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"Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

voidtools.com

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Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#81

Post by dumbfounder »

smusamashah wrote: post #71
happytoexplain wrote: post #25

I've used Everything for as long as I can remember, and it has completely spoiled me on search/launcher functionality. Perfect UI, perfect results ordering (no cute prediction about what you might want), and, of course, truly instant results and a truly live index - it will find files created one millisecond ago. I also use Launchy specifically for launching programs. Same instant results, though not live-indexed. Wh…

I read somewhere that windows search takes into account the security and other restrictions on the folders. That's why it's slow. Everything on the other hand will give you everything without caring if you have access to the file or not. Which makes sense because it's using file tables directly to give you results. Everything + RipGrep is how i search files and file contents on windows.

This would only make sense if it isn't actually indexing the permissions, it just checks the file at the time it finds it. That would be DUMB if they did it that way. They can index that one extra field and it would still be fast.

Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#82

Post by dumbfounder »

lucb1e wrote: post #21
BizarroLand wrote: post #15

If you've never used the HTTP server, you're doing yourself a disservice. It creates a locally hosted web page that you can use to share with everyone on the network a fast file search client. Highly recommended! Throw in an nginx reverse proxy for https support and you are off to the races.

This is advice meant for server systems, I imagine?

No, for sharing porn.

Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#83

Post by listenallyall »

beart wrote: post #5

Search in Windows is THE indicator of how poorly Microsoft has maintained their core operating system, IMO. What could be more significant over the last 20 years than "search", and where does there exist a worst implementation of it in a major piece of software? Everything really puts a spotlight on this with how simple and effective it is.

I agree that MS built-in search sucks... but so do the default MacOS and Linux search implementations.

I've said for a long time that Everything should be incorporated into core Windows, until then, at least it is available on Windows. Other OSes don't have an equivalent.

Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#85

Post by nsriv »

wfurney wrote: post #37
happytoexplain wrote: post #25

I've used Everything for as long as I can remember, and it has completely spoiled me on search/launcher functionality. Perfect UI, perfect results ordering (no cute prediction about what you might want), and, of course, truly instant results and a truly live index - it will find files created one millisecond ago. I also use Launchy specifically for launching programs. Same instant results, though not live-indexed. Wh…

PowerToys run and FlowLauncher both have good plugins that use Everything: https://github.com/lin-ycv/EverythingPowerToys https://github.com/Flow-Launcher/Flow.Launcher.Plugin.Everyt...

I was typing out a comment about how integrating Everything with PowerToys Run would be amazing. Thank you for sharing this!

Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#86

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

happytoexplain wrote: post #25

I've used Everything for as long as I can remember, and it has completely spoiled me on search/launcher functionality. Perfect UI, perfect results ordering (no cute prediction about what you might want), and, of course, truly instant results and a truly live index - it will find files created one millisecond ago. I also use Launchy specifically for launching programs. Same instant results, though not live-indexed. Wh…

> Which makes me question every single time I use the Windows default search box: How?

For better or for worse, Microsoft puts all this sort of stuff in PowerToys now. It's there for people who want it.

Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#87

Post by bogtog »

danbruc wrote: post #38
beart wrote: post #5

Search in Windows is THE indicator of how poorly Microsoft has maintained their core operating system, IMO. What could be more significant over the last 20 years than "search", and where does there exist a worst implementation of it in a major piece of software? Everything really puts a spotlight on this with how simple and effective it is.

I agree that searching on Windows sucks but I guess there is a trade-off to be made. You can use very abstract APIs that will work for all kinds of file systems, whether a local disks, a DVD, a USB connected phone, or a network drive, but it will be slow and limited because you can only rely on the lowest common denominator. On the other end of the spectrum you can build highly specialized functionality that can be f…

I don't get it. Everything is so good. You make it sound like this is because it doesn't cover some edge cases, but why can't the search just be about as good as Everything for everything but those edge cases?

I asked Claude why Windows just can't match Everything, and this was what it spit out:

> Microsoft faces challenges in improving Windows Search to match Everything's performance:

> Backwards compatibility: They need to maintain compatibility with older Windows versions and existing features.

> Broader scope: Windows Search is designed to search not just filenames but also file contents, emails, and other data types, making it inherently more complex.

> System integration: Changing core Windows components can have wide-ranging effects on the operating system and third-party software.

Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#88

Post by leptons »

beart wrote: post #77
smusamashah wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read somewhere that windows search takes into account the security and other restrictions on the folders. That's why it's slow. Everything on the other hand will give you everything without caring if you have access to the file or not. Which makes sense because it's using file tables directly to give you results. Everything + RipGrep is how i search files and file contents on windows.

I suspect there's more going on. Why is the search index consuming multiple GBs? And why does that seem to grow unconstrained? I can only imagine what ancient code may live in that feature.

"Everything" is great so long as you don't have too much data to index, but I've seen "Everything" also consuming multiple GB of RAM with all my drives being indexed. It can also cause some performance issues depending on what I'm doing with the system, so I only run "Everything" if and when I need it.

Re: "Everything" is a filename search engine for Windows

#90

Post by lucb1e »

mrmuagi wrote: post #74

One annoying thing I ran into a year or two ago is when Everything.exe is running, discord thinks it's the steam game called Everything. I had to rename the search Everything.exe to a different name to get around this. Admittedly it's not voidtools fault, rather discords.

Why is it an issue if Discord thinks you're playing a game? Does your boss check that you're not playing games on Discord during work time or something?
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