File Find using Indexing Service

10-23-04: Google just came out with Desktop.Google.com. This Indexing Service thing never worked right. Dump it! Forget about it. And good riddance to it!

updated 11-13-03. See below.

This one was driving me crazy for months. After you enable the Microsoft Indexing Service, how do you use it to search without having to jump through hoops? The only way I could find how to use this (rather useful) text search is to go to Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Services and Applications | Indexing Service | [choose a catalog] | Query the Catalog | then finally type in my search string. Well, that's dumb. So I went searching all over the web for a better solution. I found lots of information on how (if I wanted) I could build DHTML scripts to access the catalog. Well, I had no desire to spend a few hours writing a user interface for Microsoft's search engine. Bill built the search engine, and already built a UI (see the "Query the Catalog" page from a minute ago). I wanted to USE it. So how do I do it?

So I searched and searched and searched. One friend at work (who won't remain nameless. Hi Ezra!) claimed that after the index is made, it automatically works through Windows Explorer. He told me that I should just marvel at how fast it is after the Index is done. Well all my marveling was in vain because it didn't make searching any faster. And then, after trying a pile more search terms on Google, I found the page below. It's so stupid simple, except that it's not documented!

To search documents using Microsoft Indexing Service, set up the service and let it run for a few hours to build up it's index. Then open up Windows Explorer, start a search (Ctrl-F) and just put an exclamation mark (!) before your search string. Hit 'Search Now' and enjoy. On my 700Mhz machine, an indexed search of my whole PC takes less than 5 seconds. Compare that to the 30 minute search without the index.   It's sooooo simple. Argh!!

For personal use, I might recommend that you go to the "Tune Performance" option in the Indexing Service and change the "Indexing Service Usage" to Customize. Then set it to Lazy Indexing and Low load Querying. With these settings, your PC performance is less likely to degrade while the index is being built. Of course, it'll take longer for changes to percolate into the index, but very few of my files actually change from day to day and it's no trouble to remember where the recently modified files are.

-lee sonko 5-8-02

11-13-03 update

There's a gazillion possible input strings and I haven't figured out how to use all of them. You can find a lot of them on the Microsoft's Platform SDK: Indexing Service: Example Queries page.

Here are the query strings you are going to use:

LS 11-13-03

Here is the page that originally restored my sanity, lifted from this site. Thanks Graeme!

Windows 2000
Expert Tips 

by Graeme Bennett (Posted Sept. 18, 2000; updated Apr. 30, 2001)

This info applies to Windows 2000. 
Some tips also apply to Windows Millennium Edition and/or Windows XP.

 Windows 2000 Indexing Service Tip: We finally found the answer to an issue we've been puzzled about since the launch of Windows 2000. The Search for files and folders function has an option to use a feature in Win2K called the "Indexing Service," but enabling this feature never seemed to improve our results or speed things up. However, digging deep into the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and choosing the "Query the Catalog" function produced spectacularly fast results. So, how can the Explorer search function access this index? A message thread on Altavista finally yielded the missing information: simply enable the Indexing Service and precede your queries with a "!" to force use of Indexing Service (or @ if specifying a property name). 

To access the Query the Catalog function: right-click the my computer icon, choose Manage, then expand Indexing Service. There you will find folder icons for the System catalog and Web catalog. There is also a third icon called Query the Catalog.

Autorun programs. Windows 2000 lacks the "MSCONFIG" command that makes startup settings so easy to manage under Windows 98 and Millennium Edition. However, the Computer Management option (found in the Administrative Tools" section of Windows 2000's Control Panel) has the answer: When seen in "Basic view" it displays a list of programs and commands that execute at startup time. By switching to the Advanced view (via the View menu), it also shows you the exact location where each command can be found (and edited) using the Windows 2000 Registry Editor, REGEDT32. We used this, for example, to disable Hewlett-Packard's parallel port status monitor for a HP 5200C scanner otherwise successfully connected via USB.

Spend some quality time with the right mouse button.  Here are some productivity enhancing techniques for opening windows while holding down various modifier keys or looking around the taskbar in Windows.   Shift double-click folder: open Explorer view CTRL double-click folder: open in New Window Try CTRL+Shift double-click too. ALT: Get Properties

As with earlier Windows releases, pressing Alt F4 closes any window. 

Also, try CTRL-ESC to open the Start menu (useful if your keyboard does not have a Windows key). By then pressing F and another F (CTRL+ESC F F), you can quickly open the Find command.   

Floating taskbar as palette. Make a new toolbar (right click on a blank area of the taskbar and look in the Toolbars submenu). Put it anywhere. It can also be made an iconic palette.   Right-click on taskbar: minimize all, tile horizontally, vertically, cascade, etc. Use the address bar or right-click and choose Explorer to see parent folders or press backspace to see parent folder, etc., etc.   Note the "See also..." option (visible in "Web view") in Windows 2000. It gives you a customizable view of recently viewed documents and network connections.   Windows 2000 (like earlier Windows 9x releases and Millennium) has the ability to open any file with any program you want and time you want. JPEGs (etc.) aren't hard-wired to a specific app, as you claim. Just click on a JPG, then right click and choose "Open With..." Then navigate to the app of your choice. (With earlier Windows 9x releases, you needed to right-click while holding the Shift key.)

Change the Startup Logo. See how to modify the Windows 2000 startup logo.

See also: Windows 98 Tips and Windows Me Tips. Most of these techniques also work on Windows 2000.

For Further Reading:
corob.net/win2000/#versions - What is the best version of Windows 2000 for you?
corob.net/win2000/cdkey.asp - How to alter Win2K's CD key.
www.angelfire.com/de2/w2kcd/ - Making a bootable Win2K CD
Windows 2000 Hints & Tips Guide

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©  2000  -  2001 Bennett Arts Ltd.

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