There are no words – Working around Windows XP’s file search

Searching for files in Microsoft Windows XP is a breeze if you’re merely searching by file name. However, if you are using the "A word or phrase in the file" search criterion, the default setting does not work as it did in Microsoft Windows 2000.

The Problem

When you use Windows XP’s search "A word or phrase in the file" search criterion, it will only look into selected document types such as HTML 3.0, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, and MIME. It actually won’t search through other file types such as .php, .cpp, .c, and .log. So, even if the phrase you’re searching for is included in a file called index.php, that file will not be included in the search results.

The Solution

You can use the solution as detailed in Microsoft’s website. Alternatively, you can do the following:

1. Install the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. As of this writing, it is Service Pack 2.
2. Go to Start > Search > For Files or Folders. The Search Results Window should appear.

   

3. In the Search Results Window, select Change Preferences

   

4. Select Without Indexing Service or With Indexing Service (depending on whether this is turned on or off)

   

5. Select Change Indexing Service settings (Advanced). The Indexing Service window should appear.

   

6. On the toolbar of the Indexing Service window, click on the Show/Hide Console Tree icon.

   

7. In the left pane, right click on Indexing Service on Local Machine, and select Properties.

   

8. Check Index files with unknown extensions. Click OK.