http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it/ Comments on Ask MetaFilter post Windows XP search improvement: suggestions for how to use the built-in search more efficiently, or for search programs to replace it Mon, 18 Oct 2004 22:48:29 -0800 Mon, 18 Oct 2004 22:48:29 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it I need a search tool replacement for the built-in windows XP search, or suggestions for it. I have a lot of files on different drives in different directories (C:\AA F:\BB ...) and I when I want to find a specific file that I know is in one of those directories, I have to select and search each directory one at a time. (searching all folders on all drives would take too long.) Anyway to make this quicker? post:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052 Mon, 18 Oct 2004 22:34:52 -0800 Iax computers search searching windows XP drives files directories software http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it#196808 I haven't tried it, but Google just released a beta of their new desktop search app. MetaFilter thread on the subject <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/36249">here</a>. comment:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052-196808 Mon, 18 Oct 2004 22:48:29 -0800 Danelope http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it#196821 Eric Lippert is <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/EricLippert/archive/2004/10/18/244195.aspx">blogging about this</a>. Might be something to keep an eye on. comment:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052-196821 Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:25:48 -0800 j.edwards http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it#196832 One thing I might not have made clear, I dont need to search inside the files, just for files names.<br> but I have a lot of files.<br> google desktop search seems pretty fast, but I cant figure out how to get it to index over network shared folders or just limit it to a set of folders that I want to search. comment:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052-196832 Tue, 19 Oct 2004 01:35:36 -0800 Iax http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it#196835 If you can handle doing it from the command line, install <a href="http://www.cygwin.com/">Cygwin</a> and use <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/findutils.html">GNU locate</a>. comment:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052-196835 Tue, 19 Oct 2004 02:25:38 -0800 mcguirk http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it#196856 <a href="http://www.think-less-do-more.com/avafind/">Ava Find</a> is free and searches the whole hard drive instantly. Filenames only.<br> <br> The only downside is that you need to pay if you want to index network drives. comment:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052-196856 Tue, 19 Oct 2004 06:18:47 -0800 smackfu http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it#197011 I'm quite pleased with <a href="http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/index.html">Copernic Desktop</a> - it's free and works on network drives. It does index the contents of some files (office, acrobat etc) but also searches based on file name. You may be able to switch off the content searching part, I'm not sure... comment:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052-197011 Tue, 19 Oct 2004 14:15:49 -0800 chrispy http://ask.metafilter.com/11052/Windows-XP-search-improvement-suggestions-for-how-to-use-the-builtin-search-more-efficiently-or-for-search-programs-to-replace-it#198041 Thanks for all your suggestions!, copernic desktop does what I want, and its free.<br> You can tell it exactly what directories you want it to index and what types of files to index. comment:ask.metafilter.com,2004:site.11052-198041 Fri, 22 Oct 2004 15:22:45 -0800 Iax