Cannot get FARR to search as expected

[Econdoc]

Hi:  I am a relatively new user and am having problems. 

1. In order to try to understand how FARR searches, I switched off all the virtual folders except %FARRDIR%\scripts.  I then searched for 'excel'.  It returns one item: C:\Program Files (x86)\FindAndRunRobot\scripts\Control Panel (cpanel)\Printers and Faxes (cpanel).lnk.  Nowhere in that path is the string 'excel'.  Why did it find this?

2. In order to try to understand how FARR searches, I switched off all the virtual folders except %COMMONSTARTMENU%.  Again, I used FARR to try to find excel.  This time it did find a shortcut to Excel, but it also found this path:
C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe  and this folder  C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Utilities\Text Utils - Compare, Split.   Nowhere in that path or in the folder can I find the string 'excel'.  Why did it find this?

Any help you can provide would be appreciated. It is difficult to set up these virtual folders when they do not find what you are searching for!

Another question: FARR sometime will find 30+ entries.  It will display only a few of them.  Is it possible to scroll thru the entire list?

[mouser]

Welcome econdoc  

1. In order to try to understand how FARR searches, I switched off all the virtual folders except %FARRDIR%\scripts.  I then searched for 'excel'.  It returns one item: C:\Program Files (x86)\FindAndRunRobot\scripts\Control Panel (cpanel)\Printers and Faxes (cpanel).lnk.  Nowhere in that path is the string 'excel'.  Why did it find this?

By default FARR has enabled "non-contiguous matching", which will match (albeit with a low score) against strings where the given letters are found in the right order but not next to each other, so for example: "Printers and Faxes (cpanel)"

You can disable this if you like from the "Search Behavior" tab.


I think you are going about this the right way, trying to simplify in order to understand what FARR is finding, so disabling non-contiguous search can help.  You can also turn on FARR's display of subfolders as it searches, which is in the "Display Options" tab.

One thing to keep in mind is that FARR tries hard to find lots of matches, but score them in a way so that the one you are most likely to want is listed at the top.  You can alter the scoring heuristics in the "Heuristic Scoring" tab.  Note also that once you launch a file once, it goes into your history list where it will be found instantly, and scored higher, the next time.  So even if the file you were looking for wasn't at the top position the first time you launched it, it will be higher and faster next time.

[mouser]

Another question: FARR sometime will find 30+ entries.  It will display only a few of them.  Is it possible to scroll thru the entire list?

you can change the # of results farr lists by default from the "Display Options" tab, or you can leave it how it is and add "+sall" to your search to show all results.

After discussion on the forum, I've agreed we need a faster way of showing all resutls -- that is on my todo list.


ps. if you haven't seen them, there are over 3 dozen FARR screenscast videos showing how different features work:
https://www.donationcoder.com/3ds

[joby_toss]

I encountered an issue that somehow matches this topic title:

I'm searching for "opera" to find "opera.exe" so I can launch my browser.
I have an installed version in "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%" and a portable version in "%APPDRIVE%\Portables".

If I search for "opera" FARR finds only the portable executable (although I see in the status bar that FARR searches "ProgramFiles(x86)" folder.

If I search for "opera.exe" or "opera +sall", both executables are found (both have big scores).

Any ideas why this happens?

Win7x64 ----- FARR v2.86.01

[mouser]

joby,
can you try going into options, and on Search Behavior tab, uncheck the option to "Remove duplicate links" and see if that helps -- if it does, at least we will have a clue as to what is going on.

[joby_toss]

Still the same thing.

BUT: I found out that it has something to do with %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% and %PROGRAMFILES%.
When %PROGRAMFILES% is checked, the search is not complete (it happens as I've described before).
When it is unchecked, both Opera executables are found.

Similar issue with iexplore.exe. FARR does not find both of them (only the 32bit version is found).

I think it is something wrong with my FARR setup, not a general 64bit issue.
I'll try with a fresh installation (the portable way) of FARR and no plugins.

Forgot to say I'm always admin on my machine, don't use UAC and FARR (portable) is launched from a non-system partition.

[mouser]

BUT: I found out that it has something to do with %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% and %PROGRAMFILES%.
When %PROGRAMFILES% is checked, the search is not complete (it happens as I've described before).
When it is unchecked, both Opera executables are found.

now that is VERY strange!!!

[joby_toss]

Yeah, something is definitely wrong with the environment variables.

If I check only %PROGRAMFILES%, then FARR searches only in "C:\Program Files (x86)".
If I check only "C:\Program Files", then FARR searches the correct folder.

( I can make a video demo if it helps; in my example I searched for "iexplore")

I hope it's just my case.

Edit: Maybe FARR is redirected to "Program Files (x86)" when trying to access "Program Files" because it is a 32bit app running on a 64bit OS?