Searching Your Computer

Losing track of files on your computer can be a real pain. Not being able to find the song you just downloaded or pictures that have just been uploaded via camera, can be impossible to find if you don't know what to look for. Finding temporarily lost files on your computer is quite easily done using the search option under the start menu and selected All Files and Folders. Here are a few strategies to track down all sorts of different file formats hidden away on your hard drive.

Most every song on your computer is more than likely saved in MP3 format. Want to find them all at once? Typing *.mp3 into the search box tells the computer to find every music file, no matter what the song name. The prefix *. means the name of the file is irrelevant, the suffix of the search is merely the file format you are searching.

*.mp3 - Searches all songs in mp3 format.
*.jpg - Searches all pictures in jpeg/jpg format
*.avi or *.mpg - Searches all videos in avi or mpg/mpeg format

Knowing the file format of the file you are looking for is very helpful. But say you recently downloaded a file and have forgotten where you saved it. Type in *.* in the search box (*.* means to search any file name and any file format) and under Date Modified select an appropriate time period that covers when this file was downloaded. This search will bring up all files that have been changed or created in the last day,week,month, etc.

Search can also be useful in clearing away hard drive space. Type *.* into the search box and under the Size tab go to specify size and type in something around 40000 kb (40mb) - bigger than your average MP3 but smaller than a full length video. This will bring up all files stored on your computer bigger than 40mb. You can sift through these files and see where large chunks of your hard drive space are being used up. Be cautious when deleting files you are unfamiliar with, some larger files are crucial to the operating system and installed software.
Hope you find what you are looking for!