You type something in, and your search results don’t always match what you are looking for, or it doesn’t actually work at all. Still, desktop search is one of the most important tools in the Windows arsenal, so you will want to learn how to avoid issues. There are a couple of things you can do to try to improve the desktop search in Windows 7.
Start Menu & Windows 7 Desktop SearchThe instinct here is to go to Windows Explorer and type in something that you’re searching for, but you should be aware that Windows Explorer will only look within the folder that you are currently in. The best way to find something in Windows 7 is to go and open the Start Menu and create the necessary search. From here it will search your entire computer, not just a single folder, for files or even programs that match the terms you typed in the search bar.
Windows 7 features a greatly. One of the new features is the ability to pin favourite programmes for easy access.I had a problem that one of my apps would display a generic “app-not-found” icon if I pinned it to the taskbar.
The app in question was my twitter client of choice, which I had recently updated. I tried changing the icon through the pinned shortcut properties but that didn’t stick after a reboot. I knew there must be some kind of cache that was telling Windows to look in the wrong location for pinned icons. So I decided to have a dig in the registry using the excellent NirSoft tool. It came up with a couple of entries which lead me to key HKEYCURRENTUSERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerTaskband. By removing the “Favorites” value I was able to get Windows to wipe all of my pinned apps so I could start from scratch.Update: The problem did re-appear, see belowFor those wishing to reproduce this fix follow these instructions. Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
Navigate to HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerTaskband. Backup (export) the “Taskband” key. Delete the binary value “Favorites”. Restart the explorer.exe process (or restart your computer)This will leave you with no pinned items on your taskbar. You can then re-pin your favourite apps to the taskbar and they should all have the correct icons.UpdateIt seems that this didn’t actually fix my problem permanently. I did find, however, another location to troubleshoot the pinned shortcuts.
There is a hidden folder at “C:Users%USERNAME%AppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar”. You may recognise it as a familiar folder path to the Quick Launch toolbar from older versions of Windows.For some reason, it seems that every time you pin an app to the taskbar it will create a new shortcut.TO try to fix it again I did the following. Deleted all shortcuts in “C:Users%USERNAME%AppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskBar”. Delete all values in “HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerTaskband”.
Fix Broken Icons Windows 7 1
Restart Explorer.exe process.This got rid of all my pinned items and only active programmes showed up in the Taskbar. Everything seems to be back to normal now so.