Let Windows XP Search for All Files
When you use the ‘search’ function in Windows XP to search for all files, it only shows the default settings. And the default settings are all the programs that are registered. So what if you can’t find an unregistered file?
Then you have to modify the registry so you can! Besides, when you search for a specific name, for instance, ‘folder,’ you want to see everything with the ‘folder’ in it, and some of those could be ‘unregistered.’
Open up your registry editor so you can let Windows XP search for all files. How do I get into the registry editor? Click on Start, then click on Run. In the box that opens up, type in “regedit” but without the quotes (“”).
Then navigate yourself to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex.” Then double click on the file name, or value (which ever one you want to call it) called “FilterFilesWithUnknownExtensions” and change its value, from the value 0 to the value 1. Finally exit the registry, just like any ordinary program, by clicking the ‘X’ in the top right hand corner of the window. Then restart your computer, and all should be go. This was an easy and fast way to let Windows XP search for all files on your computer!
