desktop-search posts

Snowbird is a fast, light weight search utility for Windows

by Brad Linder Aug 4th 2009

Snowbird is a file search utility for Windows that's much faster than the search tools built into Windows XP. But it's also much lighter weight than programs like Google Desktop and Windows Search 4.0 which index every file on your hard drive and save the data in huge index files to speed up future searches. As a result, Snowbird isn't as fast as some search tools, but it takes up less than 1MB of disk space.

Snowbird doesn't need to be installed to your computer. You can store it on a USB flash drive and run it on any Windows computer.

The program has a handful of options, including the ability to show hidden files or display the classic Windows address bar. The Snowbird interface looks a lot like a normal Windows Explorer window, and you can sort search results by name, size, type, or date modified.

[via The Portable Freeware Collection]

Tags: desktop-search, snowbird

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Search, Windows x64

Super Finder XT offers flexible, index-free search for Windows

by Lee Mathews Mar 10th 2009

Windows Search has come a long way from the XP days, and it's now a very capable desktop search application. If you'd prefer an index-free alternative (with a fancy ribbon interface, no less), have a look at Super Finder XT.

Since it's searching your drives without first compiling an index of their contents there is a bit of a speed trade-off, but Super Finder still returns results quickly. Advanced options allow you to specify a date range, minimum and maximum files size, and an extensive list of attributes (from read only and hidden to encrypted and compressed). Your search specifications can then be saved to a configuration file to re-use later.

Results can be copied to the clipboard and exported to Excel, HTML, and plain text, but printing support is only available to users who donate via PayPal. The app is also extensible with plugins, though I wasn't able to find any for download. If you have better luck, feel free to share them in the comments.

Super Finder XT is a free download and works on 32 and 64-bit Windows versions, XP and newer.

Tags: desktop-search, find-files

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Search

Find anything on your Windows desktop with Everything

by Brad Linder Sep 25th 2008

The built in search function that comes with Windows XP kind of stinks. It takes forever to find anything and often doesn't show what you're looking for. There are alternatives like Google Desktop Search and Windows Search 4.0. But they eat a fair bit of RAM, processing power, and use a ton of disk space to build an index.

And then there's Everything. This tiny little Windows utility does an amazing job of providing nearly instantaneous search results. Just download and install the file and within moments you'll be able to find just about anything stored on your system. No need to wait a few hours or days for Everything to build an index of your files first.

You can register Everything to start up when Windows starts. But because it doesn't need to spend a long time building its index, you can just as easily launch it when you need it, search for a file, and then close it. There's also a Windows Explorer shell plugin that lets you search individual folders or hard drives by right-clicking on them.

[via Lifehacker]

Tags: desktop-search, everything, search

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Search

Microsoft releases Windows Search 4.0

by Brad Linder Jun 4th 2008

A few months after releasing a technical preview of Windows Search 4.0, Microsoft has released the final version of its updated desktop search software.

If you've ever tried using the search feature in Windows XP or earlier Windows operating systems, you know that it can take several long minutes to get your results. Windows Search cuts that time down to seconds by constantly indexing every file on your desktop. If you have a lot of documents and media files on your PC, that index file can eat up a few hundred megabytes or even a few gigabytes, so you'll want to make sure you've got some free hard disk space before installing Windows Search.

Several other Microsoft products including Outlook 2007, OneNote 2007 and Windows Vista use Windows Search technology. But you can also download and install the standalone search client for any Windows XP, Vista, or Server 2003 system.

Windows Search 4.0 includes a number of bug fixes, allows you to index encrypted files, and provides search results faster than previous versions. If you're looking for a different free desktop search application, you might want to check out Google Desktop or Copernic Desktop Search.

[via ActiveWin]

Tags: desktop-search, search, windows-search, windows-search-4.0

Filed under: Features, Windows, Google, Microsoft, Freeware, Search

Windows Search 4.0 vs. Google Desktop 5.5

by Brad Linder Mar 30th 2008

Microsoft released an updated version of Windows Search, its free desktop search client the other day. And while there are dozens of excellent desktop search clients, including a few good free ones, it seems inevitable that people are going to compare Windows Search to Google Desktop. Because you know, any time either company releases something kind of cool someones assumes that it's just a ripoff of a product offered by the other. Or Apple.

Anyway, we've been using Windows Search for the past few days and we thought we'd let you know how it stacks up against Google Desktop. Read on for the results.

Tags: comparison, desktop-search, google-desktop, windows-search

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