Locate 3.0 - great *FAST* HD search tool!

[brotherS]

Check out http://fileforum.bet.../Locate/1044509669/1 (if you want to install the latest beta you need to install the latest full version from the Locate homepage (listed there too) before you install the beta)

Publisher's Description:
Locate saves names of all files in your hard drives to file database. After that you can locate files. This program works like updatedb and locate in Unix systems. Win32 based locating program also included.

Is that the perfect replacement for Windows' Win+f search? It is! 

Only needing ~5 seconds (yes, that includes typing your search) to find a file? Great!!

I tested Locate waaaay back and didn't look at it again for a long time - it's unbelievable how great it works now; and it only uses 2 MB RAM! This is how Locate could look for you (the great (and free!) FastStone Image Viewer is in the background):

Locate 3.0 - great *FAST* HD search tool!

By clicking the Presets button (or using its keyboard shortcut, which I prefer) a menu pops up, showing you the searches you already saved, and allowing you to remove and add presets. Presets are very helpful for those searches that you are using again and again. A preset could include filenames, extensions, size limits... you name it. Very helpful!

Locate 3.0 - great *FAST* HD search tool!

This is the latest settings window - you can now set the first two "Locate dialog" settings to always have Locate running in the tray when you hit ESC or click the close button - then just press Windows+f to have it pop up again - very handy:

Locate 3.0 - great *FAST* HD search tool!

Here you see the Database settings. A Database could be one partition or just one or three directories - you decide! You could also exclude certain paths. It's very easy to create several databases with include and exclude options. Clicking on one and clicking "Edit" will get you to the details:

Locate 3.0 - great *FAST* HD search tool!

In the Auto update settings you can choose when which database is supposed to be updated - for example, you can set one not-so-interesting database to be only updated once a day (should you really need an up to date database you can just right-click the tray icon, indexing is quite fast) and another one every hour - splitting them up saves time in this case:

Locate 3.0 - great *FAST* HD search tool!

What I also like about Locate is that I can set it to close to the tray when I hit ESC. I'm using AutoHotkey to start it (bring it back from tray) instead of Windows' own search when I press Win+F, and I use Shift+Win+F to run a second instance of Locate when I need it:

[Select]

#Persistent
#f::
IfExist,C:\Programme\Locate
  run, C:\Programme\Locate\Locate32.exe
return


#Persistent
#+f::
IfExist,C:\Programme\Locate
  run, C:\Programme\Locate\Locate32.exe -i
return

Update: Searches like *URL.txt;*lol*.jpg work in the latest beta now!

Update: I asked "how to set Locate to 'activate' the first found file when the search is done (like in the Windows search) or maybe even already when the first file is found." - thanks to the nice coder this features has been added!

[edit by mouser: please upload pictures instead of linking to them!]

[Carol Haynes]

Looks interesting - could it be used as a backend for find and run (rather than GDS) ???

By the way the homepage location for this is http://locate32.webhop.org/ which also has a daily builds section ... no source code unfortunately ...

[m_s]

I have used Mythicsoft's Agent Ransack for a few years, and found it to be very good.  Recently upgraded to their FileLocatorPro, and I am incubating a mini-review of that, which I'll hopefully have up in a few weeks' time.  Thanks for pointer to Locate, which I'm trying now...

[Veign]

Give Seeker a try and tell me what you think..

It does not create index files but is an active search and replace tool. 

Features:
    * Search for files based on a file name mask, multiple file extensions, date restriction, or size restriction
    * Replace text inside of files
    * Command line parameter support
    * Regular expression support
    * Preview all search results in a convienent highlight view mode (from detailed or structure report mode)
    * Powerful reporting with four different modes

I use this tool all the time for doing mass find and replace in website I design.  Also good for locating code quickly in web dev projects. 

A new version will be worked on next year that will introduce special file handlers to search inside of proprietary files with their native search tools (like Word and Excel documents).

[Edvard]

Since experimenting with replacement shells, I have been on a hunt for file finder apps for a long time. I am familiar with the Unix thingummys, I'll give Locate 3.0 a try. If you like the Unix way of doing things, you might also try the tools from the CygWin Project and pipe your Locate through Grep to get multiple 'hits'. On the other hand, things I have found so far as useful replacements for file finding:

the ever-venerable Agent Ransack
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

newcomer ScanDir (and current favorite...)
http://www.skybird.net/ScanDir/

supposed-to-be-really-cool-but-never-worked-for-me XFind (from the makers of power tool X-Setup)
http://www.xteq.com/products/xfnd/

$.02

[mouser]

speaking of agent ransack, we may have a few copies to give away this month of it's bigger non-free brother, FileLocator Pro:
http://www.mythicsof...m/flpro/default.aspx

[mouser]

never heard of scandir before - looks like its worth a try..

i couldn't use x-find if it still looks like this: http://www.xteq.com/...oducts/xfnd/xfnd.jpg

[Edvard]

Hehe
It does. ScanDir is much nicer...
http://www.skybird.net/ScanDir/scd08.png

[CGA]

Check out http://fileforum.bet.../Locate/1044509669/1

Publisher's Description:
Locate saves names of all files in your hard drives to file database. After that you can locate files. This program works like updatedb and locate in Unix systems. Win32 based locating program also included.

If you install the 3.0 Beta make sure to install the full 2.99 version first (read the readme in the archive you download).

Is that the perfect replacement for Windows' Win+f search? It looks that way!

I didn't test Locate for a long time and it's unbelievable how great it works now!

Lots of new options too, I just didn't yet find out

a) how to do searches like *URL.txt;*lol*.jpg (to search for several files in one single search) like they are possible in the Windows search.

b) how to set Locate to 'activate' the first found file when the search is done (like in the Windows search) or maybe even already when the first file is found.

Anyone knows?

-brotherS (November 01, 2005, 09:17 AM)

I suggest You contact the author, [email protected]. He usually responds quickly to your questions.

[brotherS]

He did

(Also bumping the topic here, check the images in my first post!)

[Zero3K]

The latest build now supports searching for multiple files at the same time (ex: *.tmp;*.bak).

[dpierron]

Very interesting software here, specially this 'Locate' thingie...
However, I'm wondering why nobody mentionned the excellent Total Commander (http://www.ghisler.com/) with its almighty all-powerful search feature ?
It's one of the few shareware I actually bought 
David.
http://www.davidsoft.org

[brotherS]

Very interesting software here, specially this 'Locate' thingie...

-dpierron (November 11, 2005, 08:21 AM)

Hi there! You need to test way more stuff, especially mouser's Screenshot Captor and skrommel's Coding Snacks on this very site!

However, I'm wondering why nobody mentionned the excellent Total Commander (http://www.ghisler.com/) with its almighty all-powerful search feature ?
It's one of the few shareware I actually bought 

Then you should consider donating a few bucks here to enjoy this LOAD of great programs! Makes forum usage more fun too btw!

I tried Total Commander once but didn't really like the look and feel of it.

[Innuendo]

Total Commander is truly the one ring that rules them all. With more plugins than ya can shake a stick at one would be hard-pressed to find anything it cannot do. It's got a mass-rename feature that cannot be beat, IMHO.

It's old school, however. Based on the powerful, but venerable Norton Commander it's for those of us who were weaned on DOS & if a mouse was ever spotted next to our computers we knew it was time to set out traps. 

Icons, menus, and toolbars can all be custom-crafted to taste. All hotkeys are changeable. It supports skinning by programs such as WindowBlinds & StyleXP. Its looks can be changed to suit one's fancy.

[mouser]

Total Commander seems to be one of those apps that people love or cannot stand using.  No doubt it is super powerful. The interface seems to suit some people and rub others the wrong way.

[Edvard]

Funny thing, whenever I'm in windows-land I can't stand flat, text based interfaces. When in Linux (Slackware, natch...) using KDE or XFCE, I reach for Midnight Commander every time. Go figure.

[brotherS]

It's old school, however. Based on the powerful, but venerable Norton Commander it's for those of us who were weaned on DOS & if a mouse was ever spotted next to our computers we knew it was time to set out traps. 

-Innuendo (November 11, 2005, 12:58 PM)

I'm using keyboard only whereever possible, but still prefer programs with a nice UI, that don't look like coded in 1992

Icons, menus, and toolbars can all be custom-crafted to taste. All hotkeys are changeable. It supports skinning by programs such as WindowBlinds & StyleXP. Its looks can be changed to suit one's fancy.

I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much) and don't want to use WindowBlinds. So there's no way to improve the look, right?

You should do a mini-review to wake our interest in that, keep it small like I did for Locate here if you like: https://www.donation...85.new;topicseen#new 

[Carol Haynes]

I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much)

Can I ask why? (Just curious). If it is the 'blue theme' that can easily be turned off, and you can revert the Start Menu etc. so it all looks like 2000.

Granted it isn't a huge increase in terms of new stuff over 2000 but it is better supported these days by MS, and looks like it will be more so in the future (despite the huge corporate use of win2k).

I swapped from W98 to W2k and then WXP and I must say I was reluctant at each step (familiarity I suppose) but I have grown to like WinXP.

[mouser]

btw.
a lot of us really dislike the default windows xp "skinned" blue appearance and start menu, etc.,
thankfully it can easily be changed into "classic" look which looks just like win2k.

[brotherS]

I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much)

Can I ask why? (Just curious). If it is the 'blue theme' that can easily be turned off, and you can revert the Start Menu etc. so it all looks like 2000.

-CarolHaynes (November 13, 2005, 08:04 PM)

Yeah, I know, but when I decided what to use for this PC XP was still waiting for SP1 and I prefer an OS that's most stable and secure for the user. There were some other reasons too, don't remember right now.

[rjbull]

It's old school, however. Based on the powerful, but venerable Norton Commander it's for those of us who were weaned on DOS & if a mouse was ever spotted next to our computers we knew it was time to set out traps. 

-Innuendo (November 11, 2005, 12:58 PM)

I'm using keyboard only whereever possible, but still prefer programs with a nice UI, that don't look like coded in 1992

-brotherS (November 12, 2005, 12:29 AM)

But... but...  that was back when programmers were REAL PROGRAMMERS, and wrote REAL PROGRAMS Many in assembler, too, for which you need to be close to genius level.  Anyone ever looked at Vsevolod Volkov's assembler-written Volkov Commander, which some people thought the best Norton Commander clone ever for DOS?

I love Total Commander; it was the first program I found that made Windows almost semi-tolerable.  I think Locate still has a place beside TC because it's indexed, which makes file-searching quicker.  It's one of a small class of like programs which include Catfish, Cathy, and  recently FastFind (most of these are noted at http://www.tinyapps.org).  However, on a quick look, Locate may well be one of the best, perhaps THE best.

Being at heart a DOS command-line person I also use another Locate, the one by Charles Dye;  http://www.highfiber...~raster/freeware.htm

It has a vast array of features well worth checking out by anyone who uses command lines, which amongst other things means that you can build your own batch files for specific jobs.  Though a DOS program (hand-coded assembler again) it understands Windows LFNs, extending its usefulness.

[brotherS]

Just want to tell you that I'm even more satisfied with the latest Locate version (check the URL in my first post in this thread). Some tiny but helpful changes had been made.

It's still beta but works perfectly here!

[brotherS]

I moved the upcoming Assembly discussion to https://www.donation...index.php?topic=2062

[Darwin]

I use Windows 2000 Pro (don't like XP that much)

I swapped from W98 to W2k and then WXP and I must say I was reluctant at each step (familiarity I suppose) but I have grown to like WinXP.

-Carol Haynes (November 13, 2005, 08:04 PM)

Funny, I took that exact same route, kicked and screamed the whole way but find that I wouldn't back now. I find Win2k tolearble (very stable) but LOATHE Win98 now and can't believe I was so reluctant to leave it!

[rjbull]

Veign,

Give Seeker a try and tell me what you think..

    * Regular expression support

-Veign (November 01, 2005, 12:26 PM)

Regexps are nice, but I'd prefer Boolean searches for extracting information from files.  Also, I often want to make lists of files for use in other processes;  can it save its "hit lists?"