Files - Search (26)

Everything is a powerful search tool that locates files and folders by file name instantly, and includes an FTP and Web server interface. It also can search files by their contents. Unlike Windows search, Everything initially displays all files and folders on your computer. You simply type in part of the desired file name to limit what files and folders are displayed instantly. The more you type, the more specific the list becomes.

Note that the instant-search capability only works on NTFS/ReFS-formatted drives and only uses file and folder names in a file index. The program can separately catalog non-NTFS/ReFS and network servers for searching on a schedule.

Index Your Files allows you to search through all your files or folders on local or networked drives. Searching can be done by name, date, size, location etc., and boolean operators are available to to perform multiple keyword searches. You can invoke Windows Explorer context menus on found files to perform operations such as drag/drop, copy, rename, delete etc. It also includes internal viewers for text, HTML and image files.

As the name implies, the program must index the area before searching, but afterward searches almost instantly.

Note: v5.0.2.6 is effectively the last freeware version of IYF. The current version is named "IYF Pro", and is an extreme nagware (as described by webfork here) that is effectively just a commercial demo, so we have decided not to update this entry, but link to the Internet Archive for download of the last freeware version.

Locate32 is an indexing search tool that allows you to find files on local and Windows networking-compatible remote shares. After an initial search of shares, it uses database to provide instant for any number of files and folders. Searches can be set on a variety of criterion including date, size, extension, files/folders, etc.

Note that the databases must be updated to give accurate information. You can customize places to search and frequency of each update (e.g. your desktop hourly, your backup drive weekly). Some file types' contents can be searched including most MS Office file formats, but only some PDFs and image metadata.

SoftPerfect LAN Search Pro is an easy, non-indexing file search for your local network. You can search for specific file names or types (e.g. all MP3 files). The program lets you search hidden network resources, restricted access resources, IP subnets, LAN FTP servers and much more. It comes with a built-in password manager to store your network logins for resources with restricted access.

A 64-bit version is available (within the folder).