Searching for Information Tutorial 6 Microsoft Windows XP Searching for Information New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP Search Strategies As you install programs and store data on your computer, the number of files and folders you have increases Use the Search tool to find any kind of file The Search tool provides many options that help you define and narrow your search so you can quickly find one or more files The Search Companion in Windows XP guides you through your search, offering options that change depending on your search strategy New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP Search Strategies Search by: Filename: provide all or part of the filename Keyword: provide text that appears in the file’s content Location: identify the drive or folder containing the file Date: specify a date or range of dates when files were created, modified, or accessed Size: specify the size of the files Type: identify the file type, such as .doc or .bmp New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

The Search Companion Pane in the Search Results Window New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Search Companion Options Search options: Pictures, music, or video Documents (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) All files and folders Computers or people Information in Help and Support Center Search the Internet Change Preferences New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP Search Criteria All or part of the filename A word or phrase in the file Look in When was it modified? What size is it? More advanced options New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for a File by Name and Location Any letter or words you type to define the search are called a search string. Effective search strings Use the root of your search word as your criterion Topic: education Search string: “educ” Finds: education, educational issues, educators, etc. New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for a File by Name Click the Start button and then click Search In the Search Companion, click All files and folders In the All or part of the filename text box, type the complete filename or a word or phrase the filename contains Click the Look in lost arrow, and then click the drive or folder you want to search, or click My Computer to select all the drives on your computer Click the Search button in the Search Companion pane New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for a File by Name New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Opening a File Located by Search Double-click the file you wish to open in the right pane of the Search Results window New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP Using Wildcards Wildcards are characters hat you can substitute for all or part of a filename in a search string Search recognizes two wildcards The asterisk wildcard stands in place of any number of consecutive characters in a filename The question mark is used to select files when one character in the filename varies New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Finding Files by Keyword A keyword is a search string contained anywhere in a file The Search Companion searches through the entire text of every file to find the keyword Searching by keyword can be time-consuming You can speed the search process by using the Indexing Service to index a disk New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for Files in a Specific Folder Start Search and then click All files and folders in the Search Companion pane Click the Look in list arrow Click Browse at the bottom of the list In the Browse for Folder dialog box, click the plus box next to the drive containing the folder you want to search New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for Files in a Specific Folder If the folder is in the root directory of the drive, click the folder icon. If the folder is a subfolder, navigate to the appropriate folder Click OK and then click the Search button in the Search Companion pane New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP Refining a Search You can locate a file using criteria other than the filename or contents By Date By Type By Size Using Multiple Criteria New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Saving Search Settings In the Search Results window, click File on the menu bar, and then click Save Search Click the Save in list arrow, and then select the location you wish to save to In the File name text box, type the name you wish to save your search as, and then click the Save button New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for Information on the Internet A search service is a Web site that helps you find information on the Internet A search engine searches through Internet documents and compiles a list of Web pages MSN Yahoo Google New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Popular Search Services AltaVista Ask Jeeves Direct Hit Google HotBot MSN Northern Light Yahoo! New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for Web Pages with the Search Companion Make sure you are connected to the Internet Click the Start button on the taskbar, and then click Search. In the Search Companion pane, click Search the Internet In the Search Companion pane text box, type the text you wish to search for and then click the Search button New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for Web Pages with the Search Companion New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for People on the Internet You can also use the Search tool to search for information on the Internet about specific people Click the Start button on the taskbar, and then click Search In the Search Companion pane, click Search the Internet, type find a person’s address in the What are you looking for? text box, and then click the Search button New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for People on the Internet In the Search Companion pane, click Find contact information for a person Fill in the person’s first name, last name, city, and state, and then click the Search button New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Searching for People on the Internet New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP Searching for a Map Start the Search tool and then click Search the Internet In the Search Companion, type find a map and then click the Search button In the Search Companion pane, click Find a map of a place Enter your address, city, and country in the appropriate text boxes Click the Search button New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP Searching for a Map New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Changing Search Preferences You can customize the way the Search tool finds information and the appearance of the Search Companion pane itself Another feature you can customize is the search engine the Search tool uses to search the Internet To change search preferences, click the Start button on the taskbar, and then click Search In the Search Companion pane, click Change preferences New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Changing Search Preferences New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP

Search Preference Options With or without an animated screen character With a different character With or without the Indexing Service Change files and folders search behavior Change Internet search behavior Show or don’t show balloon tips Turn AutoComplete off or on New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP