Vista - Understanding "Find a Message", Desktop & Advanced Search

I looks like the "Find a Message" box is not searching within messages and
only in titles and sender names etc. Can I change this please so I can use
this box to search inside messages?

Finally I found the advanced search on the edit, find menu. Can I create a
button to this on the toolbar?

It told me at some point that I needed to download Windows Desktop Search.
After doing so I could see no difference and now I have an extra icon on the
task bar and in windows explorer the old search has been replaced with
Desktop Search which after twenty minutes of trying to find files I gave up
on. Moreover this app is usless for searching email since it does not list to
name, from name, date, folder etc. Can I remove this application and what
difference will it make to live mail?

Many thanks...

Desktop search is beyond me. One time I saw a way to search fields inside
emails but normally it does not show this option. Presumally there is a way
to switch to an advanced view but it is, like most new msft guis, impossible
to use.

It also looks like the messages it finds are all very old. Only my advanced
search (from the hidden menu bar) is actually working properly for words
inside the message body.

Clicking the Search button at the top bring up a way to search fields inside
emails and names on documents etc. There is no search contents of message or
contents of file for some bizare reason here. I think the project manager was
on drugs. Why did they choose such a strange list of menu bar items in this
app as well.

I am beginning to think my problem may be that Desktop Search is only
picking up my old outlook express emails present before i ugraded to live
mail.

But the find a message box is finding more recent stuff - maybe it has no
link to desktop search anyway?

"willyhoops.com" <willyhoopscom@xxxxxx> wrote in
message news:F3B3B0AA-63BA-457B-9144-51EA50E556AD@xxxxxx
Just learn to press Ctrl-Shift-F ; )


Me too! Actually the difference is that my harddrive grinds away
as if MS employees have stock in drive manufacturing companies
or perhaps it is just a ploy to make me upgrade my hardware and
move to Vista? <eg>

In fact, in my case, I suspect because I still have OE as my default
mailer, WDS just didn't bother adding the necessary path to the
WLMail message store. I fixed that but it still isn't finding anything useful
(when I try to use WLMail's Ctrl-e Search bar.)

And something has to be done about the thrashing that that app
is causing. I tried to use Task Manager to set a lower priority
on all WDS tasks but this is explicitly denied. WDS Snooze
Indexing is not enough to stop its overhead. The only thing that
settles things down is (e.g. from a cmd window): net stop wsearch
If I could remember when I leave my computer I suppose I could
restart that and see if it ever quiets down enough to be less disruptive.


After stopping that wsearch service I still see *some* results
(using that Ctrl-e search bar.) It looks as if it could be equivalent
to a headers only search. One nice difference then is that
I can search for multiple words and not have to worry
about their order or spacing or associated punctuation.

Otherwise I would be just as happy getting rid of that search bar.
It just takes up space most of the time and occasionally is an
extra aggravation when I mistype something and then
a character ends up in it, changing my message list.
The only thing I can do with it that is uniquely useful
is remind myself which newsgroup I am in (without using
its Folder pane), e.g. since WLMail does not have
the equivalent of OE's (horizontal) Folder bar.) ; }


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---

"willyhoops.com" <willyhoopscom@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:67614C6F-A43D-4BD9-97FF-EA83955FCC2C@xxxxxxDesktop search is rather slow at completing the file indexing need to
find the newer files.

When WDS works properly, it works very well, and the word wheel ("Find a
message") is lightning fast - much quicker than the real-time Edit > Find
procedure. It's just not configured to work out of the box. Make sure your
Store folder (Options > Advanced > Maintenance > Store folder button will
tell you where it is) is marked for indexing (Right-click on the folder in
Explorer, select Properties > General tab > Advanced button) and included in
indexed locations in WDS (Click on the tray icon and select WDS Search
options > Modify to select the Store folder). Check also that on the
Advanced > File types tab, eml and nws files are included and the option to
Index properties and file contents is selected. OK your way out, then go to
bed.
--
Noel

"willyhoops.com" <willyhoopscom@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:67614C6F-A43D-4BD9-97FF-EA83955FCC2C@xxxxxx

Yea I made sure my message folder has search enabled in the advanced tab. I
even whet into the hotmail sub directory, then the sent items and right
clicked search which brought up desktop search. I then typed a single word
into there and got no results. Yet looking in that folder I can see my
messages as .eml files. I then tried searching for exactly the same word in
the edit, find menu of windows live mail and it worked no problem. So somehow
my desktop search is not looking inside the files even though it is set to
index the folder... maybe there is some option in desktop search to disable
this?

"willyhoops.com" <willyhoopscom@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C32238BF-3492-4485-B3CE-51D28007CF0A@xxxxxxThat folder is clearly not being indexed by WDS. That being the case, the
WDS window should tell you when you right-click on the folder and select
Search - a little box at the bottom of the left hand pane. Does it?
--
Noel
[Please quote at least some of what you're replying to - otherwise those of
us using newsreaders have to keep going backwards and forwards to follow a
thread. Best of all, stop using that dreadful web interface and try out
WLMail as a newsreader. It works fine.]

I have no box at the bottom left, just a few words saying "Click here to use
Search Companion" and a picture of a dog.

Above that I have the box "Folder:" ... and this contains the directory in
question.

Now if I do click on the dog and bring up the old search companion and type
the word into the old "A word or phrase in the file:" box then it takes a
while but it does find a bunch of .eml files.

And I can confirm again that righ clicking in windows explorer shows the
advanced option "For fast searching, allow Indexing Service to index this
folder" as checked.

I guess I have bug in Windows Desktop Search?

"willyhoops.com" <willyhoopscom@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:38A7A701-C05E-48C6-AA3C-5727D376CC69@xxxxxxNo, I wouldn't say that, but it's not working properly. Two things to try:

(1) Rebuild your index. If you have a lot of files, this could take some
time (several hours), so it's the sort of thing to let the machine get on
with overnight. Before you do, just confirm (which you haven't yet done)
that at WDS Search Options > Modify, your Store folder is definitely
selected.

If that still doesn't enable you to search in the body of mail messages,

(2) If you still have the installer (a file called
WindowsDesktopSearch-KB917013-V301-XP-x86-ENU.MSI), right-click on it and
select Repair.

Otherwise, a reinstall is called for. Go to http://tinyurl.com/3dp976 and
Save the MSI file instead of Run (so you can perform step (2) in the
future). When you run the MSI, disconnect from the Internet and make sure
your antivirus is disabled meanwhile. It may be politic to uninstall WDS
3.01 using Add/Remove programs first, so that the same glitch doesn't
survive a reinstall.

This sounds like a lot of bother, but I can assure you it's worthwhile. It
really is a delight to be able to start typing in the Find a message field
and see the results almost instantaneously.

Good luck.
--
Noel