14 DAY TRIAL // Locating your files when you're dealing with hundreds of GB of info might prove to be troublesome. FileSearch comes to help you with that issue in just a few steps.
The days when 10GB of hard disk were more than enough for an average user are gone and forgotten. Today’s computer user can’t get enough even with 500GB of hard disk storage, given all the free information one can find on the Internet.
One of the downsides these large storage devices have is that finding what you need may become a more time consuming task than you want. This is one situation when FileSearch may come in handy. It is a lightweight program (only 121 kb in size) designed to help you find the data you need in no time.
This application comes with a price tag of $0 and it’s released under the GPL license, so, if you are a little developer yourself you can take the source-code and improve it. The other great thing about this license is that it can be used for both home and corporate use. Also worth mentioning is that you must have .NET Framework 2.0 installed in order to use this software.
When opening this application you will surely observe its easy to understand interface. Basically, all the things that you need are in the main window.
First and foremost you will, of course, enter the filename you’re looking for. You can also select the file extension if you are looking for a more accurate result. These extensions are grouped in categories from archive to audio and even icon or executable in order to satisfy the needs of most users.
One can also choose to search for all the words or a regular expression and, of course, for files or just folders. For advanced users there is an option to include hidden and system items.
For those of you who want to further customize the search parameters, you can select a certain size that you expect the file to have. If you are looking for a video file with a predefined name, one made from a camera for instance, this option might narrow down the results.
If you are good at remembering dates, then you can set the time related parameters. You can select for one of the dates to be Higher / lower or equal to a certain date, the modification date or the creation date.
Once you've finished setting all the parameters you can begin the search. This application's search speed is quite satisfactory; it scanned a 72 GB partition in 40 seconds.
If you want to you can export the search results to use later. This function is located in the Tools menu. The result will be exported under a .CSV file so you can check them out whenever you might need them.
The main window will also display the search results with the complete path to the file that you are searching for and you will be offered the option to double-click the path, in case you want to open a file.
The file attributes will also be displayed: the creation date, the modification date or the file's owner. This window will also display the time it took the application to perform the search.
Although it does not create an index of your drives, FileSearch moves faster than the indexed search of the built-in tools of Windows Vista and Windows 7 thus proving its usefulness.
Another aspect worth mentioning is that the RAM memory used by this software is 10 MB, which is quite ok considering that Explorer sometimes "eats" a lot of RAM.
Some customization can be made through the Settings menu. However, these are all made using TXT files so it might be very useful to read the provided manual before you make any changes to these files.
All in all, this program proves to be a very powerful searching tool that could offer great help for those who have a great amount of information stored on their computers. It is also true that the interface is not so appealing, but please keep in mind we are talking about a free application that gets the job done quickly and easily.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
The Good
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