GlobalFind

Sure enough common files and folders you work with are easy to identify, but keeping your stuff in a chaotic manner might make a search operation frustrating, at least with Windows default tools. However, there are advanced third-party alternatives you can rely on for a more efficient search operation, and GlobalFind is solid proof.

It takes only a little while to install the application, and it’s ready to go once setup is done. On the visual side of things, features are wrapped around a classic window frame, with a large preview area for detected files, and a dedicated section with several value fields for input criteria, and trigger buttons.

Needless to say that you first of all need to specify a scan location. This is easy done through the browse dialog, and it can be any fixed or removable drive. Even though the application doesn’t index locations, the scan mechanism is pretty well-optimized and retrieves results in decent time.

Targets can be of two types. You can either initiate a scan process in order to find specific extensions, or input custom query with options to match casing, find the whole word, or use extended characters. The criteria field can be fitted with multiple file masks, with the possibility to include subfolders in the operation, and trigger a sound alert when done.

You can pay a visit to the options menu to choose a default viewer, a sound file for the audio alert, and a neat feature which creates a context menu entry for fast trigger of search. Results are shown in a dedicated panel, with column headers for name, size, date modified, and size. You can save a report, jump to file location, or open it directly.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that GlobalFind is a practical search alternative for what Windows brings by default. It can integrate into the context menu for faster approach, while scan results are shown as detected in an efficient manner, even if indexing is not done.