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Introduction
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| A couple of years back there were no contenders for this title. Today we have a wealth of choices. |
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Discussion
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Changes & improvements: --Tweaked deskbar design for better usability
--Added video duration filters Fixes:
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Another option is 
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Related Products and Links
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Everything (http://www.voidtools.com/) indexes your entire hard disk and then you can search for a file by typing in part or all of the filename and it will display results as you type. Then just double click to run the file or right-click for the menu to open the path. The beauty of Everything is that it can be completely portable! Cons: It does not have a right click preview of common file types (txt, doc, pdf, etc.). It works only on NTFS drives. And, Everything does not search file contents, only file and folder names. |
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Google Desktop Search
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Google sidebar and gadgets. Just type a few letters or words into the search box and your top results pop up instantly. Indexes and searches multiple email programs. | |
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Google sidebar and gadgets. Large resource utilization. Difficult to remove once installed. | |
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http://desktop.google.com/ | |
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http://desktop.google.com/ | |
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1.7MB  5.9.906.4286  Unrestricted Freeware  Intel Pentium 400MHz processor. 128MB RAM. 500MB HDD space. Must have administrator privileges. |
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Locate32
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Available for Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/Vista. Much faster than Windows Search. You can choose to include or not include folder names in the search, and can search for text strings within files. | |
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Not really a con to me but it is to others--it uses databases to store information about directory structures and uses these databases in searches. Not as full-featured as Copernic or Google. | |
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http://www.locate32.net/ | |
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http://locate32.net/content/view/18/31/ | |
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1.1MB 3.1 RC3 (build 8.9210) Unrestricted Freeware Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/Vista |
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64 Bit version available | |
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Have Your Say
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You are invited to share and discuss your views in our freeware forum. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate. Alternatively, anyone can leave a comment at the bottom of this page. |
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Editor
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This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Kendall Alexander. |
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Please rate this article
I have tried several search tools, I like DocFetcher so far. it's fast, intuitive to use, still a bit heavy on system resources but I like it better than copernic and Windows search and Google Desktop. The Search Man is not as intuitive and font size and usability are not that great even though it's fast. (remember folks it's a zipped program which must be unzipped to a folder first) Still looking, thanks to all for their suggestions.
TheSearchMan unRARs before you can blink your eye.
Its a 35 KB program.
Light on resources.
Accurate.
Portable.
Simple.
Small.
Free.
Fast.
what more do want?
Apple pie??
This is the best I have used, by a wide margin;
http://www.exalead.com/software/products/desktop-search/
It is fast, reliable,may be set up as you want it regarding searching, it doesn't "phone home" or install a lot of stuff you dont need or want. On a scale of 1...10, if Copernic is say a 5, then this program is a 9.
I dont know why people are apparently so concerned about "ram usage". If a program is to work properly it needs to use ram, and I cant see that it makes a lot difference how much, unless you are trying to run other processes concurrently, which will be deleterious to performance anyway!
From a post I wrote back in January of this year:
Post by monkeywithit--
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks as though the free version of Exalead has become a "free download" -- you have to pay for a license after 30 days. This is from the license agreement:
1. During 30 (thirty) days from the installation of the Software, you are granted a free, personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive license that allow you to use one copy of the Software for evaluation purposes only, on a single personal computer and to use the Documentation under the terms stated in this License (the "Evaluation Period").
2. After the Evaluation Period, you will not be authorized to use the Software any longer unless you activate the Software (the "Activation"). The Activation requires the purchase of a license online in order to obtain an activation key. The price of the activation key is mentioned on Exalead's website. When you acquire an activation key from Exalead, you are granted a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive license to use one copy of the Software on a single personal computer and to use the Documentation under the terms stated in this License. The Activation does not include a right to get updates of the Software. Title and ownership of the Software and Documentation remain to Exalead.
So, I'm not sure if they've changed their license or not. You're welcome to give it a try and report back if it is still "trialware" or actually "freeware". If anyone can find new wording from the Exalead license, please point it out to me. Based upon the license agreement, Exalead requires activation after 30 days and this activation REQUIRES the purchase of a license. That is wording directly from their license agreement. As such, it is not free and not a candidate for this website.
Again, if you find different wording or if this has changed, please point it out to me. I have not tried or evaluated Exalead because to the best of my knowledge, it is not truly freeware. (Again, it has almost been a year since I looked at Exalead.)
It is completely free;
http://www.exalead.com/software/products/desktop-search/#section-4
the free edition is limited to 100 file types, but all the important types are covered. I use it primarily for PDF's and text. This is the best software for this I have tried, and I have tried just about all of them.
I have used Exalead in the past. I tried it again this week.
Some comments:
1. It is easy to search and narrow done your search with one mouse click.
2. Exalead shows the search results in a browser. In Chrome and Firefox, this works fine. In IE8 it was a mash (at least on my computer).
3. The memory usage is roughly 200-300 MB, sometimes even higher, which I consider as high. But, there is almost no impact on PC performance.
4. The initial index is created in a reasonable time.
5. My total index has almost 90.000 documents. I have heard that Exalead free edition could only index up to maximum 100,000 documents. I do not know if that is true.
Indeed, the menu provided for refining the search results is very good indeed.
Worked well on Firefox and IE8, didn' try any others.
Don't care about menory usage as long as it does the job. Agree that there is no perceivable impact on PC performance.
Time to index depends on what you actually index. Up to now I have only indexed documents of various types, databases ( Lotus notes), texts and e-mails.
Have not reached any limitations. On one setup we had 472,000 documents, most very large ( PDF books mainly). Worked perfectly. I don't know how the professional version performs. I only have the freeware. I have seen the professional version in operation, but had no chance to try it myself.
Have also not tried the network searches personally, but again somebody I know has tried it, he has about forty machines on his network, he tried the freeware on it, and he says it works fine, but I don't know anything specific about it. Presumably a commercial operation would buy the professional version anyway? Perhaps using the freeware as a "trial" beforehand. Apparently one may also get a trial fo the professional version if one wishes, one has to contact the company to do this.
I'm very happy with the software. Of course there are some alterations I would like to see, to suit my preferences, but one can say that about any software.
Please confirm this with the license agreement. My apologies, but the real truth will be in their license agreement. I can't seem to find this online, so it must be within the program itself.
If possible, post the first couple sections here of the license agreement.
They declare it as freeware on their page.
System Requirements
* Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
* Internet Explorer 6+ and FireFox 1.5+
* To index emails/contacts: Outlook Express 5.x/6.x, Outlook 2000/XP/2003/2007, Windows Mail, Microsoft Exchange, Mozilla Thunderbird, Lotus Notes (from version 5.09)
Download Information
* Version: 4.6.0.515
* Last release: 05.05.2009
* Size: 16,4 Mb
* Languages: English and French (soon German, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Polish, Russian and Japanese)
* License: Freeware
There is no licence agreement, it is simply freeware.
There are no nags, no problems, no nothing. Its is just FREEWARE.
It is simple enough to try it.
Ok. Here is a portion of their new software license accessible upon installation:
LICENSE
1. You are granted a free, personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive license to use one copy of the Software on a single personal computer and to use the Documentation under the terms stated in this License. Title and ownership of the Software and Documentation remain to Exalead.
2. In order to qualify for the free use license described herein, you must have downloaded or received the Software in the form of an original Software distribution package as distributed by Exalead and/or Exalead-authorized Distributors, including all files contained in such package ("Original Distribution Package"). Current Original Distribution Packages for the Software are available from Exalead and Exalead-authorized distributors. Copies of the Software not received in the form of an Original Distribution Package are not licensed for use, copying or transmission by you or others.
TERM
This license is effective until terminated. Exalead shall terminate the license at its sole discretion. You may also terminate it at any time by destroying the Software and Documentation with all copies, modifications and merged portions in any form. Exalead shall terminate the license if you fail to comply with any term or condition set forth herein. You agree upon such termination to destroy the Software and Documentation together with all copies, modifications and merged portions in any form.
Their license agreement has indeed changed. It is apparently no longer "trialware" and appears to be fully "freeware". I have installed it and I will give it a try. I'll report back later my findings.
Interesting, I don't get this when installing. ( This may be due to my setup). Anyway, you will find the software is absolutely first class. Far far better than any of the other freeware, and by a very big margin. ( I have not tried much of the commercial software in this area extensively, but from what I have tried, I suspect it is better than most of them as well).
A few friends of mine have installed it after hearing about it from me, and they are really enthusiastic. One friend of mine bought the full version after trying it at home for a week. He tells me his employees can no longer do without it and are really happy with a search software for the first time.
Before trying this, most were agreed that Copernic was about the best of a bad lot. ( Although earlier versions were actually better than the present one as well!)Hardly any of them liked Google because it is too intrusive and bloated with other stuff. Other solutions like "search inform" and a couple of others had other problems.
I will be interested in reading your review.
Although of course the main idea is to let people know that this excellent freeware is there.
Doubtless not everybody will like it for one reason or another, but I imagine the majority who use such software will be enthusiastic.
I submitted above post on DocFetcher... but "Everything" by VoidTools http://www.voidtools.com/ is very good. Taking about 5 minutes to learn what you can do with it makes this maybe the best file searcher out there. What I love is the "search as you type" feature and low system resource use. no need now for clicking many times to find the folder you think you put a file in. to find todo.xls just type "to" ".xls" (parens not needed) and it will show you all excel files with to in the name. I must be a geek cause I think it's cool
I recommend TheSearchMan.
unlike Everything , TheSearchMan’s database is encrypted and it doesn’t show ALL files at the startup.
The database of Everything is on the most wanted List of hackers as it lists all your files.
TheSearchMan is a mere 30 KB download.
It is portable also. That means NO INSTALLATION.
Unlike Everything or Locate32 which can only search in the index, TheSearchMan can do real searching,ie, in the drive with a super fast speed.
It searched my 50GB Seagate drive in a little over 2 seconds.
It has bagged many 5 stars and Top Software awards.
The interface of TheSearchMan is extremely simple.
Just enter the path and search criteria
TheSearchMan’s database is updated on the fly.
The home page is:
http://venussoftcorporation.blogspot.com/2009/08/thesearchman.html
Its also been reviewed by ghacks and addictivetips.
THESEARCHMAN IS PORTABLE:
THAT MEANS NO INSTALLATION
It doesn't work on my system either.
When I get around to re-reviewing these products, I will add TheSearchMan to the list. However, I do note that TheSearchMan will not search within files. It only finds files or folders not words within documents. Not everyone needs that functionality, but for those that do, this is not your solution. If you only need to be able to find a file or a folder, this might be an option.
This program will not work on my system. Win 7 x64 P6T Intel Core 2 2.66 GHz.
Its a 32-bit program.
@Kendall
Hi
Have you seen the homepage of TheSearchMan.
In that there's an 'about us' page in which the picture of the developer of TheSearchMan is posted.
Thats a boy!!
Thanks for pointing that out. However, I'm not sure what relevance it has to the product or the software. For me, it's impressive that 2 young men can create something like a desktop search program by themselves at such a young age.
Ahem..
Only one young man created this.
Its Prankur Rusia.
In TheSearchMan, if want to have the database then keep the index.mdb file (provided) in the same folder as the TheSearchMan.exe.
If you don't want to have the index simply move the index.mdb file somewhere else.
A portable version of Copernic Desktop search is mentioned in the Quick Selection Guide section. Where can one find this portable version?
Thank you for pointing this out. I cannot find any mention of a portable version of Copernic Desktop Search. I will remove that mention in the article.
Please be aware that Copernic does now offer myCopernic OntheGo (formerly called Copernic Mobile). It is a commercial application that looks quite interesting.
Hello Kendall and rest of the forum,
I am looking for a software that indexes also my usb removable drives so that even when they are disconnected I know where stuff is.
I installed Google Desktop but it doesn't seem able to do what I am looking for.
Is there any software that does this (even paying ones)?
Thank you :)
P.s. Also you write that Google Desktop is difficult to remove.
What does it mean and what should i do if i want to uninstall it?
Thanks
Some good freeware programs are listed at Best Free File / Disk Catalog Organizer.
If you just want to know where files are, Cathy is a good choice. It does not scan within files, just by names, but is very quick and scans both NTFS and FAT32 drives.
Hello Keroff,
Thanks for the suggestion.
I actually already have Khaty but I am looking for a full fledged desktop search software like Google desktop that indexes external drives too.
I don't know if network searching in Copernic is referred to that function or else and i cannot find out on their site help pages.
I will open a thread on the forum too re this.
Many thanks.
I think your best solution is what you've already suggested--post a note on our forums. That way, you get the thoughts and opinions of 1000's of readers who probably know much more than I.
I am thinking that you are going to have to go commercial for this type of request, but I may be wrong.
Kendall, thanks for the recommendation for Locate32 - it's an excellent search utility.
However I don't think it can search in emails, so that is a bit of a negative.
Also it's not been updated in two years, although I guess if it works, that doesn't matter too much. I prefer that it builds a DB and uses that, running loads of apps 24/7 is no good unless you have a power PC or don't mind if things are slow.
chris.p
Launchy is still the best (and fastest) filesearcher/file-launcher program I've tried.
Launchy is excelllent for launching programs and files, but it used to have a limit to the index size. You still need a desktop search to find files across your entire workspace, and you may still need to look in a file manager to recognize a sequence of similar file drafts and related files in the respective folder.
I appreciate your feedback. However, Launchy does not belong in this category. From their website:
"Launchy is a free windows and linux utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager."
Launchy is not a desktop search utility in the sense of indexing all your files. It certainly does not search within files.
Maybe the programs that don't index could be listed separate, since many have said that they are substantially slower to search. Then, maybe the indexing programs could be divided into those that do or do not index file contents.
That's actually a very good idea! I'll have to think about how to do just that. Maybe I could develop some type of table that shows 1)indexing vs. non-indexing and 2)only searches for file/folder names vs. indexes file contents.
The good idea gets better still. I like it!
http://www.koshyjohn.com/software/neosearch.html
neoSearch does a very fast index of filenames only. It resembles "Everything" in that regard.
Are you sure?
Everything: 1,000,000 files will take about 1 minute
neoSearch: only 122,790 files will take 1 minute 5 seconds
I guess we can cross that one off and keep "Everything" on top of those using the "fast index" method.
Maybe. Everything only indexes NTFS volumes; neoSearch indexes FAT-formatted volumes like USB flash drives, too. However, neoSearch appears to only identify removable drives by their drive letter, and there doesn't appear to be any way to re-index just the removable drive, so it isn't really practical for indexing flash drives unless you've only got one to index.
Oh, and with an 80MB index for a 40GB drive, it isn't very efficient; Copernic's content index for the same drive is only 7x as large (550MB).
Ok
Is that their report or your test?
First info is from Everything's site and the second is from Softpedia description for neoSearch.
Is it true that Google desktop search stores an index of your hard drive on the Google servers?
http://desktop.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10559
...This index lives only on your computer and is never sent or made accessible to Google or anyone else without your explicit consent.
When you use certain Desktop features, the program may send non-personal information to Google's servers. These cases are described in detail below.
...
Desktop search wish list:
Search within files (as well as titles)
Search email (not just Outlook)
Indexing efficient on resources and fast
Search fast
term1 term2 produces AND results followed by OR results
search exact strings
Results sort can be changed by click-selecting a criterion
View into result files before opening
Locate search term in viewed files
Show result locations on disk
Open result files w double-click or equivalent
What would others add?
I like this list and can't think of any additions offhand. It sounds like Copernic, except Copernic is slow, hogs resources, has problems with email, and it frequently requires an index rebuild. Is anyone doing any active R&D in this space, or is this the state of things for the forseeable future?
I continue to explore options that others suggest. I've looked at DocFetcher and UltraFileSearch in the last couple of months. At this point, I am not planning a full review in the near future. I will update the review if new editions of already mentioned software emerge.
Slight error in your account. The free version currently will not index network shares. To get that you need the paid for professional/corporate edition
Who's account?
Which software?
The post must be about Copernic.
From version 3.0 forward, the network searching is only available with the pro or corporate versions.
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/cds-compare.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernic_Desktop_Search
I apologize. I must have missed that. I will update the review. In my opinion, this reduces the value and effectiveness of Copernic.
How about Doc Fetcher? Does anyone here use it?
http://docfetcher.sourceforge.net/en/index.html
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