Yesterday, we looked at how to control privacy and history in your Windows Search settings. Click here to read that article.
Today, we’ll check out more options to control where you search.
Next, we’ll explore Settings. To open, click in the search box.
The search box will open.
At the top right, click the three-dot menu icon. Choose Search Settings.
Click on Searching Windows.
The first thing you’ll see at the top of the page is your indexing status. Indexing is when your PC looks at , email messages, and other content on your PC and records the information. When you search your PC after indexing, your computer finds it faster.
This process happens constantly in the background unless you turn it off. As you can see, there are a few pieces of new information on my computer that haven’t been indexed yet.
Your next option is to choose where to search for files. By default, your PC is set to classic and searches only libraries and the desktop for folders.
Click on Customize search locations under Classic to change where your PC searches.
Click on Modify to make changes.
Click on Enhanced to search the entire PC. This can take some time.
Some folder like App Data are excluded by default. Click on the + sign to add additional folders.
A full index uses a lot of power. Turn Indexer performance on and your computer will adjust how the indexer works according to your power settings. This can slow down search results.
If you’re having issues with search results, try running the Indexer Troubleshooter.
