Advice Request Which search tool do you use and why? (For Windows)

[Myriad]

Hi Folks

My first real post on here , after intro and security config .

I was going to go for " What's your favorite color " but I reckon it would already have been covered
..... just my little joke

OK - so I'd like to hear what people have used as search tools , and which they prefer , and why .
I'm going to take it as a given that the Windows search in Explorer is a heap of doo-doo ....
.... and slower than the average slug.

I'm sure that most of us have "lost" a file at some point .... you can't find it anywhere , but you
know to a certainty that it wasn't deleted ?

My all time favorite is " Everything" , free from voidtools.

It is lightning fast ,and the context menu ( right-click ) gives you great options , you can open
any selected object , or get the path to where it is on your drive etc. , and the cherry on top is that
if it's not what you wanted , you can go back , and the entire list is still there for you .

Windows search can't do that , it just starts building the whole list again , from scratch ! ... Doh !!
But on the minus side , Everything can't find specific text strings inside files .

If I need to do that , I go to my second choice which is " Agent Ransack " .
It is a very powerful tool , but not quite so user-friendly as Everything , and it takes a bit of learning.

Third choice would be FileSeek , which is probably the most " Techie " oriented of the three .
Even if you can only remember a few words that were in the lost file , it will find it , eventually .

I look forward to reading all comments and opinions .

 

[TheJokerz]

I love Everthing as well! I have never used anything else. I do love how fast it is and I also love the "Bookmarks" feature. Like I said though I have never used anything else so who knows there might be something better out there!

 

[DardiM]

Thanks for your post
It made me realize that I was using no search tools. I have the habit of storing files in their "right" place, but it is true that the few times I needed to find a "lost" file, I used Windows search in Explorer (I am ashamed). I will try Everything

 

[Iapepe]

Try Wise JetSearch.
http://www.wisecleaner.com/wise-jetsearch.html.

 

[Ink]

and slower than the average slug.

Great example for Windows Search.

+1 for VoidTools' Search Everything.

Why?
It's a great small utility to search any file on Windows, and takes a lot less time and resources than Windows Search / Indexing service.
I use it after uninstalling or removing unwanted files from my PC, being a portable app, I can use it on-demand without worrying it'll be consuming resources.
Portable version users still need to disable the background process on first run, otherwise it'll stay present in the system tray.

Homepage: Everything Search Engine

 

[Alkajak]

Everything. The search indexing is lightspeed compared to the Windows built-in search.

 

[frogboy]

I also use Downloads it works for me.

 

[King Alpha]

Everything because of its quick file indexing and searching. I've also used Wise Jet Search before and it's pretty good.

 

[Myriad]

It would be a joyous day indeed if there was an equivalent tool for Linux ... but there just isn't ,
and I fully understand the reasons why .
There are a few worthy attempts out there , but they are clunky as all hell , and crash-happy on top !

If you are comfortable in the Linux Terminal , all is fine , and it is not a major issue .
( And after decades of coding , to be honest , I sometimes feel uncomfortable out of a terminal -
-but that's just the old fart factor kicking in ! )

I would dearly love to see millions of people abandon MS and Apple in favor of Linux , but there is
still a long way to go before " Mom and Pop " users will embrace it ..... I just help where I can ....

Damn , I went off topic again , and to make matters worse , it was my own thread !!!

.... my apologies to all

 

[shmu26]

if I need to search for text inside a file, I try to point windows search in the right direction, by choosing the general location in which the file is hiding. I wish I had a better way, but it works.
If someone has a better idea, I would be happy to hear.

 

[Ink]

A quick update to my previous...

As of late, my experience with Search in Windows 10 has been better than expected.

In Windows 10 you don't have to search for the search tool, as it's right in front of you, literally. So this week, I gave up on Cortana.

Spoiler: Reasons why?

• Cortana App is NOT yet available outside the US/China, for Android users in the UK
• New Viv AI (Viv) - makers of Siri
• Android has Google Now

Current settings include; Cortana (OFF), Interests (OFF), Online Search (OFF), Search local files, apps and settings (ON)