Windows 7: Search does not find files that it should, directory is indexed, and *.php included on the extension list

Just to add to JM's remarks, to search for an .avi file, you can use the search term ext:avi. 'ext' is an acceptable abbreviation for the file attribute extension, and the syntax attribute:value will find all files with that value for that attribute. To find that particular video, then, I would have entered as the serach term name:image ext:avi. ****

Oh dear, MaDTWiCH.   It's a pity you didn't read this thread properly before posting such rubbish.  Windows Search is a very sophisticated tool.  If you just typed "image" in the search box, of course it would find all the images it could.  It would also find all files tagged with the word "image", and with "image" in the title or caption tag fields (which you can modify using Movie Maker and Photo Gallery).  That's what it's supposed to do.

If you want to find a file called "The Image", you have to type - surprise, surprise - "The Image" - in quotation marks, so Search knows all you're looking for is a name.

If all you knew was that the file contained the word "Image", you could tell Search that by specifying name:~=image, which means find files whose name contains the word "image".  Even *image would find the file for you.

I just tested the above using movie and picture files that I modified for the occasion, just to reassure myself that at least I'm not talking out of my backside.

To use Search, you need a bit of common sense.  It helps also if you are prepared to make just a little effort to learn how to use it properly.  There's plenty of information referenced in my and other posts above.

Linux has locate, find, and grep, all of which are good in their own way, and fast.  None of them is as capable as Search.

Finally, Search indexes files in the libraries by default, so that's the easiest way to set up what you want to search.  However, files do not have to be in libraries; if you search from Computer you can find any file anywhere by name and simple property.  Also you can set up folders to be indexed by using (surprise!) Control Panel | Indexing Options.  Select Modify and check the locations you want.

I can't believe I'm bothering to go through all this again yet again after all the posts above.  If I can find all the relevant information online and work out how Search operates, surely you can?    Obviously not.

Just a simple question from a simple mind...IS MS KIDDING WITH THIS THING?? A File Manager system that refuses to let you work on files. You have to go through the windows Library system to get to your files. You have to use the search command to find your files, and then the search command will not find the file you are looking for. It will find the type of file that Bill Gates THINKS you should be looking for. I did a search on a movie..This is an AVI file... Called "The Image" so what comes up? Every DAM jpg & gif file on the system. Never did find the movie. ;( As bad jokes go this is not that funny; as an OS it is a great advertisement for Linux. ;(

A couple more notes on getting Search working:

1. If you use File Explorer and go into View | Options | Change folder and search options, then select the Search tab, there is a check-box (second one down) to select "Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files (searches might take longer)".  For some obscure reason (this is on Windows 8, not sure about Windows 7),checking or unchecking this box produces different search behaviour even for the non-system files.  If you are having difficulty, changing this option could be worth trying.
2. Someone may already have mentioned this, but the security properties on the folders/files you want indexed must include the SYSTEM group name (to which I gave Full Permissions).  I was wondering why nothing I searched for in my libraries would turn up, and the reason turned out to be that somehow the SYSTEM group had been removed from all the "My ..." folders.
3. @Brian100:  For the contents of PDF files to be indexed, you either have to have installed Adobe Reader (32-bit system) or the Adobe 64-bit IFilter (see above for details) for 64-bit Windows.  Also you need to check in Indexing Options | Advanced | File Types that PDF files have the Filter Description "PDF Filter".  Also, note that only about the first 8 MB of a PDF are indexed, although Microsoft don't document this anywhere (that's roughly the first 800-900 pages of a document).
4. @Brian100:  Using Microsoft Office 2010, I tried sending myself some test e-mails (to and from different e-mail addresses) with TIFF files attached.  Once Search had had time to index the files, I had no problem finding them or the relevant e-mails.  I haven't had any problem with files saved from Windows Photo Viewer either.  So I don't have any real solution for you, I'm afraid.  I know this is extreme, but you would probably find your problems went away if you reinstalled Windows (ouch!).  It's for situations like this that I maintain two system backups on an external drive (using EaseUS ToDo), one taken just after installation of Windows and basic applications (e.g. Microsoft Office), and one recent.  Then it only takes an hour or so to regain a good system, much quicker and easier than reinstalling from scratch.  Data is on a different partition, so is unaffected.

Good luck!