Windows Tip - Start Menu Search

Start Menu Search
Works with Windows Vista and Windows 7

In past versions of Windows, one of the biggest time wasting tasks a PC user faced was searching for a document, picture, song or application that you know is on your computer, but you just can’t remember where you saved it on your hard drive.

Well, that has all changed!!!

One of the most useful yet under-utilized time saving features introduced in Windows Vista, and then carried forward and improved in Windows 7, is Start Menu Search.

Just click the Start Button and start typing the name of the file, document or application you are looking for and within seconds, it will show up in the search results.

Alternatively, you can just hit the Windows key on your keyboard to shave another second off of your search time.

By default, Windows indexes the program files folder and your Documents folder. If you have other data elsewhere on your computer, such as a separate partition or hard drive, individual folders, or even over your network, you can change the settings to have Windows index those files as well. Simply click the Start Button and type ‘Index’ and the first result that comes up should be ‘Indexing Options’.

If the file you were searching for is the first file listed in the search results, simply hit your Enter key to open that file or application.