Software

Five speedy Windows desktop search apps

By // August 27, 2012, 10:34 PM PST

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  • Introduction

    NOTE: If you'd prefer to view this information as a blog post, check out this entry in our Five Apps blog.

    Over the years I have accumulated a lot of file data. Even though I keep it well organized, there are times when I have to use a search utility to find what it is that I am looking for. Since I'm sure that there are others who are in the same boat, I thought that it might be helpful to talk about some desktop search utilities.

    Before I get started, I want to clarify my definition of a desktop search utility. For the purpose of this article, I am defining a desktop search utility as any utility that is used locally to help find specific data on either the desktop or on an on-premise server. In other words, I'm not talking about Internet search utilities, but everything else is fair game.

  • Copernic Desktop Search

    Copernic Desktop Search is a free utility that has a clean and intuitive interface, although it is ad driven -- and the ads can sometimes be a bit distracting.

  • Copernic Desktop Search

    My only real complaint about this software is that it doesn't initially index your entire hard drive. You may have to go in and add some non-default folders for your data to be indexed properly. After you do so, however, the software works really well.

  • Auslogics Duplicate File Finder

    Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is a free utility for searching your hard disk for duplicate files. The search engine does a really good job and it lets you opt to ignore things like file dates.

  • Auslogics Duplicate File Finder

    The search engine can even peek inside files to locate ones that might be duplicates even though they have different names.

  • X1 Professional Client

    X1 Professional Client is another desktop search engine that can find various types of files and email messages. While the functionality might seem routine, a few features help justify the price tag.

  • X1 Professional Client

    For starters, the search engine is blazing fast. The search actually occurs as you type. Furthermore, you can use a variety of search commands to help narrow your search results. My personal favorite feature is the preview window that shows the currently selected item. Finally, X1 Professional Client has options to do things like copy, email, and zip selected items.

    X1 Professional Client retails for $49.95, but a free 14-day trial is available.

  • Search and Replace 98

    Search and Replace 98 is a bit different from other desktop search utilities, in that it can find and replace specified text in your files. It's extremely useful when you need to make changes to a lot of documents.

  • Search and Replace 98

    I first found Search and Replace 98 many years ago when I was developing a Web site. The site I was developing consisted of nearly 4,000 ASP files. As the site was approaching completion, my lawyer informed me that certain blocks of text that appeared on several pages had to be rephrased. I needed an editor that could perform a search and replace across multiple files so that I would not have to dig through all 4,000 files by hand. Search and Replace 98 did exactly what I needed it to do.

  • Ava Find

    Ava Find is a free utility for finding files, messages, and other resources on your computer. Ava Find is nearly 10 years old. In spite of its age, however, the software still works really well.

  • Ava Find

    Ava has a simple interface that lets you quickly find documents, messages, music, and videos simply by searching for them or by clicking the Music or Videos button.

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Introduction

NOTE: If you'd prefer to view this information as a blog post, check out this entry in our Five Apps blog.

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of file data. Even though I keep it well organized, there are times when I have to use a search utility to find what it is that I am looking for. Since I'm sure that there are others who are in the same boat, I thought that it might be helpful to talk about some desktop search utilities.

Before I get started, I want to clarify my definition of a desktop search utility. For the purpose of this article, I am defining a desktop search utility as any utility that is used locally to help find specific data on either the desktop or on an on-premise server. In other words, I'm not talking about Internet search utilities, but everything else is fair game.

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