Agent Ransack (aka File Locator) - file search

[portackager]

[Moderator notes:

NOTE: Agent Ransack and File Locator are the SAME program for reasons described on their page. Just because it was first, we are listing the original (Agent Ransack).

• This is the official thread for the Agent Ransack entry.
• This thread was split from the File Search Utilities thread.

[/note]

---

Agentransack is a free tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently. When searching the contents of files Agent Ransack displays the text found so you can quickly browse the results without having to separately open each file!

link: http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/
screenshot: http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/ ... creenshots

It is portable but not stealth as it writes the settings to:

Code: Select all

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\Agent_EXE

AgentRansack is basically a neglected relative of FileLocator Pro which is shareware. Despite it's age, it's a pretty solid file searcher, it doesn't require indexing, but still pretty fast at searching.

[I am Baas]

Agent Ransack 2010 (build 759) released 15-03-2010

To celebrate Agent Ransack's 10th birthday we've created a huge update which includes these new features:

- Boolean expressions (AND, OR, NOT).

- Supports popular office formats including Office 2007 and OpenOffice.

- Available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

- 'FileLocator Lite' alternative branding for corporate environments.

- New context menu features, such as Explore Here.

- More robust.

- Modernization of the User Interface.

Details @ http://www.mythicsoft.com/page.aspx?typ ... &page=home

[joby_toss]

I've just tested the 64bit version and it is portable but not stealth.
Creates empty registry keys at
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack]

[Midas]

Old topic update: Agent Ransack(/FileLocator Lite!) is currently version 2014 Build 822 (changelog at http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/history).

Agent Ransack, a free file searching utility, finding files that other search engines miss. Agent Ransack is a free 'lite' version of FileLocator Pro. It is free for both personal and commercial use. First released in April 2000, Agent Ransack has been helping people find files for over 14 Years [...]: immediate results, boolean expressions, Office formats, Perl regex, 64-bit version, fast searching, printing and exporting.

Notes: if you (Uni)extract the current downloadable NSIS installer, you'll get four items in a '.\$TEMP\$[33]' folder:

1. '$PLUGINSDIR' (installer related, discard);
2. '$[35]' (must be renamed to 'shared.cab' prior to further extraction);
3. '$[34]' and 4. '$[34]_1' (64 and 32 bits installer databases, respectively; append ".msi" extension and extract with LessMSI, for example).

Agent Ransack embeds console utility xpdf (currently v3.03; http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/), and an outstanding HTML format online help, including a primer on Regular Expressions use.

On first run, Agent Ransack will warn/require a commercial use limitation option (2nd screenshot above), after which it will create 'config', 'logs' and 'CrashReports' folders inside program folder and populate them as needed.

Agent Ransack did detect is was running portable (see last screenshot above), but always created an empty 'HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack' key anyway, as found before -- plus, if "Window size, position and font settings" in menu "Tools | Configuration | History - Remember" isn't disabled, a bunch of additional registry keys will be created:

HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Settings
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\BasePane-59392
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\BasePane-59393
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\BasePane-593980
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\BasePane-5939881
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\CommandManager
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\ControlBars-Summary
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\ControlBarVersion
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\DockingManager-101
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\Keyboard-0
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\MFCToolBar-59392
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\MFCToolBar-593980
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\MFCToolBar-5939881
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\MFCToolBarParameters
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\Pane-59392
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\Pane-59393
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\Pane-593980
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\Pane-5939881
HKCU\Software\Mythicsoft\AgentRansack\Workspace\WindowPlacement

Download from http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/.

[webfork]

NOTE: just for reference, this was added to the database sometime back: https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=3006 by Rudy5 ... I have not tested this and therefore have not voted.

[Ennovy]

Quote

FAQ
Q . Hey, I ’m confused! It looks like FileLocator Pro and Agent Ransack are now the same product and it's just whether they are in Lite mode or Pro mode, is that right?

A . Yep, apart from the name they are both the same. Honestly, it ’s the same code. During the build process an automated script runs that locates all the FileLocator Pro branding and replaces it with Agent Ransack branding and then recompiles.

Q . That's a bit odd, why have two names?

A . It is a bit odd but maybe a short history of the product will help explain:

Apr 2000 - The first version of the product was released under the name Agent Ransack.
Apr 2003 - A Pro version of Agent Ransack was released under the name FileLocator Pro.
Mar 2010 - Due to the discomfort from some people over the name Agent Ransack an alternative rebranded version named FileLocator Lite is released.
May 2018 - FileLocator Pro adds a new feature that can downgrade itself to 'Lite' mode.
Sep 2019 - Agent Ransack adds a new feature so that it can upgrade itself to 'Pro' mode.

The end result is that we now have a single code base for the product, which is much easier to maintain, but two product names, which is potentially confusing. Over the next few years we'll carefully monitor the demand for both names and hopefully retire one eventually. If you'd like more information on the change please see this blog post.

BTW I use FileLocator portable and I could not find any registry keys mentioned in earlier posts

[webfork]

BTW I use FileLocator portable and I could not find any registry keys mentioned in earlier posts

Thanks -- I'll retest and update the entry.

[webfork]

BTW I use FileLocator portable and I could not find any registry keys mentioned in earlier posts

Thanks -- I'll retest and update the entry.

A test of both 32 and 64 bit portable installers came up nil -- I have updated the entry and voted. Thanks Ennovoy for the pointer.

[Ennovy]

A test of both 32 and 64 bit portable installers came up nil -- I have updated the entry and voted. Thanks Ennovoy for the pointer.

Great!, thank you

[Ennovy]

You forgot to change the fact that it's stealth, I changed the entry accordingly

[webfork]

You forgot to change the fact that it's stealth, I changed the entry accordingly

I did indeed, thanks.

[webfork]

I've updated the entry with a few more notes about the program, but something that didn't quite make sense to include in the entry:

• Multiple instances - you can have multiple copies of the program running concurrently with multiple priority settings. This is useful when you want to have a search running for something that's hard to find in the background. For example, looking through a network store for a specific date or number inside a long list of files.
  _
• Office file support - while it does work with LibreOffice "ODT" filetypes (a crucial feature for me), but the preview window also includes some of the formatting tags (visible below).
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• Resource usage - By default takes up about 40 megs of RAM. Low RAM or overburdened systems can use "low priority" settings (uses about 21 megs).

[webfork]

Just a note that the recent changelog for this program listed several search operators that I've been looking for: NEAR and LIKE, which let you find terms that are close to each other or (for example) word misspellings. These are unfortunately only available in the pro version. AND, OR, and NOT are all supported.

https://help.mythicsoft.com/filelocator ... ssions.htm

Because Regular Expressions are supported for both filenames and containing text, you can fudge "NEAR" option a little bit if you know some Regex. Works great with the contents of PDF files but Word DOCX and LibreOffice ODT files were shown with all their included XML, which will confuse results. Would probably try to export to PDF before testing this as a formal search.

[Llewelyn]

Last portable/stealth version 2019 build 2951
x86
x64
later versions write to registry