Tweak Windows Search

An incredibly useful hack! Every time you search you surely click a lot of check boxes(select options), then specify that it?s case-sensitive, then specify that you want to search subfolders, and so on and so forth.



Use this Registry hack to specify the search parameters that makes it most comfortable for you to search your system.Just open Regedit(START>>RUN>>Type REGEDIT)

Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows

\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Create/Modify the following DWORD Values. Use 1 to set or 0 for otherwise based on what you want.

• CaseSensitive: Do a case-sensitive search


• IncludeSubFolders: Search subfolders


• SearchHidden: Search hidden files and folders


• SearchSlowFiles: Search tape backup


• SearchSystemDirs: Search system folders

The next time you conduct a search, you won?t need to click on a single check box!



This is for win xp. You need to restart the computer for the change/effect to take place. Be doubly sure that the path is correct and the key doesn't exist before you think of create these keys . Back up your registry before you do it(click here)