File Search Tools

Anchor Link Agent Ransack Stanley’s Pick
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2012-06-21
Version: 2010.762 – Released: 2010-03-29 Windows: 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, 7
File Size: 2.9 MB Both 32- and 64-bit versions
“Finding files that other search engines miss. Agent Ransack is a free search tool for both personal and commercial use. Agent Ransack 2010 — First released in April 2000 Agent Ransack has been helping people find files for over 12 Years. Here are just some of the powerful features available:
• Boolean expressions
• Office formats
• Updated UI
• Perl regex
• 64-bit Version
• FileLocator Lite”
Anchor Link Effective File Search
License: Shareware – $29.95 Last Reviewed: 2010-03-29
Version: 6.5 – Released: 2010-03-29 Windows: 9x, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7
File Size: 1.1 MB Both 32- and 64-bit compatible
“Effective File Search is a powerful but easy to use search tool. Search any files on your computer or local network. Search in folders or results. Search filters include date and size, containing text or hexadecimal codes. You may use Boolean operators to perform multiple keyword searches. All results and parameters can be saved to file. Other features include export, Windows Explorer functionality (icons, context menus, drag and drop) and file operations (copy, rename, delete etc.).”
Anchor Link FileLocator Pro
License: Shareware Last Reviewed: 2013-04-25
Version: 6.5.1355 – Released: 2013-04-25 Windows: XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, 7, 8
File Size: 8.92 MB Both 32- and 64-bit versions
Portable versions available on-site
“FileLocator Pro is the shareware version of the popular Agent Ransack file searching utility. It allows you to search your hard drive for information and offers convenient preview features to help you quickly locate the appropriate file without actually having to open it. It supports basic and advanced search options as well as regular expression and search inside ZIP and PDF files as well as Outlook PST files. Additional features include Active Scripting (JScript, VBScript, PerlScript etc.), search customization, XML output, built-in file viewer and more.”
Anchor Link SearchMyFiles
License: Freeware Last Reviewed: 2012-10-22
Version: 2.35 – Released: 2012-10-20 Windows: 2000 and up to 7
File Size: 94 KB Both 32- and 64-bit versions
“SearchMyFiles is an alternative to the standard ‘Search For Files And Folders’ module of Windows. It allows you to easily search files in your system by wildcard, by last modified/created/last accessed time, by file attributes, by file content (text or binary search), and by the file size. SearchMyFiles allows you to make a very accurate search that cannot be done with Windows search. For Example: You can search all files created in the last 10 minutes with size between 500 and 700 bytes. After you made a search, you can select one or more files, and save the list into text/html/csv/xml file, or copy the list to the clipboard.
“SearchMyFiles is portable, and you can use it from a USB flash drive without leaving traces in the Registry of the scanned computer.
“Version 1.55:
Added ‘Minimize/Restore Both Windows At Once’ option. When this option is turned on, minimizing/restoring the main window also automatically minimizes/restores the ‘Search Options’ window.”
Anchor Link Windiff
License: Free Last Reviewed: 2012-09-11
Revision: 6.0 – Released: 2012-09-11 Windows: NT, 2000, XP, 2003
“This article describes how to use the Windiff.exe utility, a tool that graphically compares the contents of two ASCII files, or the contents of two folders that contain ASCII files, to verify whether they are the same. The file byte count and the creation date are not reliable indications. Sometimes you may experience unusual program behavior and may suspect that a file is damaged, or you may suspect that two files have the same byte count but different dates. Therefore, you want to make sure that they are the same. If a file is suspect, the typical solution is to recopy from a known good file. This solution may solve the problem, but it prevents you from knowing whether the original file was damaged. It can be important to determine this, as file damage can indicate an underlying network or system problem.
“You can also run Windiff.exe from the command line. For information about how to do so, or for more information about how to use Windiff.exe, see the Windiff.exe Help file (Windiff.hlp).”
Anchor Link ZipScan
License: Shareware – $15.00 Last Reviewed: 2009-08-14
Version: 2.2c – Released: 2005-10-21 Windows: 98, Me, 2000, XP
File Size: 876 KB
“ZipScan searches archive files. It can search Zip, CAB, RAR, ACE, InstallShield CAB, JAR, TAR, GZIP, Z, ZOO, LZH, ARJ, CHM and OpenOffice files, including password-protected, nested and self-extracting archives. The search can also check a file’s size, look for a text string, and search a file’s version resource table. The program can also open and extract files. You can examine zip files on the World Wide Web without downloading them first!”