Deleted files keep coming up in Start Menu search results

Many times when I search from the Start Menu, results come up for files that have been deleted or moved but the old path is listed in the results (so that clicking it throws me a "File cannot be found" type error).

I first noticed this when I moved a folder of PDF manuals to a new location. The titles of these files will come up when searching from the Start Menu but the paths are linked to the original locations and so Windows can't "find" the file when I click on it in the search results.

I did a CCleaner sweep of my system and even tried rebuilding the search index but cannot correct this nonsense. What's going on?

Hi pjfarr,

I was watching your post out of curiosity, however there have been no replies after eight hours. I do have a thought though, but I'm not even sure I'm even on the 'right page' as far as what's going on.

I was wondering if these searches are possibly bringing up the shortcuts only? I mean the search finds the shortcut to a program that no longer exists. I'm leaning towards this based on your statement:

so that clicking it throws me a "File cannot be found" type error)

Anyhow, just a thought.

b1rd

The Search history will keep old entries until newer things start replacing the oldest, nothing to worry about.

I was wondering if these searches are possibly bringing up the shortcuts only?

Hi b1rd, thanks for chiming in.

You make a good point, but no, they are not shortcuts. If I mouse over one of the listed filenames a tooltip pops up showing the full path to the file, which is the original location before I deleted/moved it i.e. typing in "MIDI" will bring up among the results "MIDI Solutions Quadra Merge" and the tooltip will show C:UsersPJAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuLibraryManualsMIDI Solutions Quadra Merge.pdf, which is the previous path where the file used to be.

...nothing to worry about.

Berton, it's not really that I'm worried. I'm inconvenienced. The old, non-existent file path comes up and not the path where the file currently is.Therefore, I can't get to the file from the Start Menu, I have to browse down to it from Explorer.

I did some quick checks and found THISarticle, which included the below quote. I think this goes with what Berton posted as well. It does seem to be centered around Vista, but perhaps there's something useful.

When you perform a search in Windows Vista, files that were deleted earlier may show up in Search results. This is because the Indexing Service needs some time to update its records. The time frame may vary from one system to the other. In case search still continues to show deleted files, or if it does not show files that exist in the system, the indexing service may be out of date, and you may have to rebuild the search index to fix the problem.

b1rd

I did some quick checks and found THISarticle...

Thanks, b1rd, I appreciate your interest! The article looks familiar, I may have run across it already while doing my own research. At any rate, I've tried rebuilding the search index twice to no avail.

Are you talking about the search with Cortana? Maybe clearing the Cortana/Search cache will help. You need to turn off and turn back on Cortana. Go to settings....privacy....speech, inking and typing.... select "stop getting to know me" This will turn off Cortana. Hopefully it clears the cache. Then turn Cortana back on.

Are you talking about the search with Cortana?

No, not Cortana. When you click the Start Button, the search box that appears at the bottom of the Start Menu.