Windows keeps track of the 15 most recently used data files, but I work with so many files in any given day that they expire off of that list pretty quickly. One thing I did about that was to up the size of the MRU (most recently used) lists in all of the applications that let me. (For example in MS Word, the default is 4 but it can be changed to 9, and the TextPad MRU can be cranked up to 16.) That definitely helps to jog my memory when I’m specifically looking for one of those types of files. But, sometimes a file I seek has rolled off the bottom of the respective MRU list as well, and with my faulty memory it often happens thatI cannot even remember the name of the file, which prevents me from searching for it by name.

When this happens, faced with the prospect of having to just hunt all over for the file, I find that a good alternative is to do a search by the date modified. Here’s how:

1. Open the Windows Finder, either by pressing WinKey+F, or by being in the Windows Explorer and pressing F3.
2. Select “All files and folders”
3. If you remember any part of the file name at all, then enter it under “All or part of the filename”, otherwise leave it blank.
4. The search will go much faster if you can narrow it down to a certain parent folder, as opposed to searching the entire hard drive. For example, if you know that it is somewhere within “Documents and Settings”, then start there. To do this, click on a single down arrow icon to drop down the choices under “Look in”. If the folder or drive is already listed there, then select it. If not, click on the word “Browse…” at the very bottom of the list, and then navigate to the file folder.
5. Click on the double down arrow icon next to “When was it modified?” to expand that option, and set the appropriate date range (e.g. “Within the last week”).
6. If you know approximately how big the file is, then expands the “What size is it?” option, and specify an appropriate size range. This will not make the search go any faster, but you’ll have less results to wade through.
7. You might also wish to specify what type of file it is (e.g. a Word document). To do this, expand the “More advanced options” and set the “Type of file” drop-down box to the appropriate choice. Again, this will not make the search go any faster, but you’ll have less results to wade through.

Tip #1: The better choice for launching the Windows Finder is to have the Windows Explorer open and press F3. This is because the Finder will default to searching in whatever was the current folder that had focus in the Explorer when F3 was pressed. Whereas, opening the Finder using WinKey+F always defaults to searching the root of the C: drive.

Tip #2: There is a subtle difference between specifying the file extension under “All or part of the filename” (e.g. “*.jpg”) vs. specifying the type of file using the advanced option (e.g. “Paint Shop Pro 6 Image”). In the former case, it will only search for files that end with a jpg extension. In the latter case, it will search for any and all files with extensions that are associated with the named type (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.gif, *.bmp, *.png, etc.)

Read more: Windows, Productivity