Filed under: Windows, Productivity, Freeware, Search
Windows Search Bites - Locate and Agent Ransack Don't
by Lee Mathews Aug 26th 2008
Well, it's time for a change. Two great freeware programs do the job much better, so why keep dealing with a slow, lackluster search?
Portable application buffs should check out Locate32. When you launch the app for the first time, you'll need to tell it to build a database file. After that, it'll take a seat in your system tray and run updates on your specified schedule. You can further tweak by specifying a maximum CPU usage before starting the job to ensure indexing doesn't bog down your system during busy periods.
Indexing took just a minute and a half on my notebook's 120GB hard drive, and subsequent searches displayed results in a flash. Searches you want to execute frequently can be added to the presets button.
Searching within text files is supported, and Locate32 also handles all the usual search provisos: file size, date, time, location. Choose to include or exclude subdirectories, get case specific, and limit results to a space-delimited list of file extensions. Customizable hotkey features are also built-in.
You can fully customize the information presented in your details pane, selecting from 31 fields, and it'll even create MD5 checksums for your files. There's even a filename case changing tool for the person who can't stand haphazardly capitalized files.
Agent Ransack is "a lite version" of the professional File Locator Pro, and requires installation. After performing a variety of searches with it, I found myself wondering who in their right mind would call Ransack "a lite version."
Ransack performs live searches on your files rather than using an index file, but it's still incredibly fast. You can save your criteria, though there's no handy "preset" button like Locate provides.
A regular expression wizard is included, which makes the most complex - and we're talking Rube Goldberg complex - searches easy to set up. It can get time consuming, but that's to be expected with such in-depth queries. Ransack can look at your files or for text inside them and it includes a multi-folder selection tool (Locate32 requires you to type them in).
Ransack is all about search, and doesn't include some of the display options and add-on features - like hotkeys, case changing, and MD5 gneration.
Which one is right for you? Take the for a test run and decide - or let us know what your favorite search app is!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Halo2Master said 10:55AM on 8-27-2008
Is there any advantage these programs have over Google Desktop?
The non-indexing aspect of Agent Ransack sounds kind of cool, since it doesn't spend resources on indexing. However, I imagine that would slow down the search query.
Reply
Lee Mathews said 10:56AM on 8-27-2008
It's actually surprisingly quick. I figured the same thing, but it's quite fast. Try it out!
Loodac said 10:55AM on 8-27-2008
I use and love them both. But there is also Windows Search 4. Also works on XP and many people like it.
Reply
File4mat said 9:07PM on 8-27-2008
On searching and indexing I havent found anything that performs better or suits my needs like Vista's indexer. The recent v4.0 brings several improvements including speed and advanced configuration via the GPE.
So how does WDS v4 on XP compare?
Reply
burnblue said 7:50AM on 8-28-2008
Windows old default search bites.. the downloadable Windows Search (now Windows Search 4) far from bites. The title misled me a bit. I highly recommend Windows Search to readers
Reply
WTF-man said 2:38PM on 9-09-2008
Windows search wouldn't blow if I could have it index at night! Why would you have you system index when you are actually working. It grinds my performance to a halt and the only what to get it to stop is to end the entire program. "Snoozing" doesn't! I can still hear my hard drive grind away. Search 5 (i don't it will happen) should let me schedule indexing. I do like that I can search outlook with windows search, but that is it...
Reply