Tag: search

Flow Launcher Is A Super Charged Launcher

Flow Launcher is a featured packed launcher for Windows 7 and newer computers. It is fully portable and support an extensive list of commands that can be augmented with plugins.

The first and most obvious feature is finding and launching files using Alt+Space keys to bring the search box to the foreground. Start typing and matching results appear. Enter to choose one of the highlighted results. Priority can be given to specific actions besides launching system files. For example to search the web with the phrase being typed. The program also supports variable paths using the % at the beginning of the search query. In addition system commands such as restart, shutdown, any batch or PowerShell commands can be executed through Flow Launcher. Each type of query has an – editable at Settings —> Plugins – action keyword to make the program more efficient. One example is the default b to search various browsers’ bookmarks.

Typing a url – for example rgdot.com – can also open the default browser and navigate directly to the site. Other web commands include the likes of ping.

Matching results are set at 5 by default, this can be changed as can be the browser used to launch web related queries, thus overriding the system default.

Of the more useful plugins is clipboard history that can be installed along those available in the default download via Settings —> Plugin Store. The program restarts after the user presses enter to confirm a plugin installation.

The programs supports an extensive list of themes and modifications of its interface that even include the likes of the search box width and a minimum number of typed characters it uses to show better results. Somewhat expectedly the download is almost 180MB and decompressed at over 300MB.

February 3, 2022
Hddb: Search Done Quickly

Hddb is another option for those seeking to have a lightweight search utility. Hddb stands for Hard disk database and similar to Locate32 in that it builds a database and uses it to present results. The program interface is similar to Everything however.

At first start a database is built and this takes seconds only. There is an option to rebuild the database any time and also to clean it as if to start over. Folders can be set to be ignored by Hddb by adding an empty file called _hddbignore in them. In Tools —> Options —> Database there is an option to exclude files by name. The search itself supports searching paths (use \ to start a search) and using wild cards. Probably the most notable feature of Hddb is the Named Searches accessed via the Search menu. This narrows down the search to file, folder, picture, executable, office, book, video, audio, archive, code or text formats. For example a search for “@video milan” returns only video files which have milan in their title. These can be configured to add or include other file types and extensions.

Hddb has options to show folder sizes and to show file info via a tool tip, see the Results List tab of the program options to enable these features.

The program remembers recent searches. The non portable version of the program can add itself to the system’s right click context menu. Hddb is available in exe and portable versions for both 32 and 64 bit machines.

August 11, 2014
dnGREP: Content Search And Replace For Windows

In an earlier review for FileSearchy commenter smaragdus wondered out loud if there are any utilities that support searching in epub (and fb2) files. Indeed the search for such a tool seems to confirm that it is a rare feature. I stumbled upon dnGREP, however.

dnGREP searches inside most text files and some like pdf require a plugin which come with the program and reside in the program’s folder. It integrates with the right click menu, can search plain text, Word documents, inside archives and more. It wasn’t clear at first if the latter includes epub files, then I found a support question or feature request that was answered:

You can enable this by modifying C:\Program Files\dnGREP\Plugins\dnGREP.Engines.Archive.plugin file.
Just add epub to the list of extensions.

The result can be seen in the screenshot above. dnGREP provides a a preview and highlights results, supports regular expressions and xpath. The user can also filter the search (icon to the far right of the Search in section) to restrict the search to specific path or type of files. Replace is supported and the >> button to the right of the Replace button provides custom actions such as Copy files, Move files, Delete files and File names to clipboard, Save as CSV and CSV to clipboard to copy the result file names for use elsewhere. The bookmark saves search queries for the future.

The program’s options includes such settings as Show file path in results, Show results tree expanded and Show result lines in context X before and X after.

Version 2.7.1 beta 2 used for this review, version 2.6.3 stable is also available for both 32 and 64 bit systems. Unfortunately, because it is usually better but difficult to avoid, dnGREP requires the .NET framework 4.0. dnGREP can be launched via the command line.

November 24, 2013
FileSearchy For File Names And Content

FileSearchy is a new beta software that searches and indexes Windows drives. It can also search in files including Office and pdf formats and present highlighted results. It features a tabbed interface to keep multiple searches open.

FileSearchy indexes attached drives automatically unless this is unchecked in its options. The program has an Instant mode to show search results as you type but the Advanced mode – wait until Enter is clicked – is the default. Also by default is FileSearchy’s use of a built-in pdf converter that it uses to look in pdf files.

The program interface is divided into searching for file names with support for substrings, dates, size, case restriction, whole words and regular expressions. There is support for ; to separate words or folders and ! to exclude them. FileSearchy supports a whole set of regular expression patterns to narrow down searches. Searches can be restricted to directories as well. For the In directory and In content options the right most buttons allow the user to exclude folders or words from the search via a pop up window.

FileSearchy runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. As of this 0.9 beta version I was not able to browse to a folder when using the In directory option, the program would browse to a file instead.

November 23, 2013
Wise JetSearch: Freeware Search Tool

Wise JetSearch (Version: 1.22.63) is a freeware search tool that searches a local machine and attached drives. It starts after a short delay as it scans for local drives.

Input a keyword, if necessary include wild cards (* or ?), press enter and it will find the matching results within seconds. The results can be sorted by the usual modified date, path, size and name. Right click on any result to open it, open its containing folder, copy it, copy its path or copy its directory.

The program can be minimized or even closed but still have the ‘Quick Search’ auto hide bar remain on the desktop for faster access to it (see image.) WiseJetHelp.exe in addition to its own WiseJetSearch.exe process belong to this quick search option.

Wise JetSearch works on Windows XP and newer and there is a portable version available as well.

September 29, 2012
Quick Search: Freeware File Search

Quick Search (Version: 1.1.0.189) is a simple and fast freeware tool to list and search for files on a local machine and storage devices attached to it such as USB keys or external hard drives. It is very fast with all files indexed within seconds. Its interface is clean and straight forward. It starts with a floating search bar or its non-full mode, it can be expanded or maximized to show the program window and all its options and menu.

Find or filter for a file as you type and either search within all files or narrow down the results from Show All to any one of Shortcuts, Folders (and files within them), Documents, Pictures, Videos or Music. Other filters can be added via its settings by telling Quick Search which file extensions should belong to the filter.

Any list of files can be exported to a txt file and the list can be arranged by type, date modified, size and name. Files can also be selected to copy, cut or paste. They files are also clickable, Quick Search opens their containing folder.

The settings has an option – on by default – to show and hide the full program window by clicking the Ctrl button twice.

Quick Search should run on all Windows versions.

September 27, 2012
DtPad: Interesting Freeware Text Editor

DtPad (Version: 2.7.4.40) is a text editor with an interesting and potentially useful set of features.

The file menu can open a new document and paste the contents of the clipboard into it automatically. It can open a web page source by typing the address inside DtPad. There are options to save file(s) in zip format, save one as pdf or get or save documents in Dropbox using DtPad’s internal browser.

The edit menu can append text to existing files and ‘swap’ highlighted text with the contents of the clipboard. One can select text by multiple rows too.

The view menu is the place to launch the command prompt, hide or show an annotation panel (see image), launch a hexadecimal viewer/editor or a Windows hosts file editor.

DtPad also has a session feature that is not just save or restore but also can list ‘lost’ (those that were part of a saved session but may not exist anymore) files and more.

The search feature is a powerful one, options like highlight results are there so are number of occurrences and find or replace last and next occurrence. All come with regular expressions support. DtPad can also look for patterns like duplicate rows, capitalized words, html tags, IP addresses and email addresses. Not forgetting searching selected or highlighted words using google or wikipedia.

The actions menu is where tabs (different open files) can be merged and compared, indentation added, rows moved up and down, case converted, html converted to text and vice versa, space converted to tab, date inserted and lots more. Other interesting features like validating html and translating selected text too.

Options is the menu to toggle word wrap, choose file encoding and font plus export or import DtPad’s settings.

Tools is the place for launching external programs. Notepad and Internet Explorer are available by default but others can be added.

DtPad’s side panel has a notes section to keep text or notes that don’t belong in the files themselves, a tab explorer to move or sort open files, a file explorer to navigate and browse the system, a clipboard monitor, a calculator, a calendar, and another location for searching inside files.

The program settings (Options—>Settings) include options for the looks and feel of the program and others to add DtPad to the Send To, Open With and Windows 7 jump list menus.

DtPad requires Microsoft Windows XP or newer and the Microsoft .NET Framework 4. It is available in a portable version.

September 13, 2012
Search My Files Is Search Unlimited

SMF or Search my Files is as its name indicates a search utility and a good one at that but the developer’s site mentions ‘duplicate files finder’ first. Of course that is not important as SMF does both and is also a copy and erase tool.

After an initialization during startup one finds a busy interface. It presents one of the most number of options and checkboxes seen in one window. A search begins by choosing the desired search path in the tree and optionally including network drives. The search filters are then checked and include the common date modified, created and others, additionally one can use the ‘pre-filter files to search’ button to narrow these filters down further by size, attribute and specific date. Then come the almost dizzying number of options available for the results. The search results can include almost everything about the files or folders, for example if ‘file islocked’, ‘filepath is ansi’ or its ‘associated exe’ (see image).

The search itself is available for both files and folders and contents, with search string regex and wild card support. A check mark activates the duplicate search feature.

The progress tab is visible when an operation is in progress and presents information about the directory being searched, number of files being worked on and a live match or results count.

The show report window provides comprehensive information and is configurable to show as many as the information collected as possible, in columns (see image below). As SMF is SQLite based a lot can be done with the results. Right click on the results grid to send to clipboard, delete, copy, open with, create a zip file of and many more. SMF features third party tools to view files in a hex editor, split them using HJSplit or to rename them.

The results tab also shows some of the other features available such as export results to HTML or XML or save them in a SMF database.

The settings tab has options to set CPU priority for the program, add IrfanView integration and more. There is also a pick of two file erase methods but, as with the copying feature, it is not very clear where the files to be deleted are chosen. There is really no indication if the results window (via right click) is the only place or not.

Search my Files is open source, should work on XP and newer versions of Windows.

February 17, 2012
AstroGrep, Open Source Search

AstroGrep is a simple search tool. It searches within files for matching text. The program supports regular expressions to search for near matches, it also supports searching within one of several files types only and has options to match whole words and within subfolders. It presents a preview of the line containing the match with the option to show line numbers and also a configurable number of lines above and below where the match is located. The Negation option reverses the search where the results are files that don’t have a match in them. AstroGrep also remembers recent paths and search queries.

Program’s options (Tools menus) include file type exclusion and specifying an external text editor (default is Notepad) that will open when double clicking on a search result. A ‘plugin’ section enables searching within Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) files.

AstroGrep is open source, requires Windows XP, Vista or 7 and .Net Framework v3.5 SP1.

February 9, 2012
Makagiga: Multi-Featured Free Open Source Utility

Makagiga has a simple interface where it attempts to provide an everything at your finger tips type of experience. It comes with widgets to populate its window. The widgets include To-do, Notes, Calendar and Internet Search. Additional widgets can be downloaded (Edit—>Get More Widgets) and include the likes of a Digital Clock and Countdown timer, among others. Somewhat confusing it also supports plugins and no real distinction is made with its widgets. A separate menu (Tools—>Add or Remove Plugins) and window is used to download and use plugins such as an advanced text editor but then to get even more plugins one can click the Get More Plugins link on this same Add or Remove Plugins window. These additional plugins include such things as a chart generator, a Wolfram|Alpha query and others.

The ability to subscribe to RSS feeds comes already built-in and therefore Makagiga can be used as a news feed as well.

Makagiga requires Java and Windows XP at a minimum. Separate portable (use the run-portable.exe file) and Linux versions are available as well.

January 8, 2011