Crazy amounts of searches

I recently had a virus that wreaked havoc with my laptop. I was putting everything back in order when I noticed how messed up File Explorer was. It has the same folders under different headings. The worse part is under Searches/Everywhere & Searches/Indexed Please tell me there is a way to fix this. I don't think I can safely delete a lot of these files. Please see my screenshots. Please note the immense number of files.

These are the specs of my laptop:
TOSHIBA LAPTOP SPECS

SYSTEM MODEL
Toshiba Satellite L775D PSK4OU-OOGOOP

OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows 10 Home x64 Version 1511 Build 10586.71 IE Version 11.63.10586.0CO
Chrome Version 48.0.2564.103 m
IE 11
Boot Mode: Legacy BIOS in UEFI
Secure boot not supported

MAIN CIRCUIT BOARD
Board: Pegatron Corporation TKBSS 1.50
Bus Clock: 100 MHz
UEFI: American Megatrends Inc. 1.50 10/18/2011

PROCESSOR
1.40 Gigahertz AMD A6-34OOM APU with Radeon HD graphics
Graphics Chipset:AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6520G
512 KB primary memory cache
4096 secondary memory cache
64=bit ready
BIOS Version:012.043.000.001
BIOS Part Number:BR40547.bin
BIOS Date:04/07/2011

DRIVES
622.92 Usable hard drive
528.99 GB hard drive free HL-DT=ST BDDVDRW CT31F OpticalDrive
Hitachi HTS547564A9E384 hard drive 640.13 GB drive O, s/n 110817J2380053CHMYEC, Rev JEDOA6OB
PCI to USB host controller 3x
Standard open HCD USB host Controller 3x

MEMORY MODULES
5612 MB USABLE INSTALLED
6 GB RAM

LOCAL DRIVE VOLUMES
C: NTSF on drive O 622.92 GB

CONTROLLERS
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 1
Standard dual channel PCI IDE Controller
Standard SATA AHCI Controller

BUS ADAPTERS
MS Storage spaces controller.
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host
DISPLAY
AMD Radeon HD 6520G Display Adapter
Generic PnP monitor 17.1” vis.

MULTIMEDIA
AMD HD Audio Device
Realtek HD Audio
Microphone Realtek HD Audio
Speakers Realtek HD Audio
Toshiba Web Camera – MP

OTHER DEVICES
MS AC Adapter
MS ACPI -Compliant Control Method Battery
HID-Compliant Consumer Control Device 2x
HID-Compliant Wireless Radio Controls
Toshiba Hotkey Driver
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Synaptics PS/2 Port Touchpad Mouse
Send to OneNote 2010
MS Device Association Root Enumerator
MS GS Wavetable Synth
MS IPv4 IPv6 Transition Adapter Bus
MS Radio Device Enumeration Bus
MS RRAS Root Enumerator
USB Composite Device
USB Root Hub 6x
Generic Volume Shadow Copy

WIRELESS NETWORKCONNECTION
Realtek RTL8188CE Wireless LAN 802
Teredo Tunneling Psuedo-Interface

PRINTERS
HP Envy 100 All-in-One D410 Series
HP Officejet Pro 8600 All-in-One

ANTI-VIRIS PROTECTION
Norton 360 Norton Anti Virus Version 22.5.5.15
Malware Anti-Malware Version 2.2.0.1024

Hi mkj307,

I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, but a large number of those entries seem to be shortcuts only. All of the files that have that small arrow on it, are shortcuts and should be safe to delete.

I was putting everything back in order when I noticed how messed up File Explorer was.

I noted when I was looking at your screenshots, you had a couple of Registry modification files on your Desktop. If you merged these with the Registry while you were putting things back together, then perhaps that might account for some of this. If so, you might want to look at using System Restore and see if that helps.

b1rd

Thanks for your answer. I didn't change the registry but Norton "fixed" it. What should I do with the registry items? Do you know?


It won't let me post a reply on here.

Hi mkj307,

If you're asking about the registry modification files on your Desktop, which are visible on your screenshot, those should be fine to delete if you don't need them for anything. In fact, it appears that it's just one file and one shortcut to another (or same) reg file.

These:

...but Norton "fixed" it.

Are you saying that Norton was able to fix the issues that you originally posted about?

I am saying it got rid of the virus but only fixed the registry.

I do apologize, but I'm still unclear as to exactly what issue is.

I've looked over your screenshots a couple of times and I think I'm missing the problem. Admittedly, I'm not as familiar with Windows Search as many others, as I use a third party utility, but I just don't see or realize the problem.

To me, it appears that you have your Search folder open with the Navigation Pane displayed along the left side. In screenshot #1, of your first post, you have the Recycle Bin selected from the entries along the left pane. The files in the middle of screenshot #1 are the contents of the Recycle Bin.

I'm wondering if perhaps you never had the Navigation Pane activated before, so the folder perhaps looks more full or crowded than before?

I'm sorry the first screenshot is incorrect. The second one is Under searches/indexed & so is the third item. Here is a screenshot of This PC/C:/users/mkj/searches/everywhere & in the far right column is over 263,000 files:

Attachment 67274

in the far right column is over 263,000 files:

Yes, they appear to be Internet temp files associated with your User folder.

I tried to duplicate what you did, however I don't seem to have a folder titled "Everywhere," so am not able to go further then the Searches folder. Again, I'm not too familiar with Windows search, so I might be off in the directory.

Anyhow, I still don't think there's a problem, at least not that I can see. From the above screen shot, those files within the center all seem to be website related, and could very well be temporary files that you can delete.

You might try running the Disk Clean up utility and then re-check it (Type in Desk Clean Up within 'search')

The files within the middle of the window will be associated with which ever folder that you have selected to the left. That should give you an idea of what type they might be.

b1rd

I already deleted all temporary files & the recycle bin. It didn't affect the massive number of files under searches.
I haven't tried disk clean up yet I'll do that Thank you for your help.