HD searches take 1/2 hour?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

I was searching for some folders on my HD that contained a certain
phrase yesterday, including the hidden files, and the search took over
1/2 hour. I have a Intel Pentium IV computer, with 25 GB of stuff,
mostly digital photos. I noticed that the search didn't even get into
the photos for quite some time, maybe 20 minutes.

Is this amount of time typical for a complete search?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

You don't give much info, so getting even a "guess" of an answer is not
likely.

What type of maintenance program do you have ( how often do you defrag, run
chkdisk, etc)?

Are there many compressed files/folders on the HDD?

What is the capacity of your HDD? What is the speed of your processor? How
much RAM do you have installed? What are your pagefile settings?

Bobby



"Edw. Peach" <bogus_addie@none.net> wrote in message
news:73vfl050mc8otg0gj1i5f01p9ca79fnoft@4ax.com...
>I was searching for some folders on my HD that contained a certain
> phrase yesterday, including the hidden files, and the search took over
> 1/2 hour. I have a Intel Pentium IV computer, with 25 GB of stuff,
> mostly digital photos. I noticed that the search didn't even get into
> the photos for quite some time, maybe 20 minutes.
>
> Is this amount of time typical for a complete search?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

That is pretty typical for a search that is looking for a
phrase in the content. For "files and folders named..."
the search only has to traverse the directory structure.
For content searches it has to open each file and search
through the data. Essentially, it has to search nearly
the entire used disk surface.

In advanced options, unchecking "Search system folders"
and "Hidden files and folders" will help, but specifying
the type of file (if you know it) will help even more.

Mike
>-----Original Message-----
>I was searching for some folders on my HD that contained
a certain
>phrase yesterday, including the hidden files, and the
search took over
>1/2 hour. I have a Intel Pentium IV computer, with 25
GB of stuff,
>mostly digital photos. I noticed that the search didn't
even get into
>the photos for quite some time, maybe 20 minutes.
>
>Is this amount of time typical for a complete search?
>.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Thanks. I needed to search the hidden and system files, as I was
looking for something that I think might be spyware on my HD.

That's all I needed to know.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Yes. It goes faster if you defragment your hard drive very regularly.

"Edw. Peach" <bogus_addie@none.net> wrote in message
news:73vfl050mc8otg0gj1i5f01p9ca79fnoft@4ax.com...
>I was searching for some folders on my HD that contained a certain
> phrase yesterday, including the hidden files, and the search took over
> 1/2 hour. I have a Intel Pentium IV computer, with 25 GB of stuff,
> mostly digital photos. I noticed that the search didn't even get into
> the photos for quite some time, maybe 20 minutes.
>
> Is this amount of time typical for a complete search?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Ad-aware SE - Download - Home Page
Application to scan and remove Spyware, Adware, hijackers and other
malicious software.

Instructions - Install, Update and Run. Remove all Spyware items it finds.
To select all items for removal right-click on any of the found items and
left-click "Select All".

Notes - Tough to remove Spyware may require a more thorough scan. If there
are still Spyware infections left that can not be removed, reboot your
computer into safe mode by holding the Ctrl key down during boot up and
selecting "Safe Mode" from the menu. In safe mode do another Ad-aware scan
and remove the remaining Spyware infections.

Spybot - Search and Destroy - Download - Home Page
Application to scan and remove Spyware, Adware, hijackers and other
malicious software.

Instructions - Install (Do not install the Teatimer), select "Update",
"Search For Updates", check the box next to each update and then select
"Download Updates" Then select "Search and Destroy", "Check for problems"
and after scanning is complete "Fix selected problems". Then select
"Immunize" and then the "Immunize" button to block common Spyware programs
from installing themselves in the future.

SpywareBlaster - Download - Home Page
Application to prevent the installation of Active-X based Spyware, adds
additional protection to Spybot's Immunize feature.

Instructions - Install, select "Updates", "Check for Updates". Then select
"Protection" and finally "Enable All Protection"

Notes - Updating and running both Ad-aware and Spybot weekly will catch 99%
of all the Spyware that is out there. Use Spybot's Immunize feature in
combination with SpywareBlaster to prevent future infection.

MSJVM Removal Tool - Download - Home Page
One of the worst Spyware infections (CoolWebSearch) occurs due to an exploit
in Microsoft's discontinued Java Virtual Machine. To protect yourself
uninstall MSJVM using this tool and install Sun's Java J2SE v1.4.2_xx JRE
instead. If you have any problems use Sun's Java Upgrade Guide.

"Edw. Peach" <bogus_addie@none.net> wrote in message
news:73vfl050mc8otg0gj1i5f01p9ca79fnoft@4ax.com...
>I was searching for some folders on my HD that contained a certain
> phrase yesterday, including the hidden files, and the search took over
> 1/2 hour. I have a Intel Pentium IV computer, with 25 GB of stuff,
> mostly digital photos. I noticed that the search didn't even get into
> the photos for quite some time, maybe 20 minutes.
>
> Is this amount of time typical for a complete search?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Along with all the other advice, use Agent Ransack.
www.agentransack.com

"Edw. Peach" <bogus_addie@none.net> wrote in message
news:73vfl050mc8otg0gj1i5f01p9ca79fnoft@4ax.com...
> I was searching for some folders on my HD that contained a certain
> phrase yesterday, including the hidden files, and the search took over
> 1/2 hour. I have a Intel Pentium IV computer, with 25 GB of stuff,
> mostly digital photos. I noticed that the search didn't even get into
> the photos for quite some time, maybe 20 minutes.
>
> Is this amount of time typical for a complete search?