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Since installing the Windows 8.1 update, search in Start8 only returns files and control panel apps - no programs are ever found or listed.
Which version of Start8 are you using as this is not normal. Search should work as it did before and I have just checked here and it seems to be working just fine. You didn't run start8tweak and disable the option to search for programs did you?
I'm using version 1.30 (it updated itself just after installing Windows 8.1).
No I've never even run Start8tweak, but I just checked it then and the option to Show programs is definitely enabled.
Also programs are shown when searching on the Start screen, so it doesn't appear to be an indexer issue.
Having the same problem since installing Windows 8.1 and Start8 1.30.
I changed absolutely no configuration whatsoever and now the search will return no programs, only files. I'm using the Windows 7 style menu, by the way.
What language version of Windows are you using and which version of 8.1 do you have? Also was this a clean install of 8.1, or an in place upgrade?
T'was an in place upgrade of Windows 8 Pro to Windows 8.1 Pro. Both 64-bit.
I'm using the Brazilian-Portuguese(pt-BR) language of it.
We setup a Brazilian install and did not encounter any issues.
Could both of you contact support@stardock.com so they can collect more information about your systems so we can track down what is different please.
I have similar issue. Start8 displays Programs and Control Panel results for me. No file search results at all. My search service is running and all items are indexed. Files search works on the Start Metro screen properly.
Do programs and control panel fill the entire list?
If so it sounds like the OS is telling Start8 the indexer is disabled.
If you click on see more search results do you see the results you expect?
Also if you reboot does the problem continue?
Yes when I click to show more results, all the expected results are shown. Steam, for example, is a start menu shortcut and doesn't show until I click show more results.
And no, restarting doesn't solve it.
No the list is not filled, only few results of programs and control panel and lot of empty space where files should show.
Problem persists after reboot.
In see more results, no files are shown.
In that case your problem appears to be an OS level one as the show more results window is an OS one.
You may want to check where the indexer is looking for files and possibly see about making it reindex in case the index has been corrupted somehow during the OS update.
I tried with Windows Start screen, StartIsBack+ and Classic Shell. Windows Start screen shows all results, Classic Shell shows all results. StartIsBack+ - same problem as Start8. Maybe something wrong with my Windows Search. But it shows all is indexed. 
Thanks for the quick reply.
Other products may not use the Windows Indexer. In fact doesn't classic shell only show results from apps anyway?
Just to clarify, my problem is that no programs are shown in the results, not no files.
I'm using English x64.
Could you please contact support@stardock.com so they can collect more information. No matter how many machines we try they all show the correct search results here, so there must be a difference between your setup and ours.
Was this resolved? I have exactly the same issue, Start8 doesn't return any apps since the update to Windows 8.1, was all working fine before the upgrade.
Could you contact support@stardock.com so they can collect more information about your problem please.
I checked with the latest version of Classic Shell. It shows full indexer results not just apps.
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