Vista - How to Enable Indexing in Vista

Hi- My indexing has been turned off (I believe by Google Desktop, which
slowed the system down tremendously).

Can anyone tell me how to enable indexing? I've tried the "Control Panel >
System Maintenance > Indexing Options" and all the popup says is "Indexing is
not running" with no way to start it. All of the buttons are grayed out
except for "Close."

Any help will be added to your karmic bank account!

Thanks!
--Kevin

"KevinB" <KevinB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7667EF66-AEC7-4909-8AC0-DF9B7979A3B0@microsoft.com...
> Hi- My indexing has been turned off (I believe by Google Desktop, which
> slowed the system down tremendously).
>
> Can anyone tell me how to enable indexing? I've tried the "Control Panel
> >
> System Maintenance > Indexing Options" and all the popup says is "Indexing
> is
> not running" with no way to start it. All of the buttons are grayed out
> except for "Close."

Try going to Control Panel and using the search box to search for Services.
I am not using a Vista machine at the moment, so try looking for something
like Indexing Service or something like that and set it to start
automatically.

> Any help will be added to your karmic bank account!

Good, I have a big overdraft.

ss.

make sure the "Windows Search" service is enabled and running.

--
http://xenomorph.net/

"KevinB" <KevinB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7667EF66-AEC7-4909-8AC0-DF9B7979A3B0@microsoft.com...
> Hi- My indexing has been turned off (I believe by Google Desktop, which
> slowed the system down tremendously).
>
> Can anyone tell me how to enable indexing? I've tried the "Control Panel
> >
> System Maintenance > Indexing Options" and all the popup says is "Indexing
> is
> not running" with no way to start it. All of the buttons are grayed out
> except for "Close."
>
> Any help will be added to your karmic bank account!
>
> Thanks!
> --Kevin

On Aug 7, 7:32 am, KevinB <Kev...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Hi- My indexing has been turned off (I believe by Google Desktop, which
> slowed the system down tremendously).
>
> Can anyone tell me how to enable indexing? I've tried the "Control Panel >
> System Maintenance > Indexing Options" and all the popup says is "Indexing is
> not running" with no way to start it. All of the buttons are grayed out
> except for "Close."
>
> Any help will be added to your karmic bank account!
>
> Thanks!
> --Kevin

At the Run dialog write down services.msc after starting search for
Indexing service and see if it is started if not make it to start
automatically. These should work.

Try this: Go to Computer and Right-Click on each Partition and select
properties. At the bottom of the Properties box you should have an Indexing
Option. The box should be checked for Indexing to be turned on. BTW it
should have been on by default.

<robert.stojanov@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1186468630.609849.113770@r34g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...
> On Aug 7, 7:32 am, KevinB <Kev...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>> Hi- My indexing has been turned off (I believe by Google Desktop, which
>> slowed the system down tremendously).
>>
>> Can anyone tell me how to enable indexing? I've tried the "Control Panel
>> >
>> System Maintenance > Indexing Options" and all the popup says is
>> "Indexing is
>> not running" with no way to start it. All of the buttons are grayed out
>> except for "Close."
>>
>> Any help will be added to your karmic bank account!
>>
>> Thanks!
>> --Kevin
>
> At the Run dialog write down services.msc after starting search for
> Indexing service and see if it is started if not make it to start
> automatically. These should work.
>

"Jerry" <jhuffman@triad.rr.com> wrote in message
news:%23h6YvyN2HHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Try this: Go to Computer and Right-Click on each Partition and select
> properties. At the bottom of the Properties box you should have an
> Indexing Option. The box should be checked for Indexing to be turned on.
> BTW it should have been on by default.

So it's not possible to search a CD/DVD if it's not indexed? Is this a new
design "feature"?

If one is working with networked drives that are mapped to Linux resources,
it's not possible to search files on these drives until they're indexed?
What if I don't want to index GB of files on a Linux network resource, but
what if I want to search selected wildcarded files in a selected directory
for a specific target string on that resource? This type of search worked
in Windows 2000. This search cannot not be done in Vista because the Linux
network drive is not indexed for Vista?

Searching "faster" with indexed files is nice, but what about all the files
that cannot be searched at all now? What about all the files that are not
indexed? Why isn't there an Vista Ultimate tool that allows searching all
files whether they are indexed or not? What did I really get for "Ultimate"
Vista?

Since Windows Vista search is defective, one now must buy a 3-rd party tool,
like SSScanner to do searches that used to work in Windows 2000?
http://www.kryltech.com/scanner.htm Shouldn't Microsoft just buy Kryloff
Technologies and help Vista customers with a better search -- one that can
always work? Note Kryloff even markets their product "SSScanner enhances
searches in Windows Vista" on their web page. My take: SSScanner fixes a
defective Vista search strategy. I've now got to pay Kryloff Technologies
$99.95 to fix Vista's search. Can I send the bill to Bill?

"Celegans" wrote in message

> Can I send the bill to Bill?

Sure you can ... but get someone competent to help, as you would obviously
injure yourself attempting to do it by yourself.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/1/07

All of the things you describe here can be done with the built-in Vista
search. If the indexer is not running or if you are searching a non-indexed
location then search is done without the index, which may be slower but will
still work.

"Celegans" <Celegans@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:OuGwluQ2HHA.140@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> "Jerry" <jhuffman@triad.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:%23h6YvyN2HHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Try this: Go to Computer and Right-Click on each Partition and select
>> properties. At the bottom of the Properties box you should have an
>> Indexing Option. The box should be checked for Indexing to be turned on.
>> BTW it should have been on by default.
>
> So it's not possible to search a CD/DVD if it's not indexed? Is this a
> new design "feature"?
>
> If one is working with networked drives that are mapped to Linux
> resources, it's not possible to search files on these drives until they're
> indexed? What if I don't want to index GB of files on a Linux network
> resource, but what if I want to search selected wildcarded files in a
> selected directory for a specific target string on that resource? This
> type of search worked in Windows 2000. This search cannot not be done in
> Vista because the Linux network drive is not indexed for Vista?
>
> Searching "faster" with indexed files is nice, but what about all the
> files that cannot be searched at all now? What about all the files that
> are not indexed? Why isn't there an Vista Ultimate tool that allows
> searching all files whether they are indexed or not? What did I really
> get for "Ultimate" Vista?
>
> Since Windows Vista search is defective, one now must buy a 3-rd party
> tool, like SSScanner to do searches that used to work in Windows 2000?
> http://www.kryltech.com/scanner.htm Shouldn't Microsoft just buy Kryloff
> Technologies and help Vista customers with a better search -- one that can
> always work? Note Kryloff even markets their product "SSScanner enhances
> searches in Windows Vista" on their web page. My take: SSScanner fixes a
> defective Vista search strategy. I've now got to pay Kryloff
> Technologies $99.95 to fix Vista's search. Can I send the bill to Bill?
>

So what am I missing? In XP, I right click on a folder using Windows
Explorer and select search. There are separate search options, which I
found quite intuitive:
- "All or part of the file name"
- "A word or phrase in the file"

I almost always want to specify some sort of wild card for the files I'm
looking for, and I often am looking for a specific string in these files. I
quite often NEED both of these fields. Unlike Windows 2000, XP was a bit
lame when it didn't search all the files, and hits could be missed until one
found the obscure registry key to enable searching all files. I spent hours
trying to figure out why I couldn't find files in XP because of some obscure
change made by Microsoft. Windows Vista continues that frustration by
making searches harder than it was in Windows 2000 or before.

Now let's do the same thing in Vista. Right click on a folder to search
using Windows Explorer, and select "Search...".

There is a mostly blank screen with a note at the top saying "To begin, type
in the search box". Can I assume that this search box only knows about
what's been indexed? This whole screen is wasted space and could show more
options like before, but one must now click on the nearby icon for "Advanced
Search". Did usability experts really design this?

The Advanced Search screen is what I really want to see when I select
"Search" from Windows Explorer. This new Advance Search screen shows mostly
blank space (why is all the space wasted?), but doesn't show an option that
is equivalent to searching for "A word or phrase in the file". Where is
this search option "A word or phrase in a file" now "hidden"?

The help system has proven futile. Online searches via Google have proven
futile. I have already spent hours searching for why search doesn't work in
Vista. There is a checkbox for "include non-indexed, hidden, and system
files (might be slow)," which I'm assuming will search for files that are
not indexed, but how do I search for a particular string in a file? (The
command prompt "findstr" command isn't a good answer.)

I now launch a VMware virtual machine running Windows 2000, where I've
mapped my Vista file system. I must do searches from Windows 2000 on my
Vista machine to find files containing specific strings because Vista's
search either doesn't work or has a new obtuse user interface that is not
intuitive nor is explained anywhere I can find. At some point I may have to
pay the $100 to use SSScaner, because I figure out how to get search to work
in Vista.

I have had similar frustrations with Office 2007. Simple things that took
seconds, now take hours to find, or seemingly cannot be done. Recently I
wanted to split a table in Word 2007, which should have taken about two
seconds. Over an hour later after various Google searches, I finally
stumbled onto this online tool that shows the old Word 2003 interface and
how the same thing is done in Word 2007. You can select what you'd like to
do in the Word 2003 simulated interface, then an animation shows what to do
an simulated Word 2007 user interface.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wo...744321033.aspx
At least in the "split table" case, this worked when online help didn't
address "split table".

If Microsoft really wanted to help its existing customers, this tool should
have been part of Word 2007, so one could quickly find out how to do a
familiar operation. Is there any similar tool that Microsoft provides that
does this with Windows Vista? Can I go to an online tool somewhere in
Windows XP, and be told where in Vista I can do the same thing, like
searching for a string in a file that may not be indexed? Looking for
search terms in the help system too often is futile, even when using the
exact name of the feature.

There are many good new features in Vista and Office 2007, but the
frustration level of not being able to do old simple things is also quite
high -- needlessly.

"Dave Wood [MS]" <davewood@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ux6OAjR2HHA.4672@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> All of the things you describe here can be done with the built-in Vista
> search. If the indexer is not running or if you are searching a
> non-indexed location then search is done without the index, which may be
> slower but will still work.

- If you search from a specific folder then the search box searches all of
that folder, regardless of whether it has been indexed.

- The search box searches filenames and contents {and all other meta-data
about the files}. One caveat is that in non-indexed locations, by default
only filenames are searched. This behavior can be changed in the Search
Options dialog "What to Search -> Always search filenames and contents".

- If you just want to search for just filenames and not contents then use
the Advanced Search "Name" edit box, or type "name:" before the name in the
search box on the top-right.



"Celegans" <Celegans@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:OQF$XCq2HHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> So what am I missing? In XP, I right click on a folder using Windows
> Explorer and select search. There are separate search options, which I
> found quite intuitive:
> - "All or part of the file name"
> - "A word or phrase in the file"
>
> I almost always want to specify some sort of wild card for the files I'm
> looking for, and I often am looking for a specific string in these files.
> I quite often NEED both of these fields. Unlike Windows 2000, XP was a
> bit lame when it didn't search all the files, and hits could be missed
> until one found the obscure registry key to enable searching all files. I
> spent hours trying to figure out why I couldn't find files in XP because
> of some obscure change made by Microsoft. Windows Vista continues that
> frustration by making searches harder than it was in Windows 2000 or
> before.
>
> Now let's do the same thing in Vista. Right click on a folder to search
> using Windows Explorer, and select "Search...".
>
> There is a mostly blank screen with a note at the top saying "To begin,
> type in the search box". Can I assume that this search box only knows
> about what's been indexed? This whole screen is wasted space and could
> show more options like before, but one must now click on the nearby icon
> for "Advanced Search". Did usability experts really design this?
>
> The Advanced Search screen is what I really want to see when I select
> "Search" from Windows Explorer. This new Advance Search screen shows
> mostly blank space (why is all the space wasted?), but doesn't show an
> option that is equivalent to searching for "A word or phrase in the file".
> Where is this search option "A word or phrase in a file" now "hidden"?
>
> The help system has proven futile. Online searches via Google have proven
> futile. I have already spent hours searching for why search doesn't work
> in Vista. There is a checkbox for "include non-indexed, hidden, and
> system files (might be slow)," which I'm assuming will search for files
> that are not indexed, but how do I search for a particular string in a
> file? (The command prompt "findstr" command isn't a good answer.)
>
> I now launch a VMware virtual machine running Windows 2000, where I've
> mapped my Vista file system. I must do searches from Windows 2000 on my
> Vista machine to find files containing specific strings because Vista's
> search either doesn't work or has a new obtuse user interface that is not
> intuitive nor is explained anywhere I can find. At some point I may have
> to pay the $100 to use SSScaner, because I figure out how to get search to
> work in Vista.
>
> I have had similar frustrations with Office 2007. Simple things that took
> seconds, now take hours to find, or seemingly cannot be done. Recently I
> wanted to split a table in Word 2007, which should have taken about two
> seconds. Over an hour later after various Google searches, I finally
> stumbled onto this online tool that shows the old Word 2003 interface and
> how the same thing is done in Word 2007. You can select what you'd like
> to do in the Word 2003 simulated interface, then an animation shows what
> to do an simulated Word 2007 user interface.
> http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wo...744321033.aspx
> At least in the "split table" case, this worked when online help didn't
> address "split table".
>
> If Microsoft really wanted to help its existing customers, this tool
> should have been part of Word 2007, so one could quickly find out how to
> do a familiar operation. Is there any similar tool that Microsoft
> provides that does this with Windows Vista? Can I go to an online tool
> somewhere in Windows XP, and be told where in Vista I can do the same
> thing, like searching for a string in a file that may not be indexed?
> Looking for search terms in the help system too often is futile, even when
> using the exact name of the feature.
>
> There are many good new features in Vista and Office 2007, but the
> frustration level of not being able to do old simple things is also quite
> high -- needlessly.
>
> "Dave Wood [MS]" <davewood@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:ux6OAjR2HHA.4672@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> All of the things you describe here can be done with the built-in Vista
>> search. If the indexer is not running or if you are searching a
>> non-indexed location then search is done without the index, which may be
>> slower but will still work.
>
>