Searching

Searching

Today's computers allow us to store a great deal of information. Because of this, we suggest you keep your information well-classified and organized so that finding it is an easy process. Despite having the information well-clasified, it can happen that sometimes we cannot find a file or folder. When this occurs, we can resort to the Search function provided by Windows to locate the file or folder quickly. The search provided by Windows XP also allows us to search for hardware, a network, people in the directory, Internet pages, etc. We will further discuss this later.

Searching

Click Start Select on the menu Search. The general search page will be displayed as shown below.

If you look closely you will notice that it is the same window as the windows explorer, but instead of showing folders it shows the search companion. If you are already in the explorer it is not necessary that you click on Start and then on the Search menu; simply click on on the standard bar. First we need to choose one of the options presented, depending on what we are looking for. Images..., Documents..., Files..., Hardware..., Search Internet, ... The first three search options are similar and we will see them now grouped into one. We will discuss the equipment, people, and Internet searches a bit later on.

Searching Files or Folders

By choosing All files and folders a screen will appear so that we can give more information on what we are looking for. In the first box we will put All or part of the file name that we are looking for, and then windows will show us files or folders that contain the characters that we have typed. The more detailed the name the more concise the search will be, thus facilitating the search. In the box A word or phrase in the file: we can type the text that the file we are looking for should contain. It is not always convenient to use this box because this significantly slows down the process as it looks for that word or phrase in each file. In the box Look in we can indicate in which unit we wish to look for the file or folder. Click Search to start the search. In the event that Windows does not find anything, it will notify you in the window to the right with a message saying that the search has ended and that there are no results to show. While it is carrying out the search, we can stop the search by clicking Stop, either because we have found what we were looking for or because we made a mistake on the search. With the questions that follow we have the possibility of searching by the date it was last modified, size, and other advanced options, such as differentiating between capital letters or lower case letters.

The search results will appear on the right side of the window. The operations we carry out on the files or folders found by the search are the same ones that we can do on any other file or folder. We can copy, delete, change name, etc.... In dealing with the Windows Explorer we can do the operations talked about in unit 4 WindowsXP Explorer, that is to say that we can customize the results window, choose the fields we wish to see, choose the type of view, etc..We suggest that if you have any questions or doubts, you review Explorer.

Searching for Files or Folders

Objective.

To practice finding information that you do not know were it is stored.

Step by step exercise.

Searching for a file or folder in the hard disk. 1 Click on Start. 2 Display the Search menu and select the option All files and folders. 3 Write the name calc in All or part of the file name: box. 4 On Look in select the C drive. 5 Click on Search to start the search. 6 On the window to the right, the calculator will appear, as well as other files and folders. If the calculator does not appear, do not worry because it is possible that you do not have it installed. So search another name. Start a new search. We will use variables. Click Start a new search. 1 On the All or part of the file name: box write calc*; this way only the files that start with calc will appear. 2 Then try writing cal?.exe to see the difference for yourself. Do a search personalizing it by indicating dates and types of files. Click Start a new search. 1 Open the option When was it modified? 2 Select the box Within the last week. 3 Open the open More advanced options. 4 Click on Type of file. 5 Search for and select the row Microsof Word document 6 Click on Search to begin. 7 If there is a file that meets these criteria it will appear in the window to the right.