As many of you know, the basic Windows Search is junk. For example, if you want to search through the contents of files on your computer, it may not return any results, even if there are files that do contain the search text.

You can put lipstick on it and make it work a little better by making the following configuration change:

To configure Windows XP to search all files no matter what the file type, obtain the latest service pack for Windows XP and then turn on the Index file types with unknown extensions option.

If you use this method, Windows XP searches all file types for the text that you specify. This can affect the performance of the search functionality. To do this:

1. Click Start, and then click Search (or point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders).

2. Click Change preferences, and then click With Indexing Service (for faster local searches).

3. Click Change Indexing Service Settings (Advanced). Note that you do not have to turn on the Index service.

4. On the toolbar, click Show/Hide Console Tree.

5. In the left pane, right-click Indexing Service on Local Machine,and then click Properties.

6. On the Generation tab, click to select the Index files with unknown extensions check box, and then click OK.

7. Close the Indexing Service console.

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For those of you who use Outlook at work and you’ve been bitten by the Outlook nickname cache, follow the steps in this procedure to reset it.

I’d rather have the Sonics in the Sprint Center. At least with the Sonics we’re dealing with one ownership group. That’s a plus.

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C’mon Seattle! Ray Allen is, like, one of my favorite NBA players. It’d be sweet having Nick Collison in town, too. Oh and Dean Oliver, author of Basketball on Paper. I’m about half way through it and it’s a great book.