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I've often found it hard to find programs after I've installed them on Windows 10, pinned/made a shortcut to their executable, then deleted the shortcut to remove clutter. My first approach is to simply type the name in the Windows pane search:

searching for git bash - see web results

In this case it shows nothing helpful. Right clicking 'git bash' command to open file location does not reveal the program I want.

Next I try using the search input in File Explorer, but this takes forever, and often does not yield the program I'm looking for either:

enter image description here

Then I peek through Program Files (x86), Program Files, and sub-folders, but usually don't find what I'm looking for. Google searches like "where is git bash installed windows 10" or "how to start git bash windows" usually only return tutorials for installing it.

The find command only searches the content of files, not their location. I don't like using dir. I find these commands so unintuitive compared with ls and find on linux.

Windows super users, when you need to find a file or program executable, what do you do?

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  • Re-index the PC, as Windows relies on the index for fast search responses... also ensure if you're installing anything to a non-standard install location that that location is added to the locations indexing will index. Either type Indexing Options into search or issue: control.exe srchadmin.dll
    – JW0914
    Commented Nov 15, 2019 at 23:03

1 Answer 1

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I use the freeware app Everything, significantly faster than Search in Explore. Its index, when searching NTFS volumes, requires the Everything service, or running the app as Administrator.

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  • This looks perfect for my non-work machine, but my company blocks most 3rd party tools like this.
    – Wassadamo
    Commented Nov 15, 2019 at 22:19
  • Are you allowed Open Source (not just Freeware, but Open Source) apps?
    – K7AAY
    Commented Nov 15, 2019 at 22:34

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