search/indexing 8.1 doesn't find files

after updating to 8.1, windows search is slow, even though I disabled Bing and I don't have extra locations in the index, and it doesn't find files even though they are in subfolders of My Documents. This problem is very outstanding with Word files.

I tried deleting the Data folder, and rebuilding the index, but to no avail.

I need a way to search for text within files, so the "Everything" app does not seem to be the solution.
I am trying out AgentRansack right now, and it does work, but it is slow and uses up almost all the CPU when it is searching.

best thing would be to fix windows search

^^^

trying out AgentRansack right now, and it does work

Click to expand...

Hello, yes, Agent is 'terribly' good at finding stuff, I personally gladly trade some speed for reliability and ease of use compared to w search. For 'content search' remember to set a few criteria (if practical), see example in attachment (you may be doing this already, then please disregard this comment). That search took 10 seconds, without the criteria it may take an hour while it ransacks many file types not likely to contain anything one is looking for.

Some other member here may shed some light on your w8 problem. Good luck.

Even better, use FileSearchEX.

4wd, thanks, I did discover that narrowing down the search speeds up the search enormously, and makes the tool quite usable.

the easiest way I know, go into Windows file explorer and select something like My Documents, or Dropbox, and then start up AgentRansack with a right mouse-click, it will then search only in the select area, with impressive results. Tell me if you have a better way to do it

pcunite, thanks, I will have to check that app out!

I just found another app that searches in the contents of files, and it builds its own indexing base, so it is real fast.
Copernic Desktop Search.
the free version limits you to 7000 files and an index file of 2 gb, but that is more than enough for the folders I need to index.
It works good with windows 8.1

well, I figured out the whole problem why windows indexing wasn't working.

It's because I have a dual boot and each one of them has a windows 8 installation. For some reason, indexing identified the other installation, which I never use, and indexed it instead. Despite all my efforts I could not teach it to index the active installation.

So I deleted the other installation, which I don't use anyway, and rebuilt the index, and now everything works.

Necroposting and repeat posting but I think it's worth it ...

I too had unreasonably slow Windows Search in Windows 8.1. For me the solution was to delete

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\edb.chk

I noticed that this file's description said it contained recovered file fragments so I just nuked it as an experiment. It worked! I guess if the search index gets corrupted then it goes and finds the corruptions and recovers them to this file. And then doesn't use them very intelligently, evidently. Humph. When I deleted mine it was only 8 Kb (yes, Kb, not Mb!) but once it was gone, indexing was free to run at its old accustomed normal speed. Rebuilding the entire index also generally solves the problem, but that can take hours and you lose indexing capacity in the meantime.

Might work for you, give it a try. Moving the file to the Recycle Bin was sufficient, so you can always restore it to its original location if the trick doesn't work.