Searching

Searching
Searching
Today's computers allow us to store a great deal of information. Because of this, we suggest you keep your information well-classified and organized so that finding it is an easy process. Despite having the information well-clasified, it can happen that sometimes we cannot find a file or folder. When this occurs, we can resort to the Search function provided by Windows to locate the file or folder quickly.
The search provided by Windows XP also allows us to search for hardware, a network, people in the directory, Internet pages, etc. We will further discuss this later
Searching
1. Click Start
2. Select on the menu Search.
The general search page will be displayed as shown below.
If you look closely you will notice that it is the same window as the windows explorer, but instead of showing folders it shows the search companion. If you are already in the explorer it is not necessary that you click on Start and then on theSearch menu; simply click on on the standard bar.
First we need to choose one of the options presented, depending on what we are looking for. Images..., Documents..., Files..., Hardware..., Search Internet, The first three search options are similar and we will see them now grouped into one.
Searching   Searching Files or Folders   By choosing All files and folders a screen will appear so that we can give more information on what we are looking for.   Searching for Files and Folder   In the first box we will put All or part of the file name that we are looking for, and then windows will show us files or folders that contain the characters that we have typed. The more detailed the name the more concise the search will be, thus facilitating the search.   In the box A word or phrase in the file we can type the text that the file we are looking for should contain. It is not always convenient to use this box because this significantly slows down the process as it looks for that word or phrase in each file.   In the box Look in we can indicate in which unit we wish to look for the file or folder.   Click Search to start the search. In the event that Windows does not find anything, it will notify you in the window to the right with a message saying that the search has ended and that there are no results to show   While it is carrying out the search, we can stop the search by clicking Stop, either because we have found what we were looking for or because we made a mistake on the search. With the questions that follow we have the possibility of searching by the date it was last modified, size, and other advanced options, such as differentiating between capital letters or lower case letters.   The search results will appear on the right side of the window.The operations we carry out on the files or folders found by the search are the same ones that we can do on any other file or folder. We can copy, delete, change name, etc... In dealing with the Windows Explorer we can do the operations talked about in Unit 4 WindowsXP Explorer, that is to say that we can customize the results window, choose the fields we wish to see, choose the type of view, etc   For Animated Presentation (With Voice)Click Here.   Searching for Hardware If your computer is connected to a network, this option will be useful since it will allow you to access the resources that are shared by other computers within the network. A printerthat is connected to another computer, for example, can be used by your computer as long as you have the required permission.   To use this option you need to do the following: 1. Click Start.   2. Select the option Search.   Once the window has opened choose Computers or people and then A computer on the network, and the next window will open up.       Searching   Searching for People   If you have Outlook or another similar program it is probable that you have an address book, which is like an agenda. This option allows you to search for the name of a person in the address book. 1. Click Start. 2. Select on the menu Search. Once the window is open select Computers or people and then People in your address book, the following window will open     3. On the box Look in: we need to indicate if we want to search in the address book of our computer or in the address book of other people through Internet, which will appear by clicking on the arrow to the right.   Next we need to indicate some search criteria, such as name, the email address, thephone number, etc. If we enter various criteria it is necessary for them to coincide in order to show the result.   Once entered we can click Find now to begin the search.   If you wish to delete the search information that you entered to do another search, clickClear All.     Searching on the Internet   Display the Start menu and select the option Search on the Internet from the Search menu. Having done this, an Internet search page will open up, such as MSN Search orSurway.com, which will allow you to look for particular pages online. Simply type the address and click on search.   The other option to search on the Internet is much less complicated. It consists of typing what you are searching for on the Address bar of Windows explorer and then clicking on the green arrow to the right.