Text in ASP Scripts Hidden From Windows Search

Not sure where to post this...

Found some interesting behavior in Windows Search (Start => Search => All
files and folders => search for "A word or phrase in the file:"). This
applies to XP and maybe other Windows flavors.

Procedure:
1. Create a simple text file named test.txt.
2. Open the text file in a text editor and add a simple test word such as
"blah" (not quotes).
3. Save the text file.
4. Using Windows search, attempt to locate this new text file by searching
for files containing the word "blah" (no quotes). Recommend limiting search
to folder that contains the new text file and deselect search subfolders
option.
5. The file should be found.
6. Change the file extension of the text file from .txt to .asp.
7. Redo the search.
8. The file should be found.
9. Reopen the text file (now named test.asp) in a text editor.
10. Change the string "blah" to "<% blah %>" (without quotes). [The brackets
delineate script in asp files.]
11. Save the changes.
12 Redo the search.
13. The file is NOT found.

Interesting. There must be some security concern related to .asp files with
embedded scripts relative to Windows Search. I wonder if there is a KB
article or something about to this. I have not been able to find anything.

Can anyone shed any light on this behavior?

Does anyone know of a good tool to find files containing a specific
string/pattern? Cygwin and some of the Unix tools works, but a GUI tool like
Windows Search would be preferrable.

Thanks.

Bob
Wed May 14 09:41:35 CDT 2008

Perrinwolf wrote:
> Not sure where to post this...
>
> Found some interesting behavior in Windows Search (Start => Search =>
> All files and folders => search for "A word or phrase in the file:").
> This applies to XP and maybe other Windows flavors.
>
Interesting problem but in the likely case that nobody here can answer your
question, you might try posting it in an XP newsgroup.

--
Microsoft MVP - ASP/ASP.NET
Please reply to the newsgroup. This email account is my spam trap so I
don't check it very often. If you must reply off-line, then remove the
"NO SPAM"

Dave
Wed May 14 12:33:27 CDT 2008

Perrinwolf wrote:
> Found some interesting behavior in Windows Search (Start => Search =>
> All files and folders => search for "A word or phrase in the file:").
> This applies to XP and maybe other Windows flavors...
>
> ...Interesting. There must be some security concern related to .asp
> files with embedded scripts relative to Windows Search. I wonder if
> there is a KB article or something about to this. I have not been
> able to find anything.

Does this help?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309173

Specifically, I would try Method 2.


--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Perrinwolf
Wed May 14 12:34:02 CDT 2008

Bob,

Thank you for the reply. I will follow your suggestion and post this in one
of the XP groups. I had thought someone here in the asp.general group might
know something because it appears to only be a problem with .asp files - but
my testing hasn't been that extensive so I could be wrong. If I receive an
answer I will update this thread.

Thanks.

"Bob Barrows [MVP]" wrote:

> Perrinwolf wrote:
> > Not sure where to post this...
> >
> > Found some interesting behavior in Windows Search (Start => Search =>
> > All files and folders => search for "A word or phrase in the file:").
> > This applies to XP and maybe other Windows flavors.
> >
> Interesting problem but in the likely case that nobody here can answer your
> question, you might try posting it in an XP newsgroup.
>
> --
> Microsoft MVP - ASP/ASP.NET
> Please reply to the newsgroup. This email account is my spam trap so I
> don't check it very often. If you must reply off-line, then remove the
> "NO SPAM"
>
>
>