TechRepublic FastAnswer: Assigning
Keywords To Files

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The problem

As the number of files on your system increases, it’s hard
to keep track of them all or to find them quickly. Windows XP’s built-in search
engine can help you find those files, but in its basic configuration, it can
take time to search a large hard drive.

The cause

Windows XP’s Search indexes your hard drive and places
information about files and file types in a large index file on your computer.
Rather than searching the entire hard drive, it first looks in this index file.
This can greatly speed up searches, but XP’s default indexing doesn’t contain
all of the information about your files.

The solution

You can quickly
speed up searches by adding keywords to your data files. Windows XP’s Search
can then use these keywords to find data files for you. To add a keyword to a file, right-click it and
select Properties. Then select the Summary tab.
Enter the keywords you want in the Keyword field.

After you add the keywords, save
the file. Now to test this you will simply need to
run the Search option from the Start menu like you would normally. Select the All Files And Folders option and
in the Keywords field type in the keywords you assigned to that file. Click
Search and you are done!