Windows 7: Search includes subfolder names

Hi,
I am trying to use Windows 7 search engine to find all files containing a specific string on their names, on a specific folder and it's subfolders. Let's say I am trying to find files containing the string "link" on their names.
Having subfolders named "linked" and "netlink", the problem is the results include all the files contained in those 2 subfolders (hundreds), which do not have the string "link" on their names, and therefore I do not want to be shown as results.
Apparently, the Windows 7 search engine compares the file's full-path instead of the unqualified file name.
Is there anything I can do to search only file names instead of full-path names?
I do not have this problem on a Vista machine...
Thanks in advance.

Try File Locator Lite (aka Agent Ransack).
FileLocator Lite - Free File Searching Utility

It's free, easy to use, works well, etc. ...

Thank you David.
I installed Everything and also works well, but before moving to an external search engine I would like to be certain that Windows 7 doesn't have an option to change the mentioned behavior.

You're welcome, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I'm not sure if/how to use Windows search for what you want.
I never cared for Windows Search and found this utility early on.
I've been using it for years because it's much easier for me, and I've never had problems with it.

Many others here know Windows Search a lot better than me.
Perhaps one of them will see this and post an answer on how to use Windows Search the way you need it.

I agree with David's assessment of Agent Ransack and only used the built in search feature for a couple of days. MS search may have search criteria that would to what you are attempting, but I have no idea if it does or not.

HTH

Thanks to both of you.
I need to use Win 7 file explorer because I am searching an icon gallery (a folder with many subfolders) and I need to see the images in the results pane instead of plain file name's, so I can see the images and select the appropiate icon.
Any help with be highly appreciated.

Have had similar trouble with Windows 7 search (am using Agent Ransack aka File Locator).

Yes, sometimes Windows 7 search results in 1000's of unwanted hits, were Agent Ransack has no problem whatsoever. For very special searches, Agent Ransack accepts " (like "(1)" ) and always returns exact results. Windows 7 should be able to accept " but...
Windows 7 search exact phrase
I could list many, many occurrences were Windows 7 fails miserably (indexed or not) giving tons of wrong hits, or it may find some of what I search for, after needing some tedious and irritating filter setups to imitate what Agent Ransack (and surely many other dedicated programs) does without any extra work, doubt or hiccups.

I just did a search for .ico files and i see the icon in the results list.
Do you see something different for icon files, or this is not what you need?

Thank you David.
I installed File Locator Lite and works pretty fine, but does not solve my problem.
The icon library I need to search and explore contains images with png and gif formats, and File Locator does no have view options to show the actual images.
File Locator seems to be an excellent tool for other purposes.