-edit-style busy work. No molecular breakdown of the universe.
No unrestricted access to account information sent to some server in Hades.
No numb or stinging retort from a MS rep or avaricious aspirant of the same.
What Windows doesn't find won't cost me.
ROFL Now looking for similar applications to substitute for:
Start Menu
Recycle Bin
Windows Update
"My" Documents, etc...
Wow. Now, is MS reduced to some kind of
tool?
My i7 940 told me it feels violated.
"Lazy" is a label shady salesmen use to identify dissatisfied customers
because it can sound like, "busy" when it is mumbled.
FYI: It's nothing personal, and so this post is about how I successfully
searched for and found a file while using Windows 7, conveniently
and without delay or interruption of my work. It's not about getting
responses. Criticisms, references and allusions
will be summarily ignored.
I will keep coming back to justify my margins for those who like an easy read.