The search for files on the Windows computer is not always effective and above all, it is often very slow and does not find what is needed at the moment. Windows has always had a search function which however remains very slow and not very flexible. Microsoft's new search tool, introduced in the Windows 10 version, greatly improves the previous tool with options to customize the File Search in Windows 10 on the whole PC
This article, therefore, to report, among others, one of the most surprising and best programs to look for files on the disk of the Windows PC (Windows 10, 8 and 7), a tool less than 589 kbytes that does not even install because it is a portable application.
1) It's called Everything and it's a free program that I recommend to download and use when you need to search for a file and to know which files are modified and created most recently .
Once you download Everyhing, you extract it from the compressed zip package and launch the file directly, without having to install it on your computer.
Everything opens with a completely white and empty window but immediately starts working and scanning the hard disk.
You really are amazed to see how fast this little tool scans and finds all the files and folders on your computer, but the most surprising thing is that, after the global scan of files on disks, the search for file names, becomes in real time, immediate and very fast .
In fact, starting to write a word, you can see how the list of files changes and only those containing the word that is typed are displayed.
Practically it works like Google Suggest, the search engine function that gives suggestions for searching on the internet, in this case, however, they are not suggestions but it is the actual search.
Everything consumes between 10 and 20 MB of memory in the task manager and I would say that it is not bad.
During the scanning of the disk, a file is created in the folder where the program was extracted, which contains the stored Database of Everything.
As said before, it is very fast to scan all the files and folders on the pc, it takes about a minute to find a million files; a new Windows installation has less than 20, 000.
The search for files can be done through several very useful logical operators which, once learned, make the search for specific files fast and accurate (they can be found in the Everything FAQ).
Among the options visible in the menu, Tools -> Preferences you can see how customizable and flexible this tool is.
You can then choose whether to start Everything at the start of the PC, whether it must remain in the background to be called quickly and if you can open multiple windows of the program at the same time.
From the options menu you can see that Everything only works with NTFS volumes which is now the format standard for large hard drives.
However, USB sticks with FAT or FAT32 format are excluded.
In the "Exclusions" menu you can decide to exclude some files or file types of files from monitoring and research.
ETP / FTP is a function that allows searching on remote filesystems or on computers connected to the network; for this function you can find more information on the site.
HTTP instead gives the possibility to open a web server on your pc and to search on your computer using your internet browser.
This function allows you to search for files on your computer even from anywhere in the world simply by using the Internet.
If you also configured an FTP server, these files could also be taken from the outside but for this configuration, refer to the product user guides.
Downloading the "language pack" file you get an interface in Italian .
Finally, another important use of Everything is to find the files that were created and modified last, in fact you just have to sort all the files on the disk by "Modified date" or by "Creation date" to be able to immediately check on files, in case of problems on the pc.
2) Similar to Everything, the file search program GlarySoft Quick Search is super fast and has a convenient interface, sortable results, filter by file type.
The program is able to quickly index all files, provide a real-time search in order to present results while writing on the text box and, above all, it takes up very little memory.
3) Similar and equally effective is also Wise Jet Search which, like Everything, creates a database of files so that file searches are very quick and fast.
The program starts automatically when the computer is turned on and supports searching on both NTFS dschi and USB sticks and removable drives.
4) Alternatively, we also mention the portable SearchMyFiles software, a file of just 40 Kbytes to copy on a USB stick because it does not require installation.
It works really fast for searching files and has an advanced search parameterization suitable for finding, for example, the latest files created in a week or the largest files and so on. Each search can be saved in a report that can be consulted at a later time or archived. Among the functions of this program there is also the one to search for text inside the files of a folder.
5) Ultra Search can be installed on Windows or used as a portable program and allows you to search for files on your PC very quickly and quickly.
It works without constant file indexing working in the background.
It may take a few seconds for all results matching the search term to be found, but you can immediately work with the files already found at that time.
Each result is displayed with its name, file path, size, last access date and modification.
The search results can also be saved in txt, csv or in Microsoft Excel format and, therefore, also printed.
6) FileSearchy allows you to search for files on your computer and within the files themselves.
Through various filters it is possible to refine the search by indicating by size, modification date and other parameters.
The program is very fast and can be used in place of Windows search.
7) SwiftSearch is another search program which does not need to index files and which works on NTFS disks.
If you are not satisfied with the Windows File Finder, you should definitely try it.
8) Different objective, but very useful is Listary for searching files in Windows folders .
