P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing systems have been in operation for years. However, recent studies show that many peers in P2P networks are free-riders, who download files but are unwilling to share. This paper proposes a randomized search algorithm that considers the potential of a peer for information exchange and controlled query forwarding in the search process. Based on churn situations, the simulation results in this study demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can reduce network traffic and search latency while searching for files in the system.