Weird problem - cannot find files, search function not working

Hey guys, newbie here, I'm experiencing a weird problem with Win 7..for the last 2 days I am unable to search within folders. When I use the search box in the top right hand corner to search, windows returns search results saying "no items found". This was working perfectly fine just a few days ago, where the files I searched for would be found and highlighted. Also, when I go to the "my documents" folder (or any folder for that matter), and open subfolders, it displays the folders as empty even though the preview (when I hover the mouse over the folder) says there are files inside, and I know for a fact there are files there! Sometimes only a few files are displayed, other times the folder appears empty.

I havent changed any settings or options on my computer. This is a really annoying problem, and the standard response from Dell is "reinstall the OS". I have a lot of documents and music and even though they have been backed up, it is just a pain to go through the whole process again. Any ideas what could be happening and how to fix this before I reinstall the whole thing?

Thanks!

Hi Petey7 thanks for the reply. The SFC says no problems detected. The funny thing is if I go to the "my documents" folder through the "C drive - all users - etc" my files are all there. But when I go directly through the "my documents" shortcut (either on my desktop or on the start menu" the files are missing.

NoN said:

May be try those two MS hotfix....:

First:
The "Search programs and files" box does not display search results correctly in Windows 7 and in Windows 2008 R2

Second:
The "Search programs and files" box on the Start menu does not search files on network locations that are not indexed in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

That might not be directly related to the explorer search tab...!
Thought aswell you could check whenever are the settings of the Options Search Query (Indexing Options) in the Control Panel...

I tried the second option as I have indexing turned off (extra hard drive work for too little gain), but M$ now makes you enter an email address to send a link with the hotfix! WTF! I used the mailinator service and got the link, but when I clicked, got a 404 page not found error from M$. Cut/pasted the link with the same result.

So, why not enter your email to get that MS hotfix? Get it regular and they will send it to you in your mail box with the two passwords (take the first one, the second is in case) to extract it. There will be inside the mail a direct link clickable.

I did use an email address, like I said... I used Mailinator. Those are temporary email addresses that you can use in situations like this. The link to the hotfix arrived at mailinator, but is no good -- a 404 error as stated.

Many thanks, NoN!