Author Topic: What is the currently best Desktop Search software? (Read 1,110,399 times)

Dormouse · « **Reply #275 on:** March 13, 2008, 10:00 PM »

I thought, 'what on earth do I want with a prog that only searches for file names when I have all these search progs already?'

But, I read above, I tried it, astoundingly fast - and so light on resources - I bought it.

Thanks for the comments Curt & KenR

PS it does seem to find folders for me which the info on bitsdujour suggests it does not do yet

PPS it seems that Dopus integration (and others) will be added - about 2 months away.

PPPS was free on GAOTD a few weeks ago

Never mind.

rjbull · « **Reply #276 on:** March 14, 2008, 10:48 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on March 13, 2008, 09:02 PM

Singing the praises of an app that a software addict such as myself can't actually try out is like waving a red flag at a bull.

Back in the DOS days, I tried a lot of shareware. The scenario was often that I'd try several things in one session, only looking at them superficially, and binning them rapidly if they didn't solve the immediate problem. Then, a few months later, I'd have a slightly different problem, and think hmmm, didn't that such-and-such program say it did that? And re-test as appropriate. Because it was DOS, uninstalling almost invariably removed all traces of the program and one could start an evaluation period all over from scratch. I wasn't trying to rip anyone off, but I don't usually have time or inclination for exhaustive tests, nor can I always see ahead to the next problem.

But the Windows Registry has changed all that. Software producers have a means of ruthlessly and mindlessly enforcing their policies, as if I had a continuous 30 days or whatever to test their software. In other words, it's a damn sight harder to test software than it used to be, and more expensive. I don't really have an answer to that, but miss the good old times...

rjbull · « **Reply #277 on:** March 14, 2008, 10:52 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on March 13, 2008, 08:49 PM

One thing to note about Seeker is that it DOES search within files, which may be why it was taking longer than SearchGT.

For speed in looking inside files, you'd have a hard time beating BareGrep Pro or plain BareGrep if you don't need the integrated viewer. Plain strings or regexps, but sadly no Boolean searching.

Darwin · « **Reply #278 on:** March 14, 2008, 12:08 PM »

Heh... I have BareGrep Pro and you're right - it's downright SCARY. Try leaving your search term "in place" exiting the program and opening it again a week later... files are scrolling past you faster than you can read them and you have no idea why!

dantheman · « **Reply #279 on:** March 14, 2008, 12:15 PM »

Hi,

I've been using CDS's latest 2.3 build 18 on XP Home and it just chews up my CPU when updating.
Yahoo's is probably best as you can set it aside once it's finished and it doesn't leave anything running in the background and it doesn't chew up much system resources even when on.

FileLocatorPro has boolean search (so does their freeware alternative).

Darwin · « **Reply #280 on:** March 16, 2008, 04:05 PM »

Holy smokes, Batman! I just noticed the "File Finder" entry in my context menu and put it through its paces. Wow! It's PowerDesk Pro 6's search feature. Works without indexing and is as quick as Search GT (and as accurate/thorough as well). An added bonus is that it can be further configured to search within files. It's really impressive and I'm going to continue to put it through its paces.

Best thing: PowerDesk is a very good File Manager, comes with Stellent Viewers, and can be had for the princely sum of $9.95 (presumably until PD 7 comes out). Thanks, Curt and cthorpe, for finding this for us last year (I've just confirmed that the discount is still active)

Curt · « **Reply #281 on:** March 16, 2008, 06:49 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on March 16, 2008, 04:05 PM

Best thing: PowerDesk is a very good File Manager,

- must be, because it is never updated...

Do you really expect there will be a version 7 ?? $:-\$

Anyway, even if it was updated or even upgraded I would only get any new version if it was absolutely gratis. I have purchased three programs via Avanquest (Vcom is part of Avanquest), and not one of them has ever been updated, or if they were updated, I was somehow never entitled to the new version. I cannot and will not recommend Avanquest!

Quote from: Darwin on March 16, 2008, 04:05 PM

PowerDesk ..... can be had for the princely sum of $9.95

Avanquest:

[attachthumb=#]

Well, in all fairness, it actually may be new - I don't know
- it may even be reguarly updated for those who purchased it at full price - right?
My version of PowerDesk Pro is 6.0.4.2 © 1998-2005 - Any newer ones?

Edit:
Maybe 'someone' will download the supposedly new trial and tell what version's number it is?

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #282 on:** March 16, 2008, 06:56 PM »

I bought AutoSave 2 from Avanquest years ago and it was updated a couple of time in quick succession but hasn't seen any further development for a very long time. They seem to specialise in good ideas that then die a quiet death which continuing to sell the products.

To be fair when they had updated versions it was just a case of downloading the trial version from the site and installing it over the registered copy.

The other thing I have noticed is that lots of their titles say they are Vista compat and yet haven't seen a version change since Vista was released.

I think they are basically acting as a reseller these days as i notice they now sell NitroPDF and that wasn't one of their products previously.

f0dder · « **Reply #283 on:** March 16, 2008, 07:03 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on March 16, 2008, 06:56 PM

The other thing I have noticed is that lots of their titles say they are Vista compat and yet haven't seen a version change since Vista was released.

Properly coded applications don't need changes to be Vista compatible

- except for a few special cases like file managers that need better junction support.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #284 on:** March 16, 2008, 07:13 PM »

You would have thought that AutoSave (which is a file versioning utility) would at least need tweaking!

Darwin · « **Reply #285 on:** March 16, 2008, 08:36 PM »

Quote from: Curt on March 16, 2008, 06:49 PM

Do you really expect there will be a version 7 ??

Good point, but rumours are floating around out there (or at least were 18 months ago): http://www.wilderssecurity.com/archive/index.php/t-117653.html

Dormouse · « **Reply #286 on:** March 16, 2008, 11:13 PM »

Quote from: Carol Haynes on March 16, 2008, 06:56 PM

Avanquest ... seem to specialise in good ideas that then die a quiet death which continuing to sell the products.

I think they are basically acting as a reseller these days

My own guess is that they take over a lot of failing software businesses/products and then market them pretty successfully at low prices .. and probably make money because their investment in further development is strictly limited.

Change · « **Reply #287 on:** March 26, 2008, 11:21 AM »

I've been using Copernic Desktop Search since ages and not found a better one yet, though the latest versions seem to eat up 100% CPU for no reason relatively often, forcing me to kill the process when I need to do something more important.

I'm also using AvaFind, of which I bought the Pro version yesterday since I wanted to add network search capability. I know it's not being developed anymore since a long time, but I still haven't found a better replacement for it. It's just extremely fast when you know the filename or extension you need (esp. when using shift-esc to pop it up). No other solution has popped up faster for me, except for FARR, which serves another purpose.

Curt · « **Reply #288 on:** March 26, 2008, 05:32 PM »

It is good to know that Ava Find works for someone, because when I tried it "File Edit View Tools Help" stayed greyed out and unreachable for ever, so I was unable to do any settings, but gave up all of the project.

Dormouse · « **Reply #289 on:** March 27, 2008, 11:42 AM »

Quote from: Curt on March 16, 2008, 06:49 PM

My version of PowerDesk Pro is 6.0.4.2 © 1998-2005 - Any newer ones?

Edit:
Maybe 'someone' will download the supposedly new trial and tell what version's number it is?

6.0.1.3

1998-2005

Curt · « **Reply #290 on:** March 27, 2008, 02:18 PM »

Quote from: Dormouse on March 27, 2008, 11:42 AM

6.0.1.3

Really weird company policy!

Darwin · « **Reply #291 on:** March 27, 2008, 05:51 PM »

Yeah... I can confirm that I've got 6.0.1.3 installed as well, and that the trial installer is for the same version (I start running it but cancelled the installation).

Curt · « **Reply #292 on:** March 27, 2008, 07:42 PM »

Update your PowerDesk Pro to 6.0.4.2 >here< 7.17 MB

Curt · « **Reply #293 on:** March 28, 2008, 12:05 AM »

Quote from: Darwin on March 16, 2008, 04:05 PM

Holy smokes, Batman! I just noticed the "File Finder" entry in my context menu and put it through its paces. Wow! It's PowerDesk Pro 6's search feature. Works without indexing and is as quick as Search GT (and as accurate/thorough as well). ...

Well, 'Robin', I must say that I don't agree with you on this. I gave File Finder the same test as the others, and my accuse is, that when it was told to search for any kind of objects (not inside the files) all over my PC, it used several minutes to do what Search GT did in merely 2.7 seconds. But I would expect it to search considerably faster if it is set to search for certain types of objects (say, documents) only. Do you maybe have such an option as default?

I performed the search from PowerDesk > File Finder, not from context menu > File Finder (which I have erased).

Darwin · « **Reply #294 on:** March 28, 2008, 02:02 AM »

Alright then, Bruce Wayne

I can't actually check this out, anymore, because in a spring cleaning frenzy I uninstalled PowerDesk. I do recall, though, specifically setting File Finder to search for all file types, etc. Don't get this or any other post (from me!) wrong: SearchGT is amazing and I'm glad I bought a licence. I don't know why my comparisons aren't as dramatic as other peoples' experiences here... I've been quite scrupulous in making sure that all of the applications that I've tried have been set to do the same thing (ie file types, directorys/drives, etc). I'll revisit this later today or tomorrow and see what happens.

surftwo · « **Reply #295 on:** March 29, 2008, 05:05 AM »

Microsoft has a new one out Windows Desktop Search 4.0. Beats them all at least for me. It's fast takes up little memory (not like Copernic which doubled my page file usage). I haven't tried any other listed execpt Copernic and Windows Desktop. But for me Windows is far better.

kartal · « **Reply #296 on:** March 29, 2008, 06:22 AM »

Windows Desktop Search cannot even search outlook express contacts or thunderbird emails, kind of useless for me. I uninstalled it from my machine also because it runs all the time. It was not like you could disable it like copernic

MrCrispy · « **Reply #297 on:** March 29, 2008, 07:35 AM »

Quote from: kartal on March 29, 2008, 06:22 AM

Windows Desktop Search cannot even search outlook express contacts or thunderbird emails

Yes it can. Since WDS is designed to be extensible, you can add protocol handlers to search nearly anything. This addin (http://www.citeknet.com/Products/ProtocolHandlers/WDSThunderbirdMozillaEudoraMailAddin/tabid/70/Default.aspx) will let you index email from Thunderbird. This page (http://beqiraj.com/windows/search/index.asp) lists many other addins.

Quote from: kartal on March 29, 2008, 06:22 AM

I uninstalled it from my machine also because it runs all the time. It was not like you could disable it like copernic

I believe you can set the Indexing service to disabled if you really want to disable it. Or you can change the locations it indexes to be very small so it doesn't do much.

kartal · « **Reply #298 on:** March 29, 2008, 04:14 PM »

Thunderbird addon did not work with v3 at all I had tried. And v3 was not indexing express contacts.

iphigenie · « **Reply #299 on:** March 30, 2008, 11:41 AM »

I bought powerdesk pro last summer on one of those offers, because I remembered it had good viewers. But the version I have doesnt seem to have viewers for much of anything