Windows search frustation

Hello,

I just gave up figuring this out myself. I hope some of you are able to solve my problem.
I want Windows search to list my installed programs under 'apps', which is currently not the case.

I often come across software packages that are simple zip files and must be unzipped.
I've installed the sysinternalsSuite (a package that I really love) and Eclipse (java dev environment).
As a result I now have for example:
C:\Program Files\SysinternalsSuite\procexp.exe
OR
C:\Program Files\eclipse-jee-juno\eclipse.exe

I'd expect these programs to show up when I do a windows search... but that's not the case.
I can change the file indexing options to include the new folders (but do I need to do that for each newly installed program??) and I'll find the files under Files, but not under Apps.

Is it possible what I'm asking ?
Or what approach do you recommend ?


Thanks in advance for your answers !

Hi Feniks and welcome to Eightforums.

I think this will solve your problem.

1. Unzip the programs to the destination of your choice (you've already did that).
2. Create a link to the .exe in Start. Use this tutorial: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2352-start-screen-pin-unpin-app-folder-drive-windows-8-a.html
3. I guess that during the next update cycle of Windows Seach the link in Start is beeing scanned.
4. In that case you should be able to use the seach modus to launch the programs.


Good luck trying!

Nice tip. Thanks for mentioning this.
I tried this, and it seems to solve the problem.

So what I did was creating a subfolder in the Start Menu:
C:\Users\feniks\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\MyPrograms

In that folder I can now add shortcuts to the programs I want to appear in the windows app search results.
Note however that adding a shortcut to a folder (like the sysinternals folder which contains about 70 utility programs) does not work, as only the foldername would appear in the search results. So the search engine (or rather the indexing tool) does not follow shortcuts.

I solved that by creating another folder in MyPrograms named Systinternals. In that folder I added shortcuts for all of the 70 utility programs (luckily windows allows bulk creation of shortcuts).

So this approach solves my problem.
However I find it pretty painful that I need to do all of this manually. And every time I'll install a new program (which happens in my case rather often) I have to create these shortcuts.

So I'm wondering if there isn't another solution.
I could add my 'manually installed' programs directly in the start Menu, but that does not really feel right.

Any other recommendations on this ?

Kind regards,
Feniks