As you know as a new Vista user, while Vista is in many ways just an incremental user interface update from WinXP, it can still be quite confusing what has changed. For example, here's the new start menu:
Notice the element that's highlighted: that's the Search option and that's how you search for something. Choose it.
Now you have a regular application window with a variety of options somewhat tucked away:
You'll want to type in your search criteria on the top right, where it says "Search". Let's test it, I'll search for "solitaire" to see if a key Windows app is still in Vista:
That's easy enough. Two versions of Solitaire. Clearly a great benefit of Vista. :-)
Instead, lets say that you did a search and it returned hundreds of matches. In that case, you'll want to do an advanced search, which you can access by clicking on the downward triangle adjacent to "Advanced Search". If I do a search for "shortcut", then I get this:
As you can see, you can constrain your search results by when the file was created, how big or small it is, or where it is. For example, want to save disk space? Search for all files over 500KB and see what happens. Now, check the "Include non-indexed, hidden and system files" and see how it changes.
Anyway, that should get you started with searching for files, documents, pictures, and other material on your Windows Vista system!
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you can also use the start search feature at the bottom of the start menu. it is visible under all programs in the first screenshot in the article. you do need to know the name of the program you are searching for there. as a technical support rep for a computer manufacturer I instruct my callers to use it all the time. I believe it needs to be enabled to be used, tho in my experience it is enabled by default in vista.