Vista - Microsoft: Please fix Vista's flawed search or give rights to downgrade to XP Pro until it is fixed

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:16:20 -0600, "Celegans" <Celegans@xxxxxx> wrote:
As I've already explained, typical users do NOT have thousands of unregistered file
types. In fact, most of them won't have any. Furthermore, Win95-style searching is
excruciatingly slow when used on the terabytes of data that current machines can
handle. That's why Microsoft added the indexing option and made it easy to restrict
the types of files to be included. Of course, with any indexing system, there is a
tradeoff between speed and accuracy. If you prefer accuracy, you have the option to
turn off indexing.
It doesn't mean that for me. You really should read up on how search works in Vista
before making such generalizations. Perhaps you have not learned the new syntax.
However, I'm not going to waste any more of my time in trying to educate you since it
appears that your mind is firmly closed on this subject.

Good luck,

Doug M. in NJ

"retroman" <retroman@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mahes39552r52ttv8c3488kraq7hmu7oqc@xxxxxxIf you work on BOTH Windows and Linux it's not uncommon at all for Linux
applications to be agnostic about Windows file types. These files when
imported into Vista cannot be searched now since Vista simply ignores them.
It's not at all uncommon for scientific, medical, and engineering files to
not "obey" Microsoft's rules about file extensions.

Was was there a warning on Vista's box that its new search may not work if
you had too many files? Where's the warning that Vista's search may not be
appropriate to search raw scientific/engineering data? Microsoft doesn't
expect scientists or engineers to use Vista? Or what about companies with
legacy files from years ago that didn't "obey" the new rules that Microsoft
is imposing on search? Vista can't search all legacy files either?

Finding an extension that's not being indexed, and then adding it to be
indexed, and then finding the next extension, and adding that, is a terrible
solution -- but the only one Microsoft is providing now.
I'm not trying to search terabytes with Vista (yet). I just want to search
~200 GB on my Vista Ultimate machine.

I'm trying to search directories, that may even be quite small, and Vista's
search refuses to look for strings within files. You're not listening. I'm
trying to do search tasks that worked easily and relatively efficiently in
ALL previous versions of Windows. Why can't Vista do simple searches like
before? Like even Windows 95? Why does Microsoft decide which files I can
now search?
There's no tradeoff. You cannot search files with the "wrong" extensions in
Vista. Microsoft doesn't give me that choice to look at all files. That
checkbox "Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files (might be slow)" in
advanced search in Vista DOES NOT WORK. Microsooft refuses to fix that bug.
I have been fighting the problem of a flawed Vista search since last July.
I have intereacted with two Microsoft product managers, and one even
suggested I should request a "hot fix". But there is no way to request such
a hot fix from Microsoft unless I am a big corporation. And, BTW, big
corporations can downgrade from Vista to XP, but Microsoft will not grant
that right to the little people, even those of us that bought Vista
Ultimate.
I don't need the new syntax usually to look for a single string in a set of
files. I know where the files are. Looking through the files manually
one-by-one on Vista is a REAL PAIN when Vista's search refuses to search the
files.

That new syntax might really be neat someday, if I could just search the
files I need searched.
Non-sequitur? You still haven't explained why simple searches using Windows
Explorer that worked in Windows 95 DO NOT WORK in Vista. You still haven't
explained why Microsoft won't grant permission to downgrade to XP Pro to get
a search that still works.

Bottom line: Why is Microsoft restricting search choices in Vista instead
of giving options? Why is Microsoft taking away a search capability that's
been in Windows since Windows 95?

C.E.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:18:26 -0600, "Celegans"
<Celegans@xxxxxx> wrote:
------------------------

I'm slightly puzzled why you would invest so much effort into getting
Vista's file search to work properly. Why not just use a third party
file searcher instead?

I never even much used XP's search even because AgentRansack was so
much faster/better than the XP version. I haven't had occasion to
search out one for Vista yet, but the first time I have trouble I'll
do it in a flash.

FWIW....

Bill

"Bill Martin" <martin_spamtrap@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:i17fs35arj5sr7f89mh8anhfn5qoces0p8@xxxxxxPart of my job is troubleshooting problems and technical support of
scientists and scientific equipment. If we ever deploy Vista (I'm on the
bleeding edge just looking at Vista) I will need to bring my own search
tool to each PC, or would need to get a user to get a search tool installed,
just to troubleshoot certain problems. Troubleshooting problems in person,
on the phone, or via E-mail will be hampered with Vista when it's not
possible to find files.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but Windows Explorer seems to be integrated into Windows
better than any 3rd party tool. Just right click anywhere and select search
with Windows Explorer. [I knew tricks in XP and before that I could
configure right click in Windows Explorer the way I wanted to, but I'm not
sure how to do that in Vista yet.]

Why should I pay for a 3rd party search tool when I paid for Vista Ultimate?
Why is it wrong to have the expectation that the search in Vista should work
as well as the search in Windows 95? "Progress" is paying more and getting
less?

C.E.

"Bill Martin" <martin_spamtrap@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:i17fs35arj5sr7f89mh8anhfn5qoces0p8@xxxxxx
Bill,

I took a look at AgentRansack: the price is right (free), the integration
into Windows Explorer in Vista works great, the user interface is very
intuitive (unlike Vista's new search interface) and it finds files!
"Baregrep" was "OK" but AgentRansack seems to be better.

OK, I'll quit wasting time trying to get Vista's search to work.

THANKS for your suggestion!

C.E.

Celegans wrote:just got this computer(Gateway)AMD Phenom Processor and like a lot of
people was fed up with Vista that came with the computer.
All You got to do is get another harddrive remove the vista harddrive
put the new harddrive in after You have gathered all the XP drivers that
You will need to go back to XP.And like Me You will be a happy camper
again.XP is like 1 million times better than vista and I figure I can
run it a few more years.
So quit whining and crying and take action.You can't expect Microsoft to
make an OS that pleases everybody,because all they care about is getting
Your money.

"Dino" <nospam@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uARmFnveIHA.1168@xxxxxx
Paying more money to Microsoft is exactly the problem. I'm on my second
appeal to Microsoft management for permission to downgrade from Vista to XP
for free. The outlook is fairly bleak that I'll get that permission. Even
asking is likely a waste of time.

My plan for several weeks has been to do what you suggested. I already have
the new disk drive. I collected all the Dell XP drivers for my "Windows
Vista" machine and have XP installation instructions. BUT, so far, I can't
get permission from Dell or Microsoft to downgrade from Vista Ultimate to XP
Pro UNLESS I buy Windows XP Pro -- the RETAIL version. A giant corporation
has downgrade rights -- according to a phone conversation I had with
Microsoft -- but as only a lowly consumer Microsoft grants me no such rights
and only wants more money. For that, I think they deserve publicity about
how poorly Vista search was designed, how poorly they respond to technical
problems in Vista, and how poorly they treat customers. Yes, I may be
whining, but the point of my post was also to alert others who might want to
search for files using Vista. Even the number of posts to this thread will
help others learn more about the problem through Google later.

I'm also playing their game: Microsoft won't fix a technical issue because
a mistake was made. Microsoft only responds if there are enough people
complaining. So, to fix a technical problem, the folks need to be educated
about the search problem in Vista, so they will either complain to Microsoft
too, or just not buy Vista.

I paid plenty for Vista Ultimate and am not paying another dime to Microsoft
to downgrade now to XP. I regret ever buying Vista Ultimate in Feb. 2007.

C.E.

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:08:28 -0600, "Celegans"
<Celegans@xxxxxx> wrote:
-------------------------------

Thanks for the feedback that Ransack works well with Vista. I hadn't
gotten around to trying that yet.

Bill