Desktop Search Tools

Duplicate File Finder is a simple, but effective tool to locate duplicate files in one or more selected search paths. It scans the files and compares them based on Byte for Byte Comparison, which ensures 100% accuracy. You can then choose to delete the selected duplicate or original files. The program is multi-threaded and performs scans quickly.

Copernic Desktop Search allows you to instantly find files, emails, images, multimedia and more, that are located on your PC (not the Internet). It creates an initial index of your hard drive and provides an attractive and easy to use search interface that returns results instantly, as soon as you type in your keyword. It provides image thumbnails for picture matches, integrated preview with keyword highlighting and more. Copernic Desktop Search can also (optionally) index your web surfing history, as well as Contacts and Favorites. A very nice and easy to use tool to find files on your computer.

SearchMyFiles is an alternative to the standard Windows file search tool. It offers more detaile search criteria that allow you to find files by wildcard, last modified/created/accessed time, file attributes, file content (text or binary search), and by the file size. You can exclude folders from the search and also set wildcard option for sub-folder inclusion. Standalone software, no installation required.

Everything is a desktop search engine that enables you to find files and folders instantly by simply typing the name or part of it. It can index your entire computer in a matter of seconds and automatically keeps the index up-to-date. The program only indexes your file and folder names, not the file content or any metadata, which allows for much faster indexing speeds than the Windows Search tool. In addition to the desktop search features, Everything also includes integrated HTTP and FTP servers that allow searching of your files from other computers on the network, and an option to share files via download. You can specify files to be included or excluded from the search results, exclude system and hidden file and also choose to require web and FTP passwords to limit access. Other features include support for Regular Expression search, export of search results and more. Everything works with NTFS formatted drives.

Agent Ransack is a very powerful and easy to use tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently. You can search for file names or text in files with support for Regular expressions. When searching the contents of files Agent Ransack displays and highlights the actual text segments found in a separate window so you can quickly browse the results without having to open each file! The program features several wizards that can help you if you are not familiar with the use of Regular Expressions. Agent Ransack integrates into the Windows Find menu, so it is readily available to be used instead of the common Windows search dialog. The program also includes a very detailed help file.

Google Desktop brings the power of Googles search capabilities to your local computer. The program runs on your PC and maintains an index of your files, documents and even email messages - it supports Outlook, Outlook Express, MS Word, Excel, as well as text files and web surfing history. You can customize the indexing and choose which items to include, and also exclude specific documents or paths. To start searching, you just type your keyword in the browser based interface (runs locally, not on the web), and it returns lightning fast results of all items that match your search. Clicking on any of the search results, will open the file with the default application, or in case of email provide you with a text overview and reply options. The Google Desktop interface is similar to the online Google search, and can optionally be integrated with online search results.

Heatsoft Clone Cleaner Lite enables you to find and delete duplicate files with the same name, same size or same content. It can search multiple folders simultaneously and offers filtering by name, size and date. In addition, a smart marking feature lets you keep files in specified folders and remove their duplicate versions from other locations. An optional Pro version is available with support for multiple drives, folder exclusion and some other features.

LAN Search PRO is a powerful utility for fast file searching across your LAN. You can search for specific file names or for files of a certain kind (e.g. all MP3 files). It provides a fast search engine and includes the ability to search hidden network resources, restricted access resources, IP subnets and much more. It comes with a built-in password manager to store your network logins for resources with restricted access. Besides the file searching capabilities, LANSearch Pro offers features that allow you to perform actions on the found items (copy, move, rename etc.) and also save these operations in form of .bat files, which can be used as templates for batch processing. Additional features include result sorting, filtering, search within results, minimize to tray and more.

DupKiller helps you find duplicate files on your computer, that may be scattered across multiple folders or hard drives. It scans all selected drives, and presents you with a list of duplicates, organized in individual groups, and you can decide which files to delete. The standard scan process which considers the file size, date and name for a match is very fast and will accurately detect most duplicate files. For increased accuracy, you can choose content matching, which will take longer but is highly reliable since it compares duplicate files byte by byte. The program offers a modern interface and a variety of options to exclude files, preview image files, filter files by size and more.

Instant File Name Search (IFNS) is an easy to use search tool that allows you to find files on your computer instantly. After an initial scan, it maintains an index of all the files on your computer or LAN and and allows you to search them by name, partial name or wildcards. It offers additional support for Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), database management with an option to maintain multiple database files. You can choose to exclude or include selected files, folders or extensions to further speed up the search and reduce the size of the database.

Harddisk Search and Stats is a file and disk search engine for your PC, that scans your drives or folders for files that contain one or more specified keywords. It then presents you with a list of files found, as well as statistics for keyword occurrence in each file and more. You can open the file and the built-in viewer can jump directly to the first location of the keyword. Features include recursive searches, file extension filters, wildcard support. The program supports all ASCII/text-based file types, and does not require any installation.

FileBolter is a file search with some unique features. Similar to the standard Windows `Find` feature, it allows you to define filters for the files that you are looking for; the filtering options include directory conditions, file masks, file date and file context. In addition, to these standard search options, it also offers a plugin that lets you find specific images (landscape, portrait, custom sizes and more), as well as a graphical context search designer, that lets you built advanced context searches with a combination of boolean operators(little complicated to use). You can save the list of found files, search within the results and create custom bolters (developers) and more.

DK Finder is a desktop search tool that indexes selected drives and folders and returns instant results for keyword searches. You can search for file names and also for keywords contained within the files. The program uses a smart indexing algorithm that can be configured to only scan files that have been modified recently, thereby reducing the time needed to update your index database. You can sort and/or filter the results by file name and content, mark individual results and export them to text or CSV format. Other features include extensive keyboard shortcuts, automatic index updates after file operations, group operations, configurable open/view/edit options, advanced filtering, folder exclusions, and more.

Find and Run Robot enables you to quickly find programs and documents by simply typing the partial name for it into a small dialog, that can be opened with the Pause key on your keyboard. The program quickly scans all entries in your Programs menu as well as My Documents and other common locations, and you can also add any other folder to be included in the search (not intended to search your entire computer though). Furthermore, you can tweak the results by assigning scores, excluding certain files and various other criteria. The search results are displayed almost instantly and the found program or document can be launched quickly with the click of a button. Find and Run Robot is designed to allow complete operation via keyboard, with no need for any mouse interaction.

GlobalFind is a file search and replace tool that allows you to find files that contain a specific keyword, and optionally replace the keyword with another. The program supports search for extended characters by using a special query string, but other than that offers mostly basic features. You can search within the results and also save the results to a file.

neoSearch indexes your computer and provides almost instant search results for file queries. Just type in the first few letters of the file name and view the best matches or hit Enter for a detailed search report. You can include/exclude drives and folder paths from the indexing process and automatically have the program update the index on a regular basis. Other features include support for ID3 tags, keyboard shortcuts and access via tray icon.

Seeker is a search and replace tool that enables you to search and replace text within files that match your criteria. The program offers an easy to understand interface with basic options that allow you to filter target files by name, size and date. The text replacement is limited to simple one-line words or phrases (not suitable for larger text blocks), but supports regular expressions for those that are familiar with the concept. The program lacks a backup or Undo option, so be careful and backup your file manually. The results can be presented in 3 different report styles.

DNKA acts as a web server that allows access to Google Desktop Search (GDS) from across the Internet or local network. It provides built-in security and will reject all connections unless they originate from approved IP addresses. In addition, you can also require a username and password to access the GDS interface, and add folders to the Google indexing. When a user connects to DNKA, he will see the standard GDS interface and can search the files on your computer and optionally download them as well. (Note: The Google Desktop Search is not designed to be accessed from outside your computer. You should be very careful as to who you allow access to your files). Should be used by advanced users only.

eXpress FreshFiles Finder is a small utility that allows you to quickly find the last modified (freshest) files in a given directory, with optional sub-directories. You can also limit the number of files to list, and copy the name(s) and path(s) to the clipboard.

Index Your Files - Revolution! enables you to index all the files in selected folders and/or drives, and then search through them by size, date, keyword or wildcard pattern. Since the program only indexes the file names and properties, results are returned almost instantly, providing you with a list of files that match your query. You can then preview, copy, move or delete the found files. Other features include sharing of indexes across a network, preview for text and image files, and the ability to run from a USB drive.