Win10 search and other faults

[toast1]

Questions about Win10.

 

Often search does not work in Win10, particularly for files in DropBox. If I have used them recently they come up, but sometimes they don't even appear when I search from the start menu then go to documents.

So I have to open the DropBox folder and search from there. But sometimes even this does not work, the Word files just do not come up in the search.

Is there a way to fix this - or is this normal?
Perhaps its a corruption problem and an OS reinstall or clean install is necessary.

 

 

When searching from the Start menu, is there a key command that allows me to search documents, web etc. instead of having to do this with a mouse?

 

Finally

How do I turn on voice search with Cortina? Right now I have to click on the microphone icon, can't work out how to get it to work on voice command.

Thanks for your help

 

 

 

[chrisinth]

With reference to Dropbox, are you setup for a local copy of your files or On-line only access? If on-line only then the actual files will be being saved in the cloud with only a marker on your actual computer. Until of course you open a file and then it will be downloaded from the cloud for you to access and modify, maintaining a copy on your computer.

 

As for Cortana (I normally either disable or remove when setting up computers), as far as I am aware this service is not available if your computer region is setup for Thailand. Try changing the computer's region to United States and try to open the microphone again.

 

Changing the region won't break the operating system......................

[Greyhat]

The first thing I do when I have a fresh install of windows 10 is install "Classic Shell". This essentially returns the start menu back to how it was in windows 7 (actually it's a lot more customisable). I've heard other people complain about the search function with windows 10 but I've never experienced any problems or even understand what people are talking about because I use this software, it hasn't changed for me since windows 7. Perhaps you can try it and see if it helps.

[Farangwithaplan]

OP, there is a search function available even with Cortana turned off. What you are experiencing may be signs of a corrupt index or index service not running. Here is a link. I had a quick look through it and it looks thorough and you should be able to follow it easily. If not, ask a question here. https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-fix-windows-10-search-issues-by-rebuilding-index/

 

If it is not that, I'm not sure what it might be. Just know that indexing time is based on how many individual fils your computer has on its drives. The reindexing stops working every time you do anything like move a mouse, type or search on the web. So it is best to just leave the computer to run overnight (or a few nights) until it is complete. Using the computer when reindex is running will not hurt anything, it will just stop doing its thing until you stop doing what you are doing.

 

Good luck.

[Daffy D]

I use a little free tool called "Search Everything"  https://www.voidtools.com/

 

It's quicker and finds more stuff than the Windows search function.

 

Just as an extra, a couple of times I've found it useful for finding and deleting some hard to remove leftovers from a couple of nasty progs.

 

[lungbing]

Another vote for "Search Everything"

[toast1]

Thanks for the info.

I haven't used "Classic Shell" for a while, it was great.

I will try fixing the index also