Windows 7 win7 search and download location issues

[paulmars]

Ive been using win7 for about 6 months now. Before that I was using xp for 15 years.

Im having problems with:

1-Search; the status bar gets to 99% pretty fast, then it's literally hours before the search finishes. Why?

2-Ive been using firefox for over 10 years now. I always set it to download files to the desktop. However, win7 sometimes buries the downloaded file in different locations
as in C:\Users\paul\AppData\xxx Which I can find after hours of searching. Sometimes to a temp file, which is not available the next day. (I always wait at least 24 hours, then run a AV scan on all downloads). Other times its on my desktop, where it should be. Why?

3-Another issue of less importance is that i have taskbar autohide, just like when I used xp. I also usually leave one or more instances of win explorer open and system set to reopen them at boot. This worked great on xp, however, on win 7, the taskbar is displayed and each button for each instance of win exp flashes and taskbar will NOT auto hide until I click each button. That's an annoyance.

thanks for any help,
paul

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

In regard to #1: Make sure that your are running Win7 SP1; there were lots of bugs fixed by that Service Pack including known issues with search. Next what is the capacity of your C: bootdrive that you are searching, in GB? And how much is used; for example on my C: drive, capacity is 500GB, 190GB used. How many files are on your C: Drive? Mine has 267,005 files. Both of these have a lot to do with your search time using default windows tools. There are better and free tools to do fast searches, such as Agent Ransack. Clearly, the more data you have on the drive you are searching *this case the C: drive*, and the larger the number of files, the longer it takes. The other option that helps search time is enabling the "Indexing Option" in Windows Explorer. When you have over 250,000 files in Windows on your C: drive, it can take awhile to do searches. Factor that up, when I have Customers with more than 500,000 files or even a few rare ones with over 1,000,000 files it can take hours to search for a simple photo or word document even with Indexing turned on. It's a good idea to use a clean-up tool such as CCLEANER to help with the junk accumulating on your hard drive from regular browsing on the Internet. Many customers have never cleaned their hard drive since they owned their computer, and the excessive build up of many files severely slows down windows processes such as search.

#2: This could be due to several factors, including virus/malware infection and failed hardware due to aging. Hopefully you are not running Win7 on the same 15 year old hardware you were running XP on! Win7 is now 7 years old, and even if you bought a computer built in 2009, that's still very old hardware; chances are very likely the hard drive is failing if you've never replaced it in that computer or if you bought used, that the original owner never replaced it either. There are many viruses that target each browser, and there is a whole slew of them that target Firefox specifically. You should scan/remove all viruses found using your built-in AV scanner program. Additionally, you should download the free Malwarebytes antispyware and scan/remove all spyware viruses found. Malwarebytes detects many spyware viruses that regular AV programs cannot detect including Norton, Avast, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc. Retest your Firefox after removing viruses/malware. If the problem persists, your computer probably needs a tune-up and you should pay to have that professionally done. If that's not an option or you live on an island where there are no repair shops, you can test your hardware using my link here: Windows 10 - Unclickable Task Bar

#3: You may have to adjust the Taskbar properties options; but I believe you are right; I haven't run much Win7 at all since I've been doing so much testing and upgrading with W10 this year, but I seem to recall that is the way Win7 taskbar works. I think this is also true in W8x too. Not much you can do about it, and if you only have 3 annoying things that Win7 does that didn't occur in XP, that's pretty good since there are only 3 out of 10,000 things different. I know that in W10 you can have open tasks on the taskbar and auto-hide still works.

Best of luck and give that old computer a tune-up! Most problems like this can be resolved by providing some basic maintenance tasks to your computer.
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[paulmars]

yes sp1 and all patches since. 250g HDD partitioned: C 102g for OS only, D 40g, 15g of 40 is used, F not yet formatted. This install of win7 is less then 6 months old on a perfectly working 4 yo dell. It orig came with win7. With xp I rarely went 24 months w/o a complete reinstall and expect to do the same w/win7. Indexing enabled. I dont need to look for a file often, well not until see #2 above. Even when Im searching a specific directory for a file, its at 99% before too long. then it sits there for hours, before it completes.

Free AVG AV installed from the get go. I do a complete HDD scan at least monthly with AVG and win defender.

Who said only 3? Not me.

 

[paulmars]

BTW u beard looks like mine. Or maybe mine looks like yours.

 

[Neemobeer]

If this is a spinning disk, your performance will start to dramatically degrade after they get 60% or more data on them. You may also want to run chkdsk /f <driveletter> to check and fix the index table search relies on. As to #2 there should be a setting to control the save location. I know there is one in chrome, so I'd assume there is one in FF.

 

[paulmars]

chkdsk monthly.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

BTW u beard looks like mine. Or maybe mine looks like yours.

>>>That's funny; I wound up shaving it after 4 yrs. last month; it was so hot here where I live, couldn't stand it any longer. But it was fun getting looks from people when I went back down to suburbia. Haven't updated my profile pic. I may grow it back again.<<<
BBJ

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

yes sp1 and all patches since. 250g HDD partitioned: C 102g for OS only, D 40g, 15g of 40 is used, F not yet formatted. This install of win7 is less then 6 months old on a perfectly working 4 yo dell. It orig came with win7. With xp I rarely went 24 months w/o a complete reinstall and expect to do the same w/win7. Indexing enabled. I dont need to look for a file often, well not until see #2 above. Even when Im searching a specific directory for a file, its at 99% before too long. then it sits there for hours, before it completes.

Free AVG AV installed from the get go. I do a complete HDD scan at least monthly with AVG and win defender.

Who said only 3? Not me.

>>>Haha! If I had your computer on my workbench I would test that hard drive thoroughly and then do a Windows reset/reinstallation. My link to follow will give you instructions on how to test your hard drive. That's the most likely culprit. If you haven't replaced that HDD in your Dell, it's time to test and replace if faulty, which it probably is. Hard drives are only designed to last 3 years in desktop PCs and only 2 years in laptops. Clearly, yours is older than this. Sometimes, however, you can also have RAM memory problems that mimic hard drive problems, and so you need to run separate tests on your RAM memory sticks as well. Again my link gives you step-by-step instructions. You'll need to be patient as it will take you 2-3 days of work to perform all the proper testing. Once done, and your RAM and Hard Drive pass the tests or fail and you replace them with new, you can then do a Windows reset/reinstallation as also explained in my Troubleshooting link. The key is to test your hardware, replace any faulty hardware devices, and then perform software troubleshooting and repairs, because if you don't and you reinstall your Win7, the problem will simply reappear again and again. Remember my Manta of Troubleshooting: "NO SOFTWARE ON THE PLANET CAN FIX BROKEN HARDWARE!!"
Here's the link to my Article: Windows 10 - Unclickable Task Bar
Take a look at my POST #6, that's where my article starts. And if you get stuck you can always post back here to the thread and we can help you get unstuck.

Let us know how it goes. <<<
<<<BBJ>>>

 

[paulmars]

is no post #6 in that there link. 92° F here.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Yes there is, I just hot-linked to the link in my Post, the Post numbers are in the lower-right, on the left side you'll see my Picture. That post is the 6th post for that problem, titled "Unclickable-task-bar". The Posts are individually numbered so if you get some really long threads on complex problems as we do from time to time, sometimes over 100 posts to solve a problem, you can refer back to exactly the Post that a person or a helper was talking about. 79° here.

BBJ

 

[paulmars]

i searched and did not find. other then each reply to that thread is numbered 1 thru 20...

 

[paulmars]

got it

 

[paulmars]

BTW my AVG found some threat in my previous version of videolan, so I deleted it and dnlded it from the original source again and AVG found the same, next day AVG found the same on new vidoelan dnld. So, i let AVG remove it. A few days ago a new version of lideolan and AVG found another (or maybe it was the same ) threat. before I installed viodeolan each time i ran several internet based file scanners and they found nothing. AVG is also identifying a threat in my MRI file that I copied last year to HDD as a 3rd backup. That one I ignore. Other file scanners also dont identify that threat. Im thinking AVG is too sensitive?

p

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Great! Glad you finally found it. As I just finished checking Edge, Chrome, and IE11 with that link on 3 of my 5 W10-machines and they all worked.

I'm not that big a fan of AVG; it doesn't have the best record in a decade of testing, I prefer Norton, Avast, and TrendMicro in that order. I would make sure your Personal Data is all backed up to external media, and make an Image backup of your existing drive with Macrium Reflect also store on external media. Then uninstall the AVG. Boot your computer into SAFE MODE, go to trendmicro.com and run the HOUSECALL online scanner. Find/remove all viruses found. Next, download and run the TrendMicro Rootkit Buster and check that you app isn't infected with any bootkits or rootkit viruses. Traditional AV's cannot detect these. After that, while still in SAFE MODE, go to Malwarebytes.com and download the free MALWAREBYTES antispyware scanner. Scan/remove all spyware viruses found.

Return to STANDARD MODE windows. Next, download and install Avast AV free 2016 from avast.com. Scan/remove any found viruses. Retest for your computer and do some searches and see if the time gets better. If things look better, you're good to go. If not, go back to my troubleshooting link post and follow my instructions to test your hardware and repair your software.

Good luck!
BBJ

 

[paulmars]

Solid state (no spinning) sata HDDs are available for old type desktops like mine right? Can u recommend the best brand?

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for your question. IMHO, WD drives are far and away the best. I spent 4 years of my 45 year career in the computer industry designing their drives, controllers, and ASICS chips. I believe they are the best. Of course, to be fair, that's a very biased opinion.

You can't go wrong. No other company on the planet will give you an exchange drive for a failed drive--EVEN AFTER THE 1 YR. FACTORY WARRANTY HAS RUN OUT!! They just did that for me last month on a failed 1TB drive from a Customer; they sent me a replacement for just the price of shipping ($12). To buy a replacement online would have cost me $60-$80 or so. That's great customer service.

Best of luck with whatever brand you buy.
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[paulmars]

"trendmicro.com and run the HOUSECALL online scanner." (NO online scanner, it needed to dnld and be installed then run). ... 624 minutes later 54% of this measly 250g HDD that is only 20% full has been scanned.

Welcome to the museum's primitive section. Here behind the glass is an old world data device they used to call 'computer' and its still being scanned today. Yes that is right way back in old calendar year 2016 someone actually owned this device and started a scan...that is still running today. The museum staff actually have a wager if it will ever complete or not.

 

[paulmars]

foolish me. When I got up this morning I saw 96% complete. that actually excited me. Well, four hours later and its now at 96%. Well, maybe its really 96.2%

 

[Neemobeer]

Did you clean out all of your temp files (browser cache etc) before? Lots of little files will really slow down scanning.

 

[paulmars]

yes and did a defrag too.