Windows 7 Start Menu search seems "unwilling" to offer certain programs?

timg11

New Member
The Windows 7 Start Menu search function seems to work quite well for most programs.

I type "wo" and "Microsoft Word is highlighted on the top of the list. I type "ex" and Microsoft Excel is at the top of the list, followed by Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer.

But try and run regedit.exe and see what happens. "re" gives "Resource Monitor". Even typing out "regedi" offers only off-the-wall suggestions such as "message_1C45.htm", and "WSUS30deploymentguide.doc".

Only when the entire word "regedit" is typed is the actual program regedit.exe offered. Even after I have run regedit.exe several times, the start menu does not "learn" that I like to use it and offer it as a choice sooner. Could it be that the search engine was deliberately coded to "de-prioritize" regedit? That seems like a lot of effort, but maybe it is true.

Has anybody else noticed this? Is there any way to configure a more "objective" start menu search function?
 
I tried to UN mute my microphone and no matter what I typed I could not find it! Win 7 is stable and fast but its GUI is made for console users. I typed "mute", "Microphone mute", and all other combinations. In the end I gave up. This GUI is HORRID! I am in the process of reverting back to XP!
 
@Timg11 I would imagine the partial regedit search is deliberately fudged to prevent accidental access to admin level apps


@ Tanzanos the "start" search on xp won't find mute or unmute either as that's not the name of the application, so don't blame the OS... now had to typed it on the "HELP & SUPPORT" search it would have yielded useful results. I suggest you try calm down and take your time before flaming Windows 7 as it's on a whole higher level than XP for all the right reasons, and could hardly be called a un-user friendly GUI as my 3 year old daughter can use it.
 
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You see those unusual at first glance searches as a result of windows search algorythm.



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Windows Search Features (MSDN):

Start Menu Search Scope and Relevance

The Start menu searches are executed in two phases. First, the Start menu executes a series of quick grep searches on the following set of scopes sequentially:
The Internet, if applicable

If users enter a query that begins with http:, the Start menu displays the entire query at the top of the results in the Internet group. When the user presses the Enter key, the default browser opens and handles the query.

Start menu scope

This scope includes the locations where applications install the shortcuts that users see in the Start menu when browsing All Programs:

C:\users\<username>\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows\start menu

C:\users\all users\start menu

User-pinned scope

This scope includes the location where the list of shortcuts that the user pinned to the Taskbar is kept.

C:\users\<username>\appdata\roaming\microsoft\internet explorer\quick launch\user pinned

Libraries scope

This scope includes the location where library display names are kept.

C:\users\<username>\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows\libraries

Known Folders scope, where known folder display names are kept.

Command line input

This scope identifies executables (*.exe) and commands for those executables. Users can execute command lines from the Start menu search box (just like they would in the Run dialog). Routines like SHEvaluateSystemCommandTemplate look for a match in the locations specified by the PATH environment variable and, if that fails, the user’s folder (c:\users\<username>). This is intended to replace the Start->Run semantics of previous Windows versions so the user can simply type cmd or regedit into the search box to run an executable.


After these results are returned and duplicates removed, the most frequently used (MFU) bias is applied and results are sorted by relevance. The topmost item is given mouse focus, so a user can quickly type a search and press the Enter key to open the top result.


Second, after all the grep searches are completed, the query is sent to the full scope of the index. Results are returned, without duplicates, and sorted by relevance.
 



@ Tanzanos the "start" search on xp won't find mute or unmute either as that's not the name of the application, so don't blame the OS... now had to typed it on the "HELP & SUPPORT" search it would have yielded useful results. I suggest you try calm down and take your time before flaming Windows 7 as it's on a whole higher level than XP for all the right reasons, and could hardly be called a un-user friendly GUI as my 3 year old daughter can use it.
First of all Flaming is a harsh word to use when one is complaining about a technical issue. Yes your 3 year old can use win 7 because her demands are so simple and few that they can be categorised as "console user demands". I know many IT managers, pc technicians and power users who hate the new GUI. The old style drop down menus worked perfectly, just like the wheel does which has been with us for over 5000 years. MS decided to make windows into a MAC look alike. Anyone who wants to use their pc for work and wishes to navigate quickly and with the minimum of mouse clicks will find the new GUI as a time consuming and un user friendly system. After installing a program I tried in vain to find it and make a short cut to my desktop. Win 7 does not let you organise as you wish. Everything is hidden! I have win 7 since February and still I cannot come to grips with this GUI. It has slowed my work down so much that I decided to have a dual boot with XP for my serious work (3d Cad solid modelling and office applications) and win 7 for games. Win 7 is very powerful and stable but it is for console users. Also I uninstalled office 2007 and threw it away and reinstalled the older version so that I may have drop down menus. I had a hard time just finding how to do anything with the new menu system. If I wanted to buy a MAC then I would have bought a MAC. MS went to the trouble to make an XP emulator for win 7 when all they had to do was give us a classic menu option and that would have been case closed.

Give me the fast and efficient classic GIU and I will become a win 7 apostle. Till then it is just a very very powerful console operating system.
 
Are you one of those XP Luddites I keep hearing about...lol seriously if you have put that much time into learning the Vista/Win7 GUI as you claim then I'd be thinking more along the lines of the problem is you not the GUI, although did you jump from straight from XP? or ease into the new GUI over the last 3-4 years through Vista??

Also don't forget all the shortcut key commands have been carried over from every previous OS they have made if you really wanted to bypass the new gui until you learned its benefits.

That said I did share the Office 2007/2010 banner menu annoyance, but over time I got used to it and would never go back. Finally the MAC quip... well MS and Apple have been nicking each others ideas since back in the days of Xerox for well over 20 years now, I used to think MS & Apple both ripped off Atari-ST and Amiga OS's back in the windows 3.11 and '95 era, before the abortion they named "Millenium" came out, the terrible hybrid of win2000 and '98... precursor to XP
 
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