Fast Microsoft Windows Desktop Search Utlilities STEP By STEP

Five fast Windows desktop search utilities

I am defining a desktop search utility as any utility that is used locally to help find specific data on either the desktop or on an on-premise server.

1: Copernic Desktop Search

Copernic Desktop Search (Figure A) is a free utility that has a clean and intuitive interface, although it is ad driven — and the ads can sometimes be a bit distracting. But my only real complaint about this software is that it doesn’t initially index your entire hard drive. You may have to go in and add some non-default folders for your data to be indexed properly. After you do so, however, the software works really well.

Figure A

Copernic Desktop Search

2: Auslogics Duplicate File Finder

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder (Figure B) is a free utility for searching your hard disk for duplicate files. The search engine does a really good job and it lets you opt to ignore things like file dates. The search engine can even peek inside files to locate ones that might be duplicates even though they have different names.

Figure B

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder

3: X1 Professional Client

X1 Professional Client (Figure C) is another desktop search engine that can find various types of files and email messages. While the functionality might seem routine, a few features help dental long beach justify the price tag.

Figure C

X1 Professional Client

For starters, the search engine is blazing fast. The search actually occurs as you type. Furthermore, you can use a variety of search commands to help narrow your search results. My personal favorite feature is the preview window that shows the currently selected item. Finally, X1 Professional Client has options to do things like copy, email, and zip selected items.
X1 Professional Client retails for $49.95, but a free 14-day trial is available.

4: Search and Replace 98

Search and Replace 98 (Figure D) is a bit different from other desktop search utilities, in that it can find and replace specified text in your files. It’s extremely useful when you need to make changes to a lot of documents.

Figure D

Search and Replace 98

I first found Search and Replace 98 many years ago when I was developing long beach compuer coupon a Web site. The site I was developing consisted of nearly 4,000 ASP files. As the site was approaching completion, my lawyer informed me that certain blocks of text that appeared on several pages had to be rephrased. I needed an editor that could perform a search and replace across multiple files so that I would not have to dig through all 4,000 files by hand. Search and Replace 98 did exactly what I needed it to do. I’m pretty sure that Search and Replace 98 used to be a commercial product, but today it is available for free.

5: Ava Find

Ava Find (Figure E) is a free utility for finding files, messages, and other resources on your computer. Ava Find is nearly 10 years old. In spite of its age, however, the software still works really well. It has a simple interface that lets you quickly find documents, messages, music, and videos simply by searching for them or by clicking the Music or Videos button.

Figure E

Search Utlilitie from Elitebuyer Long Beach Computer

Ava Find

Other picks?

Do you have a favorite desktop search app that didn’t make this list? Share your recommendations www.elitebuyer.com
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Archive old email in your Gmail inbox the easy way

Quick Tip: Archive old email in your Gmail inbox the easy way

Takeaway: No matter how hard you try, your Gmail is going to get bloated with old messages. Take advantage of Google’s archive system to manage the clutter.

It is inevitable. Your inbox, whether it is Gmail, Outlook, or any other client, is going to fill up with old email. If you are like me, and I suspect that many of you are, you don’t really archive email as you go. Instead you wait for a critical mass to build up and then you look to manage the problem.
The good thing about Gmail is that Google has a built-in archival system that you can take advantage of when you are ready. Of course, before you can archive you have to identify exactly which emails currently residing in your inbox qualify for the procedure. The simplest approach is to use the power of search - something Google is very good at non-coincidentally.

Search and identify

For this example, let’s archive messages in my inbox more than 30 days old. Using some keyword searches we can get a list of email messages received before a specific date. In the search box at the top of your Gmail page type a search in this format:

before:yyyy/mm/dd

And, to further limit our search, specify that we are only searching the inbox:

in:inbox

The entire search string will look something like Figure A.

Figure A

in:inbox before:2012/01/01

Now that you have a list of results matching your search criteria, you can start the archive process. First check the Select All check box as shown in Figure B. That check box only accounts for the messages that manage to fit on the first page, so you have to click the link that says: Select all messages that match this search, to select all of the messages in the list.

Figure B

Click the Select All check box and the Select all messages that match this search link

Once you have made those two selections, all that is left to do is the archiving. For that you click the Archive button, shown in Figure C. When you click the button you will get a warning message, click OK to complete the process.

Figure C

Archive your inbox messages

You will now have less clutter in your Gmail inbox. If you ever want to find emails you have archived, they are now located under the All Mail label.

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