Why is Windows 10 Search such unmitigated trash?

40intrepid said:

Probably boils down to that there is no real competition for Windows operating systems except for Mac and Linux.
When you virtually have a monopoly on the market, you dont need to try so hard.

And we have a Winner here ^^^^^^^^

Thing is search seemed fine in Windows 7. They broke it in 8, fixed it in 8.1 and now it’s apparently broke again.

Wish they’d quit fixing what isn’t broken.

Apparently I'm unmitigated trash and not Windows 10 Search.

Go to search, type "index"

An applet called "Indexing Options" will appear, open it.

This is an application I have never in my life seen before in Windows and I've used every version since WFW 3.11

Click "Modify"

Here's a list of all your drives. I checked every single one of those suckers. Not even my boot drive was checked for indexing and its a 2.2 GB/s read SSD...

So I'm not entirely trash, but whoever wrote those defaults needs to be fired... wth Windows 10...

ATM its "Indexing" and it's at around 30,000 items. Before I checked all the drives, it was at 5,000. it says 'Items' not files, folders, but 'items'.

I will report back when its done to see if it fixes my start menu searching problems.

Don't forget about the Filters > Folders ... After I indexed my D: drive, I couldn't figure out why it wasn't finding anything on it, until I realized I had to choose the Folder Filter ... lol

Note: You can also do .... folders: search term

hiphopper said:

Ok, back to the original problem, which is why doesn't Windows search do the right thing? As far as I am aware it should work as intended and does so on my computers. I gave up on Start 8/10 when it would break after a new Windows update. I've gotten very used to doing just what the OP does, type in a name and hit return, often before I type the first few letters. In fact, it seems pretty handy with some abbreviations. Like "ie" for Internet Explorer or "cue" for Corsair Utility Engine.
@Culbrelai did you turn off Windows indexing somewhere? Or change it's default search locations?

I can confirm that the Windows built-in search from the Start menu works fine on each of the desktop computers and laptops I use. Using the latest Windows Update from MS.

As hiphopper explained, Windows search works just fine for me on 2 desktops and 1 Laptop. In fact I've never had any issues with the native Win search since upgrading. No need for 3rd party search apps for me.

I’ve noticed instances where it can’t find things but I rarely use it cause I know where my data is.

So now its at 420,000 items indexed and still does not find applications in the start menu. The filter setting is set to "all" btw.

Handily finds any music, searches includes metadata identifiers as well. Humm... Result is the same wether or not "My Device History" is switched on or off.

Try Ransack. It searches inside documents as well as folder names etc. and is lightening fast.