Instant File Name Search is an effective search tool that helps you find any type of file on your PC or local network almost instantly. It does an initial index of all your drives which later on allows it to perform much faster searches. This index list must be maintained so that it is up to date and you can set the program to refresh each time it starts up.

It supports complete or incomplete names, wildcards and boolean operators. You can also set the program to exclude certain types of file or directories resulting in speedier results.

Download Instant File Name Search 1.7.5 in Softonic

Archivarius 3000 is a full-featured application to search documents and email on the desktop computer, your local network and removable drives (CD, DVD). The documents can then be searched by keyword or using a query language.

Due to full Unicode support, Archivarius 3000 allows correct search in multilingual documents. For instance, a Greek-German bilingual document can only be handled in Unicode, otherwise Greek symbols and German diacritics would be lost.

File names are also in Unicode, which enable correct handling of Asian documents (Japanese, Chinese, Korean). Archivarius 3000 searches not only e-mail messages, but also attachments, including compressed ones. The following formats are supported: Outlook, Outlook Express, The Bat!, PocoMail, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, and those that are compatible.

Server mode allows you to search remotely and have remote access to your documents through any web browser (i.e. Internet Explorer). This mode can be switched on with a single mouse click.

Download Archivarius 3000 4.05 in Softonic

Searching for text in Windows is not as easy as it should be - while searching for files is relatively easy, when it comes to word searching, Windows leaves a lot to be desired.

However, Text Filterer does a decent job of fixing these shortcomings by allowing you to search for single words, partial words, Boolean word combinations or exact phrases within a hierarchically organized collections of documents. The interface is based on Windows Explorer which does make it look a bit plain and boring but at the same time, makes it very easy to navigate and use. If MS Word is installed on your computer, Text Filterer can search in DOC and other MS Word supported files for specific word. This is great if you are faced with a lot of misnamed documents and need to locate one on a specific subject without going through them one by one. Text Filterer can even search and extract documents stored inside ZIP archives at any level of compression and this includes those documents and texts that include BMP, ICO, GIF, TIF, PNG and JPEG images. While the program is simple enough for beginners, the advanced options are quite complicated and require quite a bit of study before being able to use them effectively.

For researchers or those trying to manage huge numbers of documents, Text Filterer is a powerful utility that could save you hours of wasted time.

Download Text Filterer 3.1 in Softonic

One thing that's unavoidable with Windows is many duplicated files which serve little or no purpose.

However, did you know it was possible to find and replace at least those files that have been duplicated without going through them manually? Programs such as Duplicate File Finder can search files byte by byte and compare them so that you can have a better idea of which files you need and which ones you don't. The interface clearly presents you with the path names and locations of those files which appear to be duplicated. It's then up to you to decide which ones are duplicates and which one's aren't. The good thing about this program is that it's incredibly quick at searching - you'll wait for less than a minute for Duplicate Files Finder to return results. In addition, you can interactively delete files or create links and refine searches to the minutest of details.

A nice utility for cleaning up your hard drive or removing those files that you never even knew existed on your hard drive.

Download Duplicate Files Finder 0.44 in Softonic

As a recent switcher, I'm slowly discovering all the little wonders of MacOS X and starting to understand why the Apple OS has so many faithful supporters. However things are different at work, where I must still work with a PC on a daily basis. Luckily there are apps that bring a pinch of Mac taste to Windows users.

This is the case of WinLight, a Spotlight clone for Windows that enables you to search for files, folders and apps in a much easier, more comfortable way. WinLight is slightly similar to the original Mac Spotlight tool but still has a long way to go.

To begin with, results are not classified into categories as the original Spotlight. Also, it doesn't show a drop-down menu with results but just completes the word – only if you have written it before - and then opens a window instead, which is not quite as useful.

While WinLight may be a good replacement for the old-fashioned Windows standard search tool, I'm afraid it's not as good as the original Spotlight.

Download winLight 0.8 in Softonic

Copernic Desktop Search (CDS) brings the power of a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use search engine right to your PC and allows you instantly to search files, emails, and email attachments stored anywhere on your PC hard drive. It executes sub-second searching of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, Acrobat PDFs, and all popular music, picture and video formats. CDS also conducts a desktop search of your browser history, favorites, and contacts.

Keeping the index “fresh” is a key factor in any search experience, and CDS maintains the freshest search index in the industry. With Copernic's patent-pending “Instant Indexing™” technology, new and updated files are indexed the instant they are saved to disk (Windows XP/2000/NT only), and emails are indexed the instant they arrive (Outlook only). You can't get fresher than that!

CDS was designed to be the world's lightest and most efficient desktop search with respect to CPU utilization. Copernic's exclusive patent pending “Smart Indexing™” technology monitors user activity and indexes only during idle time, assuring that CDS will never slow down your computer.

CDS features an exclusive fault-tolerant desktop search index. This means that if, during the course of the year, your search index has grown to 50,000 documents, you won't wake up one morning and find that your entire index has been corrupted, or has crashed, forcing you to restart the whole indexing process from scratch. With Copernic's patent pending fault-tolerant technology, your entire PC will always be searchable whenever you want it to be.

CDS takes your search terms as you type and searches your entire hard drive. As you add more terms to your search, you see your search results narrowing down right before your eyes. As you scroll through the results list of files or emails, a preview is shown on the bottom of the screen. Just click “open” and the file or email opens using its original application. Nothing could be simpler!

Download Copernic Desktop Search 2.3 in Softonic

The Google Desktop application allows users to search their desktop content quickly and easily. Praised for its ingenuity and criticised for its intrusiveness, Google Desktop brings the power of Google’s search engine technology to your PC.

After installing the application, you’ll have to give it some time to index the files on your PC, including emails, photos, chats, contacts and calendar events. Google Desktop will index the first 10,000 words in the first 100,000 documents on your PC. The application supports the majority of file types and you can decide which ones to index, or omit protected files, using the preferences menu.

In its latest version, which is compatible with Windows Vista, Google Desktop has been given a new transparent look, providing a pretty sleek feel to your PC. Your search results will appear in your browser (in the familiar Google web page format) and a small preview button allows you to view results without actually clicking on the corresponding link. Results are as precise as we’ve come to expect from Google searches, however we were slightly disappointed to learn that the application doesn’t offer logical 'OR' support or substring search. On another note, Google Desktop is not limited to your PC as you can cross index content from multiple machines and share some panel items with your friends.

Google Desktop is not only about search, though. Joining a marketplace already occupied by Apple’s Dashboard Widgets and Yahoo! Widgets, Google Desktop can be fitted with any number of little gadgets. These mini apps perform all kinds of functions, from fetching your mail to jotting down notes or checking up on your local weather. There are hundreds of gadgets to choose from to customize your desktop bar. Our personal favorites are: Google Translate, the Skype plug-in to check your credit and call your contacts, “Am I Blocked” to find out who’s blocked you on IM, Workspace to quickly move between tasks, System Stats to monitor your PC and Games, a selection of Flash games like Tetris and Moonlander.

When running, we found Google Desktop to use up around 30 MBs, but that can quickly increase if you add more gadgets to it. The application is also constantly re-indexing your files to incorporate your modifications and new elements. However you should rarely feel your PC slowing due to indexing.

When you’re dealing with Google, however, you know the main criticism will be about security. Because Google Desktop indexes all your documents, you’re basically opening up your PC and all your personal files to the Moutain View company. What some users fear is that Google could one day take advantage of that access or that a bug in the application would allow malicious users to infiltrate your PC and steal information.

While the intrusiveness of Google Desktop will give some users pause for thought on installing the app, Google Desktop is highly effective and simple to use. The gadgets you can add to its sidebar may not all be essential, but many of them are quite fun and original and let’s face it, the sidebar looks good. Give it a go if you think your PC is a mess and you need quick access to anything.

Download Google Desktop 5.7.802.22438 in Softonic

Originally, ScanDir was developed to print a directory listing containing all photos on a CD. And that is about all that ScanDir version 0.1 could do. With the next versions, new and more advanced selections were possible (e.g. the use of Masks and/or multiple Strings and/or selections based upon file size and/or file date). Operations on the internal list of selected items were added. With ScanDir you can Delete, Copy, Move, Rename, Join, Split and change the Attibutes of selected files. The selected items list can be printed, saved as a plain ASCII text file or as a .CSV file.

Instead of scanning a drive, ScanDir can also process a pre-defined list of directories. It is also possible to specify an exclude list of directories which should be skipped during scanning.

The latest additions to ScanDir include the ability to View textfiles, Play media files, Open (run) executables and calculate an MD5 checksum. In version 1.0, the Rename function has new options.

This is what ScanDir has to offer:

• Multiple file selection criteria
• Print Scan results
• Save Scan results in plain text and/or .csv format
• Perform file operations (Del, Ren, Copy...) over multiple directories
• Navigate through directories in multiple ways (Bookmarks, Goto, Browse, Copy/Paste...)
• Copy one or more filenames (with or without path) to clipboard

Download ScanDir 1.1 beta in Softonic

Seeker's has a ultra-fast file search engine on top of a powerful file search algorithm.

Seeker not only searches for files or within files, Seeker lets you replace text inside of files. Regular expression support and command line parameter support makes Seeker a complete search and replace solution. All results from Seeker can be viewed in one of four advanced reporting modes; Detailed file list, Structured report, Summary report, and Summary report with file list.

Download Seeker 3.0.7.9 in Softonic

FileLocator Pro offers the most affordable way to exhaustively search your computer for all your important data. Unlike other search products FileLocator Pro does not consider any file too small or insignificant to examine. Find out why many Windows XP users are switching to FileLocator Pro today!

Main Features:

• ZIP, RAR, and CAB file searching
• PDF searching
• Basic Word Doc searching
• Active Scripting support for the ultimate in search customization
• LAN/WAN network drives searching (UNC support)
• Export search results in Text, CSV, HTML, or XML
• Surrounding lines of text option
• Regular Expression and Boolean Search support on Filename, Contents & Folder names
• Built-in file viewer
• Option to launch external editor at current line (including Visual Studio.NET)
• Drag and drop support
• Print preview

Download FileLocator Pro 4.0.787 in Softonic

The developers of FindFilesXP claims that their program is the 'The Replacement for Windows XP find function'. FindFiles claims to be up to 100 times faster than Windows default XP find (Dependant on HD usage, and type of search), and has a much greater functionality, with more search refine options.

Download FindFilesXP 3.99 in Softonic

HandyFind is a faster, friendlier way to find words in documents and web pages. It finds words as you type so you'll find what you're looking for as soon as you enter enough letters. After using HandyFind for a short time, you'll find it such a quick way to get around that you start using it for navigating documents as well as just searching.

Take a look at what HandyFind has to offer:

• Find as you type in Internet Explorer, Notepad, Excel, Microsoft Word and more
• Much less cumbersome than the regular Find dialog
• Instantly jump to the next occurrence of your currently selected text or repeat previous searches
• "Click" on hyperlinks with your keyboard

Download HandyFind 2.0.9 in Softonic

FileSearcher is a desktop application that offers an enhanced and comprehensive text search of desktop files. A first-class function of this program is the display of file snapshots taken during the searching process. This allows you to quickly preview files and stop searching as soon as you have located the correct files.

FileSearcher provides you with extremely powerful full text search with regular expressions. It also allows to search for file duplicates. Deleting or moving duplicate files helps to clean up disk space and manage files better. It is possible to find file duplicates by name, size and date of creation/access/modification.

FileSearcher can help backup files without duplicating them in archives. You can find only newly created or modified files for adding them to new archive. So this allows you to have one base archive and a sequence small additional archives only with new or changed files. It helps you to safe space on storage medium.

FileSearcher allows you to search for files by filename mask, date, full text or even inside ZIP archives. Once found, you have several options available to manage your files: open them, open the containing folder, cut, copy, rename or delete.

Download FileSearcher 1.3.2 in Softonic

Windows Desktop Search (WDS) helps you find virtually anything on your PC or your networked drives including e-mail messages, calendar appointments, documents, and more. Searching your computer is now as fast and easy as searching the Web. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

• Windows Desktop Search helps users quickly find and retrieve e-mail messages, documents, and many other file types located on their PC and corporate network.
• Windows Desktop Search provides a familiar, integrated, and convenient search experience for Windows users.
• Search index does not create privacy issues or device performance concerns.
• Windows Desktop Search integrates with other Microsoft Search technologies.
• Desktop Search can find results from more than 200 common file types, including e-mails, documents, images, music, and video.
• The Preview Pane displays helpful summary information and rich previews for each result.
• Enables IT managers to quickly deploy, manage and extend across the enterprise.
• Desktop Search software is optimized with features that help IT managers easily customize, deploy, and manage the installation of desktop search across all users and computers in the organization.

Download Microsoft Windows Desktop Search 3.01 in Softonic

Advanced Find and Replace is useful for anyone that needs to find and replace text in either lines of text whether code or word processing documents. You can even search for symbols such as full stops, commas and brackets.

You can look for any word, phrase, chain of characters or document text fragment at the same time recurring in multiple documents. The results of the search are displayed in an easy to read practical list in the interface of the program. Not only that, but it also allows you to insert new texts, eliminate them and replace them quickly and simply.

This is a really useful program for anyone that's made a huge error in a large amount of documents or simply needs to keep a certain number of documents constantly updated. The only problem is that it cannot search PDFs so don't rely on it for any documents in that format.

Download Advanced Find and Replace 2.0 in Softonic

If you're getting increasingly lost under the weight of all the data on your hard drive, then Mo-Search might be able to help you. Mo-Search works by ranking and sorting results according to relevance rather than Windows own search function which just searches for keywords.

Mo-Search is very easy to use in that it simply requires you to enter your search terms and hit the search button. You can refine searches to specific folders, dates, file sizes etc. One particularly useful function of this program is that it can also search network drives which is something that Windows search can't. It's also very useful if your drive has been clogged with duplicate files - it has a duplicate file searcher which cleans-up your system. Programmers may find Mo-Search of interest too because it searches source code including ASP, C, C++, C#, Java, Javascript, Lex, Oracle, NSIS, XML and many more.

This is a powerful search tool which can't really compare with Google Desktop but at least it doesn't have the potential security holes of the former.

Download Mo-Search 2.5.6 Beta in Softonic

Have you ever lost a file that you were sure was on your system? EF Find is a powerful search program for Windows that can search for not only lost files but also text, HEX sequences and regular expressions inside archives.

This is a great tool for those of you that want a certain document but simply can't remember the name of the file. So if you've written a document about networks but just gave the document a generic name, you can search for 'networks' in EF Find, and even if it's in a compressed file, it will find it. The range of files it can search is really impressive and extends to 7-Zip, ACE, ARC, ARJ, BZIP2, CAB, CPIO, GZIP, IMG, ISO (ISO9660), LHA, RAR, RPM, SFX, SQX, TAR, TBZ, TGZ, ZIP and ZOO files.

The interface is a simple GUI with the search bar at the top. You can also filter searches in various ways including to make it case sensitive and within certain folders. This program has proved so popular that it's now been translated into 23 languages which gives some measure of how useful it is. The only downside is that it can't search within documents that aren't compressed so as long as you've got lots of zipped-up files, you'll love this.

Download EF Find XP 4.20 in Softonic

The idea behind NeoSearch is really good. This local search tool works just like the embedded search field in Vista's start menu, displaying results in real time as you type letters.

But this is still a very first version of the program and you can easily spot some issues that need to be fixed. To begin with, the app's window can't be moved. Then, the installation process is far from standard: it doesn't allow you to select the target folder and what's more, displays an annoying voice.

Search results (that is, the four most relevant ones) are displayed on the program's static window while the rest can be opened up in another one. You can click on folders or files to open them, but that's as much as you can do with the list.

On the upside, the scanning process is very fast and doesn't hog your system resources.

Download NeoSearch 1.00 in Softonic

This program brings a fresh new perspective to searching for documents and images. GDS Images and Document Maps is a plug in which is supposed to help you find images and documents more easily. It's very useful in giving you an overview of information retrieved by the search and in helping you to isolate the group of document that you are looking for. It works by taking the results of a search and visually grouping related documents together so you can quickly identify the group that you are looking for. Document and images are displayed on a map, with related documents or similar pictures nearby.

When looking for images this approach can be convenient since images are indexed based on the name and path, which is usually not enough to determine the image's content. On the map, E-Mails and Word Documents are displayed as red dots on a blue background, the actual background intensities varies as peaks and valleys. Documents on a valley (dark area of the background) are likely to be more related to your document at the same distance on a peak. On the map images are displayed as thumbnails. You can pan the map with the left mouse button and zoom in with the slider on the left. Once the map displays a document, you can identify on the map all the documents similar to the one selected with a right mouse click.

This is an interesting tool although in reality, I found it took twice as long to find images and documents than usual. I can see that once used to it, it could be helpful but unless you're willing to spend a lot of time working with it, you'll probably end up more time trying to figure it out than actually finding your images and documents.

Download GDS Images and Document Maps 2.0 in Softonic

tag2find helps you to find everything on your desktop by simply using tags. Directories & folders were the structure of the 20th century. Now it's time for something new - tag it!

You will find everything (documents, movies, images, music, etc.) on your desktop by simply using tags, a label or keyword that describes your file for making it easer to find. It does not matter where your files are stored on your disk, you will find them anyway.

With tag2find you do not need to have inflexible folder structures anymore: tagging frees your information.

Download Tag2find 0.10.1.3 in Softonic