Search in Windows explorer - Speed?

[ChrisGreaves]

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Yesterday I was shown how to search in Windows Explorer, specifically entering the search string

*.xls datemodified:yesterday

into the search box. No files were found.
Seconds later I worked out that I had first to select the data partition T:\ and THEN initiate the search.
Above is an image of my screen partway through the search. The green bar (circled in yellow) indicates progress, such as it is.

For fifteen years I have wondered about the slow speed in Windows Explorer. Now I think that because I have indexing turned OFF, Windows has to do what Everything has to do on a forced-rebuild. That is, examine every folder on the drive T: to build the index.

In writing this post it all seems obvious to me, but for years I had thought that Explorer was so slow because I used SUBSTituted drive letters, and that Explorer re-evaluated the substitution for each folder, a small time-cost, but over 71,000 folders, a measurable chunk of time.

Do my statements make sense?
Any comments (apart from "Greaves, you idiot! TURN ON WINDOWS INDEXING!!)

Thanks, Chris

[therube]

(I actually had to figure out how to do a Find - on Win10. It was not easy!)

I also disable Windows Indexing.

Win7.
Ctrl+F brings up a search-ms: window.
I suppose ? that is "Search", but no results are returned - but it does do that speedily .

Win10.
You have to load Windows Explorer & then (oh, I'm not quite sure as what I looked at online didn't exactly jive with what I was seeing... ?)... Anyhow, it looks like if what you're looking for is in an "indexed" location, it is found, speedily. If not, then drudgery ensues.