Solved Best File Finder-Free and No Ads or Popups

Just as the title says, looking for a free file finder for my Windows 11 Desktop that is fast and easy to use. The "search this PC" in file explorer limited in options.

Best one you will find that is recommended here often is Everything. Yes that's the app title, EVERYTHING. It uses the NTFS file system directly and is fast as lightning. It will not do content searches, but all else is fast and streamlined. No ads, no pops, only results, fast.

+1 for Everything. It does do content searches. Use the command content:somethingsomething

+1, too, for Everything. Be sure to open Tools > Options in the menu bar. It opens a rich Options page full of good stuff you'll want to know about. For instance, one thing many users here on this forum have complained about is that by default Everything keeps running in the background (with an icon in the tray) after you click the X to close the program. The first option on the first page lets you change that behavior.

+1, Everything, nothing comes close

Download the 64 Bit Lite version

Hate to jump on the bandwagon, but +1 for Everything.

If you end up using it, my suggestion is to do a full install (not the portable) and combine with the Everything Toolbar. It adds an icon to your toolbar that works great as a Search box.

Another very happy user of Everything. Been using it for years.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil

I've been using SwiftSearch64 for years and it is blazing fast. It's just one very small file.

Hey, @ltsnow!

Thank you for entering that into the record. Even though this program is not likely to bring devotees of Everything across the line to try it, it's a great addition to the things searchers will find when they get to this forum. I spent about 15 minutes reading the site, and I'm convinced that it's valuable software. Thanks.

Wisewiz said:

Hey, @ltsnow!

Thank you for entering that into the record. Even though this program is not likely to bring devotees of Everything across the line to try it, it's a great addition to the things searchers will find when they get to this forum. I spent about 15 minutes reading the site, and I'm convinced that it's valuable software. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the positive thoughts on this. I think it's great and it's just one little dinky 773kb file. It give results instantly for both my HDD data drive and my main SSD drive.

Used all kinds of search tools - like Locate32, UltraSearch but... Everything takes the cake - as fast, Lite (even portable), can search by type and fully free (UltraSearch Free is more limited this days).

Only thing missing is a "Dark Theme (looking for something at 3 AM - its typical fully bright skin really hits you in the retina)". Quite ironic - being made by the Void.

f14tomcat said:

It will not do content searches,

Click to expand...

Scroll halfway down this page and read the part below Content Searching: Searching - voidtools

hdmi said:

Scroll halfway down this page and read the part below Content Searching: Searching - voidtools

Click to expand...

Yes, I see that.

Content Searching​

Warning: content searching is extremely slow.


File content is not indexed.

Content searching is not "auto" per se, additional parameters need to be entered. It searches content in the same way the MS search does without having the indexes. Painfully slow.

The OP just needs to be aware that content searching with Everything is basically the same as MS native search. It's power is in the file name search.

f14tomcat said:

Yes, I see that.

Content Searching​

Warning: content searching is extremely slow.


File content is not indexed.

Content searching is not "auto" per se, additional parameters need to be entered. It searches content in the same way the MS search does without having the indexes. Painfully slow.

The OP just needs to be aware that content searching with Everything is basically the same as MS native search. It's power is in the file name search.

Click to expand...

If you read a little bit further you'll also see this:
Please combine content: functions with other filters for the best performance.
...and this:
Example, find emails, modified this week, containing the text "banana":
*.eml dm:thisweek content:banana
* Note: content: is used last in the search above, this means Everything will only search the content of files that matched the previous search *.eml dm:thisweek

So basically, you just need to be aware that content searching with Everything is not necessarily always painfully slow if you use it right, and, its real power is in you being able to combine one search that limits the amount of content and another search that does the content searching where needed of course. That plus all the various other options that also exist in Everything, and that make Everything compare to Microsoft native search like a PC compares to a Mac. That is, seriously dumbed down. lol

whatever. got way, way OT. the thread was marked solved by OP.

f14tomcat said:

... got way, way OT.

Click to expand...

I don't see it that way. The recommendations just naturally morphed into a discussion of the merits and abilities of the most-recommended utility. That provides searchers like OP with not only the recommendation but also the reasons for the recommendation. Nada wrong with that.

I surrender. These discussions have no end. I hope the OP got what they were asking for. I think they did. If others want to take a "marked solved" thread and continue it as a side discussion to whatever ends they deem, please continue. I'm done.

Everything is quick but seems NOT accurate.

I am Everything user. but I also run Windows search (slow) to verify. Below is example, Windows search is accurate (my ghost files by 12/31/2023, sorted by Date). the missing files are marked in red.

siliconbeaver said:

Everything is quick but seems NOT accurate.

Click to expand...

Tools | Options... | Indexes | Force Rebuild

hdmi said:

Tools | Options... | Indexes | Force Rebuild

Click to expand...

Note: Just like the initial indexing (a few seconds), the Force Rebuild takes only a few seconds. If you're searching for something you've added to recently, the Force Rebuild button will bring Everything completely up to date.