Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell

Name

search

Synopsis

Search for files or folders, computers, printers, people, or Internet content using the Search Assistant.

Procedures

There are four ways to open the Search Assistant from the Start menu:

Files or Folders

Printers

People

On the Internet

The first choice (Files or Folders) is the most general, however, since it lets you access the other three choices as well.

Search for Files or Folders

Start → Search → For Files or Folders → select type of search

This opens the main Search Assistant window, which can be used for finding not just files and folders but also computers, printers, people, or even web content on the Internet. Search Assistant uses the Active Desktop or web-type interface of My Computer on Windows 2000, but it is inconsistent since for some functions it opens a separate dialog box instead.

You select the type of search to perform by using the links found at the bottom of the left window pane. This is somewhat inconvenient as you have to scroll down to access these links unless your monitor is set to 1024 x 768 pixel resolution or higher. Here are some additional details for each type of search you can perform:

Files or Folders

This is the default choice. Lets you search for files or folders located on local hard drives, mapped network drives, or shared folders on the network. You can use various search criteria to narrow your search, including filename, date the file was created or modified, file type (extension), and file size in KB. You can search for files ...