Want to shorten long path name in explorer search results

How do I shorten the path name --document and setting name of my owner name?

For example, when I do a search in explorer.exe and start the search from my documents under the desktop.

The result is:

file name in folder (susan.doc): c:/documents and settings/my name.CAPITAL LAST NAME-DF6JK\my documents\sub folder

This is really too long for the size of the screen & does seem so unnecessary.

I have seen answers to other questions that say you CANNOT change the names. But, this is un-acceptable.
I need to know in which sub folder the document resides.

Does Agent- Ransack help with this problem?

Thanks for any explanations you can offer

 

Hi Judy,

I'm unable to duplicate your results, which suggests two things to me:

1. That you may be using a screen resolution smaller than you should be. In other words, if you're using 800x600, try changing to 1024x768. Everything will appear smaller, but you'll have much more screen "real estate ".

2. That you need to move your My Documents folder. For instance, mine is on a different hard drive partition, and the path is E:\Documents. Assuming that your hard drive is unpartitioned, you could simply move My Documents out of C:\Documents and Settings to C:. Now, when you do a search for Susan.doc, the path should be C:\My Documents\(subfolder, if any)\Susan.doc.​

By all means, switch to Agent Ransack. Not only is it more robust than XP's search engine, it's faster.

HTH

 

Judy - Agent Ransack is my choice. The search results are in what looks to be about 8pt so plenty of info will fit on screen.

It allows you to set the display font for search results but that will only apply to content within a file. I tried to also resize the list of results but no luck. But since there is a one-click option to save search results you can certainly put them into a word processor.

 

What a kewl free tool! Thanks...

I have been using "Classic Search" on my WinXP box (using Tweakui) as I was really missing the WinNT 4.0 "Find" but plan on using this tool as my default. I may even get the Pro version.

 

dobhar - it is a great utility. Play around with some of the advanced search features - great stuff.

I have to spend a bit of time at work looking over fairly large drives (100 to 500+ Gb) for files I'm not familiar with when a user asks to have a file or folder restored from backup and doesn't have quite the correct name or location. So agent ransack is loaded on our file & web servers.

 

I was so impressed with Agent Ransack that I DID buy File Locator Pro, as I believe that good software deserves to be supported. It was $9.99 when I bought it last year, but I notice that the price has gone up to $12.99.

Here's a feature comparison of the two programs.

 

Hello Jim,

You are a genius. I moved all my documents to the C:\drive and voila, the document name is short without all that long document and settings garbage.

Thank you, thank you !

Now I can keep my large screen size.

I did goof, however, -- should have created a new folder since now all the C:\ drive folders folders are under the my document folder. But, that will not be hard to fix.

I do appreciate your fast response and excellent advice.

Judy

PS and thanks also to the other contrbutors re: agent ransack

 

No, just a shade tree mechanic.

I wouldn't, but to each his/her own.

If you've followed some of the other threads on the BBS, you'll understand why many of us feel that it's important to partition your hard drive. The main reason is simply to separate your data from the OS and installed programs, in case the OS goes south on you. You can get away with as few as two partitions, but I use four. PartitionMagic 8.0 is an important utility in my software toolbox ... $69.95 from Symantec, but you can find it on PriceWatch for $30, with free shipping. Believe me, no matter what you pay, it's worth the price, even for a casual user.

 

Jim,

I do like your idea re: partitioning. But first, a few questions.

A while back when it was necessary to re-install XP, I had to create another window XP. Now have windows and windows2. I was told by MS tech support that it was NOT a good idea to partition. Can you explain why I was told that?

Why did not you recommend using the disk management feature inside XP to partition?

I have read, but cannot find now, that there are restrictions on partitioning lap tops. Do you know why?

My configuration:

Dell Inspiron 8200
40 mb hard drive
512 mb RAM
NTFS
XP Home
USB keyboard/mouse

Thanks again, Judy

 

Hi Judy,

You wrote:

No, I can't, but I don't know that I'd want two XP installations on the same drive. There may be nothing wrong with it but, were it my computer, I'd save all of my data on CD (you do have a burner, don't you?) or at least transfer it to another computer, format the drive, and reinstall XP.

Funny you should ask ... I had looked at Disk Management only a couple of days ago, to see what capabilities it had besides the reassigning of drive letters, and found nothing about partitioning. Today, after reading your question, I looked at Disk Management's help file, and found instructions on how to do it. When I look at Disk Management, however, I don't see what the help file talks about, probably because the space on my drive is already fully allocated.

No clue. I have a similarly configured IBM laptop, with XP Pro, and I have four partitions on the hard drive, just as I have on my desktop's 100GB HDD. The only thing I can think of is that it's been only in the past couple of years that laptop hard drives have gotten larger than about 20GB. Partitioning a smaller drive probably wouldn't make efficient use of the space. My previous laptop (Win98 SE), now used by a friend, has a 20GB HDD, also with four partitions, and no problems.

 

Jim - I usually keep a basic OS load available for disaster recovery. Not so much on my home system since GoBack takes care of that but on all the servers I mess with.

If I had a PC w/o GoBack and the room to spare, I'd do the same with it. A nice, polite little NTFS load with nothing added. Since it would only be needed when there were major problems, I don't even add hotfixes - it won't be on the network/internet until things are working off the main OS load.

Judy - re partitioning your drive, also no idea why the tech recommended against partitioning.

 

An interesting idea, and one I hadn't considered. I have GoBack installed on my laptop, but am seriously considering removing it, as it REALLY slows down the system with all the writing it does to the hard drive.

There's no data on the laptop that isn't also on my primary desktop computer, so data recovery would be a simple matter. The desktop is backed up with Drive Image several times a week.

 

Hi Jim,

 

I don't know where you were looking, but for a "beginner" you seem pretty savvy so I have no doubt that you found the negative comments you refer to. In a quick search with Google, though, all the reviews of, and comments about, PartitionMagic 8.0 that I found were generally favorable. The one negative thing mentioned most frequently was that v8.0 probably wasn't worth the upgrade from a previous version.

I've been using PartitionMagic since at least v5.x, and the only problem I've ever encountered has been that PM wouldn't run properly if I had defragged with Norton SpeedDisk which, apparently, rearranged the partition table in the master boot record so that PM couldn't read it. After using the Recovery Console to fix the master boot record, and after dumping SpeedDisk, I had no further problems with PM.

I have no experience with Partition Commander but, before you make a final decision, you might want to take a look at a review of the two products (plus Acronis PartitionExpert) that appears in the current PC Magazine. You might also want to check out BootIt NG.

 

Hi Jim,

 

Hi Judy,

Not to be a nudge, but when you want to add a quotation, it has to end with [/quote] (note the forward slash). For more (and better) information, see the vB Code list.

 

Judy - the main difference in the 3rd party products and the native Microsoft disk manager is the ability with 3rd party apps to change your mind.

With them you can resize partitions on a working system and do quite a bit of other housekeeping that the native tool can't/won't do.

I think the partition management utilities are one of those things that you may never need but if you do and buy it, you'll use it lots more than you originally expected.

I can't offer any recommendations because I've always been too dang cheap to buy one.

 

(note the forward slash). For more (and better) information, see the vB Code list.[/QUOTE]

Jim,

I do apologize for the incorrect "quote" -- I knew I had
done something wrong, but could not figure out how to correct it.

I have been out of town, so this reply is very late...

I did buy Partition Magic and do thank you for all your advice.

I found out that Acronis only offers e-mail support, and I do need telephone support even if it is for fee since I get into some difficult situations.

Thanks again, Judy