செவ்வாய், 9 ஆகஸ்ட், 2016

How to Track USB Drive Activity in Your Computer

Sudip Majhi Problems and Solutions Leave a Comment

While you are on a shared computer in your office or you are at a public place to use a particular PC, you might fall in trouble because of unwanted USB plugin(s). To get rid of such problem, do check this tutorial to track USB drive activity on Windows using a third party software.

It will be highly beneficial if you can know the date and time when a particular USB drive was used on your machine and moreover, if the name as well as the serial number of that USB drive is in your knowledge. Yes!! this is possible with a freeware utility named USBDeView.

What is USBDeView

USBDeView is a freeware utility readily available in web and serves general mass to keep track of USB drives used in computers. It is essentially a portable yet very simple application that shows all the USB drives connected to your computer at present as well as in the past. Adding to these, this simple Windows application also informs you about the device name, product id, serial number, vendor id, the time and the date and many more detailed information for your benefit.
Read Also: How to Track Software Usage on Windows

How To Use USBDeView To USB Drive Activity on Windows

1. At first, download the application USBDeView from this given link.

It is a zipped file and you must have a unzipping software essentially Winrar or Winzip to open it. After downloading the application the zipped file should look like the one below :
keep-record-usb-download

2. Once you double click on that file, the Winrar window should open up where you can find an exe file.
keep record usb winrar

3. Now just double click on the .exe file and USBDeView window opens up. Here you can see all the details regarding the usage of USB drives in your computer.
Track USB Drive Activity using USBDeView

Track USB Drive Activity using USBDeView

That’s all! You have each and every detail in front of you and by following the steps mentioned above you must have been enriched with the idea how much simple the application is.

Most Significant Features Of USBDeView

Although, USBDeView consisted with all genuine features those could help you all the time to track USB drive activity. Among all the corresponding features, the following list is worth checking out,

Device name
Brief description
Device type
Connected or disconnected
Safe to unplug or not
Whether a USB device is connected through USB Hub or not
Drive Letter (It may be changed if someone plugins in multiple USB devices together)
Serial number (Most important)
Created date
Last Plug/Unplug date
VendorID
ProductID
Fireware information
Port number
Service name
Service description
Driver filename
Driver version

And more other information. However, to get all the feature, you should give it a try.
Final Verdict
It is quite natural that fortunately or unfortunately you have to use a shared computer at your office or even outside your workplace. It is also the fact that you have to keep some files in that computer for the sake of your work. But here lies the danger! What if somebody else copies or modifies some of your files from that shared computer by his USB drive?
Hence you will want to keep an eye on when an USB drive is being used on your computer to be sure of any malpractices that may happen underneath.
To conclude off, we must admit that this application is really of great help in keeping track of some malpractices regarding copying of files or modification of the same from your shared computer by using a USB drive. But it does not end here. This freeware utility is also capable of running a program when a USB drive is inserted in your computer. Moreover this tool prevents autorun of programs from USB drives and also gives you the facility of using USBDeView on your remote computer so long you are logged into that computer as an administrator.

How to Create Linux Live USB Disk

Tanmay Linux Leave a Comment

Installing different Linux distros on your computer is not too much hard. You can install the Linux operating from a CD/DVD drive. Even you can install Ubuntu into Windows system. But if your computer does not have any CD or DVD drive, you’d opt for a Linux Live USB (Several companies launched the mini laptops called as Netbook without having any CD/DVD drive).

Here are different methods to create Linux Live USB disk to install from your USB drive. Even, you can run your favorite Linux Distro from the Live USB disk without installing it into your computer.

Prepare Linux Live USB with the Terminal

The easiest way to transform your USB stick to a Linux Live disk is using the Linux terminal. You just need the USB stick with enough space, the ISO file of your Linux distribution (e.g – Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Fedora, Debian, Linux Mint, CentOs etc.) and a computer which is pre-installed with any Linux distro.
To get started, start the Linux operating system at your computer and insert the USB stick into the proper place. Now open the terminal in your Linux and run the following command.
lsblk

Once you run the above command into the command line, all the hard disk and similar media will be listed there. Determine which one is your USB stick from the list. Generally, the USB disk appears as Sdb if you do not have more than one hard disk at your computer (look at the image above).
Now you need to format the USB stick. You can do it pretty easily from the command line in Linux. Run the following commands to format your USB drive.
$ sudo umount /dev/sdb
$ sudo mkfs.vfat -n 'Ubuntu' -I /dev/sdb
Once the format is complete you are ready to start preparing the live USB. Just run the following command:
$ sudo dd if=isofile.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M
Now you have to change ‘isofile.iso’ with the path and file name of your Linux distribution ISO file. Also replace ‘sdX’ with the proper one which reflects your USB drive. Therefore, after confirming the above things the syntax should look like this:
$ sudo dd if=/home/username/Desktop/ubuntu-10.10-i386.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M
create-linux-live-usb-disk-with-terminal

create-linux-live-usb-disk-with-terminal

Once you execute the above command correctly, it will automatically start the process. Should you keep in mind that you should execute the above command as root user. So, after hitting the Enter key, you will be prompted to enter the root password. Do it and wait for a while. Once completed, it will display the details with exact details of copied data and the transfer rate of data which means the command has been run successfully.
Now restart your computer and boot from the USB stick. You should get the following screen.
run-linux-from-live-usb-stick

Preparing USB Stick with Linux Live USB Creator

Though the above method to make Linux Live USB from command line is pretty easy and less time consuming, it has some limitations as you need to have a Linux installed computer. But if you do not have such option available then this method can be lifesaver while the installation of the Ubuntu from USB stick is essential for you.
Unlike the above method you do not need to have any Linux to prepare your USB stick. You can do it from your Windows installed computer – be it windows XP or Windows 7.

How to Create Linux Live USB Drive in Windows 7

1. Format the USB disk with FAT 32 file system. Don’t try NTFS – it won’t work.
2. Download the latest zipped version of Syslinux.
3. Create a folder at your desktop or any where you wish and extract the downloaded zipped file with WinRar or 7-Zip.
4. Rename the folder as “syslinux”. Thus the folder “syslinux” contains all the extracted files from the zipped file syslinux- 1.7.0 (or whatever be the latest version).
5. Open the command prompt in your Windows. If you are in Windows 7 then run command prompt as administrator. Now, in the command prompt, run the following command:
cd <path to the folder syslinux>\win32
For instance,
cd C:\Documents and Settings\tanmay\Desktop\syslinux\win32
To install the syslinux on the USB stick run the following command:
syslinux -ma X:
Where, ‘X’ denotes the drive letter assigned for the USB stick in your computer.
6. Once you are done with above commands successfully, extract the whole ISO image file of Ubuntu at your USB stick. If you are using WinRar for that, right-click on the ISO image file then select Extract files, locate your USB disk and choose Extract.
7. A folder, “isolinux” should appear at the root location of the USB stick. Well, enter into that folder and select everything of that folder by pressing Ctrl + A, cut them (Ctrl + X) and paste (Ctrl+V) at the root location. Delete the folder “isolinux” and rename the file “isolinux.cgf” to “syslinux.cgf”. You are done!!
Booting from the USB stick will start the Linux distro, directly running from the USB stick. You should see the Linux desktop and the taskbar. Now, you can do everything from there. If you wish to install it in your computer hard disk, click on the Install icon residing at the desktop.
With the both methods above you’re actually creating both the Linux Live USB stick and the installer system at the same time. That means you can run your favorite Linux distro right from your USB stick with out installing that in your computer hard disk.
Though both of the above methods are well enough to install or run Linux from the USB stick but you can implement them for various purpose.
As for example, if you want to recover some data from a dead system, you can use Linux Live from the USB stick.
Again, if your Windows system is infected with malicious program files and you can’t remove them when the Windows is running, you can run the live stick to remove them manually, if you can recognize the file responsible for the infection.

How to Create Only the USB Installer For Linux

If you want to create only the USB installer for Linux instead of Linux Live USB, you can follow the following method.
Prerequisites:

A Linux installed computer.
A USB stick having enough space so that the installation image fits properly.
The ISO image of Linux distro (Ubuntu for instance).

Starting the preparation

Format the USB stick with FAT 32 file system. You can use a Windows installed computer though. Note: Do not format the USB stick with NTFS file system- it won’t work.
Download installer kernel and initramdisk, suitable for your Ubuntu architecture that you are going to install. Say, if it is Ubuntu amd64 then download amd64 installer and i386 installer for the i386 ISO image of Ubuntu. In both of the cases, you need to download the files named as “vmlinux” and “initrd.gz”.
Now, create a folder “install” at the root directory of your USB device and copy the downloaded files into that.
Extract the Ubuntu ISO image at any location of your hard drive. You can use either WinRar or 7-zip as they are free. From the extracted files and folders, copy the folder called as “isolinux” to the root directory of the USB stick (at the same location where you’ve created the folder “install”), rename the folder “isolinux” to “syslinux” and go inside that folder. There, you can find another file “isolinux.cgf”. Rename the file to “syslinux.cgf”.
Open the console at the Ubuntu installed computer. To make the USB stick bootable, use fdisk command to set the boot flag and apply the following steps.
1. Install syslinux: To install syslinux, run this command at the console: sudo aptitude install syslinux
2. Install boot sector on your removable device by running this command: sudo syslinux / dev/sdbX
Where sdbX is the device name and number of your USB stick, which you can obtain by checking with the following command:
sudo mount
If everything happen correctly, a file called as “ldlinux.sys” will be created at the root directory of your USB device.
Finally, copy the complete Ubuntu installation file (the ISO file without extracting) at the root directory of the USB drive. The files at your USB stick should look this:

You are done!! Now insert the stick and boot from it to install Ubuntu in any computer. You may require to change the boot preferences in your bios settings to start the booting from the USB drive.

How to Prepare USB Installer for Any Operating System(OS)

Tanmay Geeky Tips Leave a Comment

Gone are the days when you had had only 1.4 MB space in your floppy disk. Now, the USB drives (pen drives) come with at least 1 GB and up to 32 GB as the storage volume. Those days, the CD or DVDs were the only installation media but, now we can use USB disk as the installation media as it is re-writable and performs faster than the optical disk drives. But problem is that no operating systems are available in the form of a USB installer. All of them are available in CDs or DVDs according to their volume.

But, we can easily prepare the USB installer by using some advance techniques. Here in this article, we’ve focused the ways of preparing the USB/Pen drive to install almost all major operating systems from it. The preparation techniques vary for OS-to-OS.

How to Prepare USB Installer for Different OS

How to Install Windows XP from USB Drive – WinToFlash Method
Though Microsoft has withdrawn the support for Windows XP last year, there is still a good percentage of users who love it. Hence, making a USB installer would help you lot in various situations.
How to Install Windows XP from USB Drive – PeToUSB Method
This is another technique to install Windows XP from the USB drive. It is quite time consuming but more reliable process.
How to Install Windows 7 From USB Drive without Using Any Software
Unlike Windows XP, Windows 7 does not require any third-party tool to make a bootable USB for Windows 7. You can make it by using Diskpart, the inbuilt utility of Windows 7.
Create Multiboot USB Drive to Install Windows 7 Windows XP from It
The first three techniques were to make the bootable USB drive individually for Windows XP and Windows 7. But this method lets you prepare multi-bootable USB stick for both Windows 7 and Windows XP.
How to Install Windows 8 from USB Drive
Windows 8 comes with more power for dealing with USB drives. Using a tiny utility you can make your USB stick ready to install Windows 8 from it.
How to Create Linux Live USB Disk
This guide can be lifesaving for many situations. While you can easily install Linux at your system by preparing the Linux Live USB disk, onthe other hand you can directly run Linux from the USB drive if you want – no installation is needed.

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Windows 10

How to Install Windows XP from USB Flash/Pen Drive {Simple Method}

Tanmay Windows 108 Comments

You might have installed Vista, Windows 7 from your USB flash drive. But if you try to install Windows XP from USB flash drive, you should face some problem as the Windows XP does not have the feature of booting from a USB flash drive. But you can still install Windows XP from USB flash drive. This becomes very useful if your CD/DVD ROM is not working properly.

Installing Windows 7 from a USB drive is easier as you can simply make the installer USB drive for it. But what if you want to install Windows XP from USB drive? It is not so easy as like as you did for the Windows Vista, 7 or Windows 8. To install XP from a USB/Pen drive, you need to follow some advanced steps. Because, Windows XP does not have the ‘boot from USB’ drive feature. But, you can still install Windows XP from USB or flash drive in your computer using by following this simple how-to guide (If you are facing any issue with your USB drive then read How to Fix USB problems).
Installing any operating system from a removable drive is always useful. Especially, if the CD or DVD-ROM of your computer does not work properly then this is a handy way to get your computer installed with XP.
Related: Create Multiboot USB drive for Windows 7 & XP.
When you insert the installer disk in your CD/DVD-ROM, the machine detects it and prompts for “Press any key to boot from cd”. By then, you can format the hard disk, make the partitions and then you can install the operating system in your system.

The same thing does not happen with you if you just copy the content of a Windows XP installer disk into a USB drive. You need to make your USB drive bootable. Here, in this article, I’ve discussed the best way to setup Windows XP from USB Drive step-by-step.

How To Prepare Windows XP Bootable USB Stick

Step 1.

Firstly, download the software Win to Flash which does not need any installation. Just double-click the setup file and the following screen appears.
Head to the ‘Task’ tab and choose your task as the following. Choose the Task type as “Transfer Windows XP/2003 setup to flash” from the drop-down. Click the ‘Create’ button.
Click the ‘Next’ button to continue.
Select the source path of the Windows installation disk. Or, locate the path of the copy that is dumped at your hard drive as well as the path of your USB flash/pen drive.
Click the ‘Next’ button and wait until the bootable copy is prepared into your USB Flash drive.

Once completed, you can start installing Windows XP. It is a pretty easy to install the Windows XP operating system from that USB drive. Just boot your computer from that USB stick. To do that follow the steps below.
Related: How to Install Windows 8 from USB Stick.

How to Install Windows XP from USB Flash Drive

Step 2.
After preparing the bootable USB device (with any of the above processes), you need to boot your computer from the USB drive to start the setup process. Go through the following steps in order to boot your PC/Laptop from the removable device.

Press the F2 key (or the DELETE key, it varies with the brand of your computer mother board) to enter into the BIOS settings.
Head to the “Boot” menu and set the boot preference for the Removable disk as “First”.
Save the setup and exit by pressing the F10 key.

Setup Windows XP from Bootable USB Drive

Now your computer should boot from the USB/pen drive. Just follow the onscreen instruction to complete the setup.
Hope this helps to setup Windows XP in your desktops or laptops which do not have CD or DVD drive. You can just do it from a USB drive. You can also go through a longer but more reliable way to prepare bootable USB stick and setup Windows XP from the removable drive – Alternative Way to Install Windows XP from USB Drive(recommended).

Alternative Way to Install Windows XP from USB Drive

Tanmay Windows 92 Comments

I previously wrote an article on how to Install Windows XP from USB. That process allowed you to create a Windows XP Bootable USB Drive, similar to the XP installation media. All you needed to make the whole process successful was a PC/Laptop with CD/DVD Rom (Windows XP as the host OS). Once you make your USB stick ready to boot Windows XP, you can use it to install Windows XP at any computer though it does not have any optical disk drive.

Here, we’re introducing the best way to install Windows XP by creating a bootable USB drive using PeToUSB. Though this process is quite complex and lengthy it has a better result than the previous one.

Preparing the Bootable USB Drive to Install Windows XP from It

After going through the following steps, you can make your USB drive ready to start setting up Windows XP from it. Then you can start the steps to install Windows XP. Follow the step-by-step guides.
Requirements:
1. Manage to get a USB drive with at least 1 GB memory.

2. Download the file, XP_FROM_USB.rar from this download link.
Update: You should use a XP installed computer to prepare the USB stick.
The procedure:
Step 1: Extract the file XP_FROM_USB.rar in a folder, say, Softslas in your C: drive and open C:>Softslas > PeToUSB. Double-click on the ‘peToUSB.exe’ file.

A dialog window appears like this:
prepare the bootable USB Drive using PeToUsb

Set the following values (refer to the screenshot above):

Click on the ‘USB Removable’ radio button under the ‘Destination Drive’ section.
Tick the ‘Enable Disk Format’ check-box.
Check the boxes ‘Quick Format’ and ‘Enable LBA (FAT 16x)’.

Finally, put ‘XP-Softslas’ (or whatever you want) as the Drive Label and click the ‘Start’ button. Once clicked, a message box appears, click ‘Yes’.
PeToUsb message

Another message box appears again asking you to confirm the formatting of your USB stick. Click on the ‘Yes’ button.
format usb drive to prepare the bootable USB Stick

format usb drive to prepare the bootable USB Stick

Wait for a few seconds and the USB disk will be formatted.
Step 2: Open the Windows command prompt (press Win key + R, type ‘cmd’ and hit the Enter key) and execute the following commands one-by-one.
cd c:\softslas\bootsect
bootsect /nt52 I:
install windows xp from USB drive

Type cd.. and press the Enter key to change the base directory and run the following command.
cd usb_prep8
install windows xp from USB drive command 2

And finally, execute this command to initiate the preparation.
usb_prep8
install windows xp from bootable usb drive

Press any key to continue and the command prompt window will look like this.
setup windows xp from USB drive

Prepares Windows XP LocalSource for Copy to USB-Drive:

0) Change Type of USB-Drive, currently [USB-stick]
1) Change XP Setup Source Path, currently []
2) Change Virtual TempDrive, currently [T:]
3) Change Target USB-Drive Letter, currently []
4) Make New Tempimage with XP LocalSource and Copy to USB-Drive
5) Use Existing Tempimage with XP LocalSource and Copy to USB-Drive
F) Change Log File - Simple OR Extended, currently [Simple]
Q) Quit
Enter your choice: _

Step 3: Insert the Windows XP installation media in you optical disk drive and perform the following tasks into the command prompt console:

Type 1 and press ‘Enter’. Now browse the optical disk drive (CD/DVD drive) as the source path and click the ‘OK’ button.
Similarly, enter 2 at the choice prompt. If the letter ‘T’ is assigned your computer then change it. Otherwise, do not alter it. After typing 2 in the choice prompt, it will ask to enter available virtual drive letter. Here, type a letter that is not associated with any drive letter of your computer hard disk. Let’s say, S is not a drive letter in your computer. So put S and press ‘Enter’.
Now, it will prompt for the next choice. Type 3 and hit the ‘Enter’ key. Put the drive letter which represents the USB stick in your computer (open ‘My computer’ to see) and press ‘Enter’. Here, my USB drive label is I so, I put ‘I’.
Again, input 4 and press the Enter key. It creates the new temporary image and makes a copy of it to the USB Flash Drive.
Now you should wait for a few seconds and then follow the steps below. A warning message will appear like this: ‘WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE T: WILL BE LOST! Proceed with Format (Y/N)?’.
Type Y and press ‘Enter’, you will get the message ‘Please wait………’. After completion of the formatting process, it will display ‘Press any key to continue’. Hit any key wait for completing another session. (The ‘Please wait………’ message is displayed again).
Once completed, the ‘Press any key to continue’ message appears again. Just do that.

Step 4: Once everything go in the right way, a message box will appear showing ‘Copy TempDrive Files to USB-Drive in about 15 minutes = Yes OR STOP = End Program = No’. Click the ‘Yes’ button.
copy to bootable usb drive

After this, a message box appears asking, ‘Would you like USB stick to be preferred Boot Drive U?’. Click ‘Yes’ again. Another message appears asking, ‘Would you like to unmount the Virtual Drive?’.
Click the ‘Yes button and wait for some times and complete the onscreen instructions.

Now your USB stick is prepared. You can start the installation process.

How to Install Windows XP from the USB Drive

1. Insert your USB stick into the USB port and reboot your computer. At the starting, enter into the BIOS setup and set the first boot preference as USB Hard Disk. Save the settings and exit from the BIOS console. Your computer will reboot again and the following screen will appear.
Setup windows xp from usb drive phase 1

2. Choose the TXT Mode Setup and follow the onscreen instructions. After completion of the partition process, formatting the hard drive and copying files, the computer will restart again.
3. Now, choose the GUI Mode Setup option.
setup windows xp from bootable usb drive phase 2

setup windows xp from bootable usb drive phase 2

4. Wait for a while and your installation will be successfully completed.
There is another method by which you can do the same by creating a multiboot USB drive. Though this is pretty time-consuming technique, I’d still prefer this. Which technique do your prefer? Let us know through your comments.
You may also want to know about how to install Windows 7 from USB drive.

In windows 7 - I want to search for all files containing "A word or phrase in the file". The standard XP search box.

There is an option that seems to match what you're looking for:

If this was helpful, please vote by clicking the green triangle. If it solves the issue, click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

cmdrkeene.com
New to Windows 10? Open the "Get Started" app to get going fast with demos and more.

602 people found this helpful

AgentPete replied on

I've been looking into this because I know the search has been failing for me. I think the difference in whether Windows search works or not depends on the FILE EXTENSION which contains your search text. For example, if you look for the word "spam", it will be found if it is in a whatever.doc file, or whatever.txt file. However, if you were to rename the file to whatever.xyz, it will no longer find the word.
Here are all the steps I think you need to follow to actually search:
1. Make sure that Windows 7 is actually going to search files with your extension, and it appears that using this list properly is important *whether or not you are looking in an indexed location*!!
    a. Hit the start button and type "search" in the search box.
    b. Select "Change How Windows Searches"
    c. Hit "Advanced"
    d. Select the "File Types" tab.
    e. Make sure the file extension for the files you want to search in is on the list *and* is set to "Index Properties and File Contents" (yes, pick your jaw up off the floor). I know this appears to be for file indexing, but it does seem to make a difference on whether you find the file in non-indexed locations as well.
    f. Say "Ok" and exit all the dialog boxes

2. Actually perform your search on the folder in question. Depending on some other settings you may have to type "content: spam" to find "spam" *in* the files instead of files with the word "spam" in the name. Alternately, if you press the "Alt" key when you're exploring in the folder, you can choose "Tools / Folder Options" go to the "Search" tab and select "Always search file names and contents".

If what I have written is actually correct, then IMHO Microsoft has coughed up the ball bigtime on this one. Personally, I now recognize that I can't use the search feature, and I'm installing Cygwin so I can use "grep" to search the contents of files. Not cool and not amused.

TomZork,
Welcome to the Microsoft Answers Community.
Another user had a similar question which was answered here. I hope this helps!

Here ia a quote of what you sent me to that you had written:

Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Answers Community.
In Windows Explorer, click the search box, and start typing (or you can press the Windows logo key +F to bring up search). The search box filters the current view based on the text that you type. Files are displayed as search results if your search term matches the file's name, tags or other properties, or even the text inside a text document.
If you're searching for a file based on a property (such as the file's type), you can narrow the search before you start typing by clicking the search box, and then clicking one of the properties just below the search box. This adds a search filter (such as "type") to your search text, which will give you more accurate results.
If you aren't seeing the file you're looking for, you can change the entire scope of a search by clicking one of the options at the bottom of the search results. For example, if you search for a file in the Documents library but you can't find it, you can click Libraries to expand the search to the rest of your libraries.
Also, you can use the following syntax for searching: “*”.
For example:
i. *234033 -> searches for file which has the content 234033
ii. 234033*. -> searches for files which starts with 234033

So Lisa, perhaps being naive and thinking this that you sent me might be helpful and at least address my question of finding "all files containing "A word or phrase in the file" , I could only assume that 234033 is the text I was searching for. So I put 234033 inside a text file on my desktop, saved it and then a search for it. And it can't find it. So then I tried *234033-> and *234033 -> and still didn't find it. Then I put the file with that text in the My Documents folder - still can't find it.

The other reply from Thahaseena M - I had already tried that one. But just for grins 234033 by itself didn't work.

Lisa, so looking quite clearly at the question I asked - did you knowingly point me to a worthless post or am I too dense to understand that yes I can search for a file containing 234033 inside it but I just can't understand your directions? If the former, and if one can't search for a file with "A word or phrase in the file" why not? Please escalate why anyone would want to remove this ability from a computer? And where do we write to get this added back?
Hannes3 replied on

To find "phrase in the file" type content:"phrase in the file" in the searchbox.

222 people found this helpful

Hi Tom,
Thanks for replying and sorry if the redirect post caused some confusion. I created different files in Word and Excel with the word “celebrate” in the body as a test (not included in the file name). In the search box of Windows Explorer, I typed “celebrate*” and all files containing “celebrate” came up.
Can you tell me if the search is failing to bring up a specific file type, or is this the case across all types?
Also, when you performed the search, did you highlight desktop in the navigation pane of windows explorer and type in the search bar, or did you use Windows key + F?

Lisa
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

7 people found this helpful

I'm curious - There is a search option that says "Add a Search Filter" but it only displays "Date Modified" and "Size". Even after using content, it is does not show content. How many filters are there and what causes some to display but not others?

1. Any way I tried it, your suggestions did not work for finding text in a file.

content: was required.

2. There is a "pop down" search option that says "Add a Search Filter" but it only displays "Date Modified" and "Size". Even after using content, it is does not show content. How many filters are there? And what causes some to display (date modified and size) but not others? If this is part of that balogna called "Personalized Menus" how do I turn that off?

"To find "phrase in the file" type content:"phrase in the file" in the searchbox."

Another wonderful example of the stupid thought that went into the windows search function introduced with Vista: add extra steps to EVERYTHING that used to make sense about using windows.

This example indicates I have to type 10 extra keystrokes. How does this explain the obvious improvements in the windows search app? STUPID!

And who's ridiculous idea was it to remove the ability to search the current folder? The interface functionality of the windows XP search app is still far superior to this worthless piece of ____.

I often use an old version of PowerDesk for vista and now 7 to search like an adult windows user. Slower, but I find what I am looking for without all the extra clicks, extra characters, and lousy results.

Which type of search/find function do Macs have? I assume it is similar to the new windows search.

Next step: back to command line, and '>searchFile -name:"*.*" -content:"123456" -sortBy:"date" -order:"ascendant"' ?
Btw, these "200% computer-programmers idea" keywords seem to be translated in non-english versions of Seven. Not only do we have to guess which filtering options are available, we also have to guess what translation has been chosen for our language.
In (excuse my) French, "content:" keyword becomes "contenu:".
XP's search item in contextual menu was way more intuitive.

Windows Search always searches the current folder (and subfolders). For example, if you were in your Documents folder, the search box would say "Search Documents...". If you want to search your entire computer, open Computer first (or use the Start Search box).

You don't need to type content:whatever becauase Windows will always search in the content (although using content: will help by excluding any filename matches and tell it to only search by content).

As for the filters, it shows the most popular ones, but there are dozens more.

And to answer the question, yes this is how Spotlight search on Mac works now, too.

If this was helpful, please vote. If it solves the issue, please click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

cmdrkeene.com
New to Windows 10? Open the "Get Started" app to get going fast with demos and more.

5 people found this helpful

There's dozens (maybe over 100) of filters. Unfortunately no UI is implimented for selecting them, so you have to just know what to type (which is annoying!). Also, the syntax has changed. Windows always assumes wildcards, so you never have to type *term* to find variations of a word or file name. If you don't want the implied wildcard, search for "term" with quotes.

Plus, it won't work to search for *.doc to find all DOC files. I think you have to type type:doc or something similar. Annoying!

How to Search for Text Inside of Any File Using Windows Search

Many of us rely on Windows Search to find files and launch programs, but searching for text within files is limited to specific filetypes by default. Here’s how you can expand your search to include other text based files.
We have shown you some advanced search operators using Windows Search before and even how to change which files are indexed and how to rebuild your search index. But what about searching for text inside of .html, .php, .js, and other text based web and scripting files? Windows search also allows you to include other file extensions with a few simple clicks.
This should work on Windows 10, 8, 7, or Vista the same way. The screens might look a little different, but it’s the same process on all versions.

Searching For Text Inside of a File

First, go to your control panel and open the indexing options. The easiest way to find it is to just search for “indexing” in the search box.

Now click on advanced and then file types in the new window.

Find the extension of the file you would like to search the contents of and then click on the index properties and file contents radio button at the bottom of the window.
The filter description column should automatically changed to whatever filter is used to open that filetype by default.

If the filetype you are looking for is not in the list it means you do not have a program set as the default handler for that filetype. You can add the extension to the list and by default Windows Search will use a plain text filter to search the file contents.

If you search for text inside one of the new filetypes it should now show up in your search results, once the index is done being rebuilt.

If you’d like to always search within file contents for a specific folder, navigate to the folder you want search contents for and click organize then folder and search options.

Click on the search tab and then click the always search file names and contents radio button.

The index will need to be rebuilt again and once it’s done your searches will automatically look in file content.

How to Make Windows 7 Search File Contents

Two Methods:Enable Widespread Content-Searching Enable Content-Searching for a Specific File Type Community Q&A

Trying to find a document that you can't remember the file name, but know the contents of? Windows 7 does not always automatically search file contents, especially when it comes to more obscure files. This means if you type in a search term, it will search file titles, but not actually look through what is in each document. To enable either general content-searching (best for common file types) or file-specific content-searching (best for unusual file types), use one of the guides below.

Method 1
Enable Widespread Content-Searching

1

Right-click the Start button and select Open Windows Explorer.
2

Press Alt. This will cause a toolbar to appear near the top of the Windows Explorer window.
3

Go to Tools > Folder Options.
4

Under the Search tab, click Always search file names and content. Allowing this to process might take several minutes.
5

Press OK.
6

Run a test search. Go to Start and type a keyword in the Search Programs and Files box. The results should contain the keyword in more than just the title.

Method 2
Enable Content-Searching for a Specific File Type

1

Go to Start and find the Search Programs and Files box.
2

Type "search" then choose the result Change How Windows Searches.
3

Click the Advanced button just below the list of indexed locations.
4

Go to the File Types tab.
5
Select the desired extension and click Index Properties and File Contents to enable content-searching. If you want to search the contents of Excel files, for example, scroll down to .xlsx.
- If the extension is not listed, enter your desired file extension, such as ".php," into the input box at the bottom and click Add.
6

Press OK.

6 Ways to Play Android Games on Windows PC

It is not always possible to go with the installation and un-installation processes for checking each and every app on your smart phone or tablet. Better, you find some way to play the Android Games on a Windows PC which have a sufficient memory and space.

Playing Android Games on a Windows PC is not so hard as Intel has decided to launch “Dual OS” PC with Windows 8 and Android platform. This lets you booting your computer directly into the Android system, hence installing the apps or games on your PC. But, you won’t have to buy a new PC only for the purpose of playing a Game. Plenty of Android app emulators are available to run Android Games and Apps in almost all Windows environment.
In this article, we’ve brought 6 various ways to play Android Games on Windows 7, Windows 8 and even on Windows XP. Not only the games but you can also run any Android app at the Windows system.

1. Install BlueStacks to Play Android Games on PC

BlueStacks is a Android emulator which does not actually replace your operating system. Rather, it acts just like another software which is easy to install. Once you install it, you can run BlueStacks into a separate window at your Windows desktop.
play-android-games-on-pc-using-bluestacks

play-android-games-on-pc-using-bluestacks

The BlueStacks environment is very similar to that of Android. It allows you to connect with Google Play store and install the apps and games at you emulator. If you grab the APK file from your friends device or download it from somewhere else, you can still install that game/app at your computer using BlueStacks. Thus, you can install and play any android game at your Windows computer. This way you can also run WhatsApp on a PC.

2. Install Android SDK to run Android Games on PC

Another alternative is the Android SDK, the official emulator for the Android app developers by Google. This tool is not a suitable choice for the daily use as it is slower and difficult to configure. This is actually useful for the developers to test the apps.
official-android-SDK

If you are willing to go with it, download the Google’s Android SDK and open the SDK manager program. Now, select Tools > Manage AVDs. Here, you can create the Android Virtual Device with your own configuration. Once created, click the ‘Start’ button to launch it.

3. Play Android games on Genymotion, an alternative to BlueStacks

Another Android emulator is Genymotion which is quite impressive with its speed and features. It can be considered as the best alternative of BlueStacks.
It allows drag-and-drop installation of apps and games. You can test any app or game in a big screen. It also supports the sensor system and open GL.
You can download Genymotion from here.

4. Run Android Apps and Games from your Browser

Unlike the above desktop based Android emulators, Manymo which is a browser based emulator does not require any installation or complex configuration to run the Android apps. Just browse this link and upload your app to test. The interesting thing about Manymo is that you can embed any Android app or game at any webpage by using this browser based emulator.
manymo

5. Use Android X-86
This is a the desktop version of the Android OS which can be run natively in AMD and Intel processors. You can install this version just like you install the Windows or Linux operating systems in your x-86 based computers.
android-x-86

As Android X-86 is a community project, it currently supports a few number of devices like Del Inspiron Mini Duo, Samsung Q1U, ASUS Eee PCs, Viliv S5, Lenovo ThinkPad x61 Tablet and Viewsonic Viewpad 10.
Another interesting thing about Android X-86 is that you can install it on a virtual machine using VMware or Virtual box.
6. Use Live Android to run Android Games on PC
Live Android is another complete OS for Android games and apps which can boot separately in a laptop or desktop computer. As it is an OS, you can also install it in VMware or Virtual Box to test the Android apps and games.
live-android

Conclusion:
A lot of Android emulators has been available from the past few years but to be frank, they did not have any purpose. The touch screens with Windows 8 and Tablets gave a reason of using them to test various Android games and apps out of almost 750000 in count.