FileSearcher 1.3.3

Overview

Over the years, computer users need more and more disk space to store their files. The solution to this is to buy hard disks with more capacity, but the more files you have the harder it gets finding the ones you need at a given time. FileSearcher by Nissoft promises to help you make quick and accurate text searches in your files using several options, such as filename masks, date created/modified/accessed, size and others, whilst giving you the ability to save your searches as reports for future reference. You can also perform operations on found files (view, copy, cut, delete etc.).

Installation

The installation process consists of only a few steps and no difficult settings. The setup package includes no viruses/malware/spyware and no additional 3^rd party software.

The program can run under Windows 2000, XP Vista and 7.

Interface

The interface is not really modern or stylish, but it does the job. At the top of the main window you can find the menu bar and the toolbar, which has twelve buttons: Find Files, Stop Searching, Open File, Open Containing Folder, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Print, Move to Folder, Copy to Folder and Help. The area in the middle has three tabs: General, Advanced and Predefined. In the first tab you can start a search and make a few basic options, such as enable searching in subfolders and ZIP archives, as well as search for text in found files with regular expressions, match whole words only or match case. The Advanced tab provides you with some more options in case you want your search to be more specific. These include date filters, file size, attributes and a function that finds duplicate files with the same name, size or date. The last tab gives you the ability to save the current settings and load them later, so that you can have different profiles with different settings.

The bottom part of the window is where the results are being shown, and it’s divided into two boxes, one for displaying the found files and one for displaying their text contents.

Pros

You have plenty of search settings to configure and make your search as precise as it can be, like search in archives, search by date created/modified/accessed, size (greater/equal/less), attributes (hidden, encrypted, read-only, system, compressed, etc.), search for specific file types, search full text with regular expressions and many other options. Found files can then be opened, cut, copied, pasted, renamed or deleted.

FileSearcher can be also used as a simple duplicate file finder that can search for duplicate files with same filename, size, date of creation/access/modification and CRC32 hash code.

Saving profiles with different settings is possible as well and can be useful when making searches often but with different settings.

Cons

It has an outdated interface that needs some improvement.

Alternatives

Agent Ransack (free) is a file searching utility, just like FileSearcher. It has plenty of options used to define your searches and also view the found files’ contents. Other similar tools are Ultra File Search (paid), Copernic Desktop Search (paid) and dnGREP (free).

Conclusion

FileSearcher is a reliable software that can certainly make easier and quicken the process of searching and finding files in your computer.