Software Name: Agent Ransack
License: Free
OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/ XP SP2/2003/Vista
Download File Size: Less than 1 MB
Most of us have used the Windows file search when trying to search for a particular file on our computer. If you have a lot of data, then it could take a while to go through it all. For this, Microsoft offers its Indexing Service. A few of you might have read this term but do not know exactly what it is.
There are a few advantages to using Microsoft Indexing Service, but the downside outweigh its advantages. Let's first understand what Microsoft Indexing Service does. It scans your disks and builds indexes in a database for some properties of the files. So when you search for a file name, these indexes are searched first. Searching the indexes is a little faster than going through the files, so you get your results a little faster. The difference in using the Microsoft Indexing Service is not that significant, so you will not feel a major difference. The disadvantage to using the Microsoft Indexing Service is that it hogs a lot of system memory. Sure the index building process is only active when the system is idle, but when you get back to work again you find your computer performing considerably slower and less responsive than you left it. Frankly speaking, it is not worth using the Microsoft Indexing Service as it only slows down your computer without providing any significant difference in searching speed. For the sake of keeping this article about the software review, we will discuss disabling the Indexing Service in a separate article.
With the Indexing Service out of the picture, let us now have a look at Microsoft's default search tool. Many users across the globe refer to it as a bloatware, meaning that it is slow and uses a lot of unnecessary memory. It also does not provide an option to include individual drives when searching for files in more than one drive. For example, you have 6 drives, and you want to search for a file in only 2 drives. The Windows search does not allow this feature; you can either search a single drive or search all of your 6 drives. This wastes a lot of your valuable time.
The solution to your file-searching problems might be a third party software Agent Ransack. There are many advantages to using Agent Ransack over your legacy Windows search. Agent Ransack:
There are a few advantages to using Microsoft Indexing Service, but the downside outweigh its advantages. Let's first understand what Microsoft Indexing Service does. It scans your disks and builds indexes in a database for some properties of the files. So when you search for a file name, these indexes are searched first. Searching the indexes is a little faster than going through the files, so you get your results a little faster. The difference in using the Microsoft Indexing Service is not that significant, so you will not feel a major difference. The disadvantage to using the Microsoft Indexing Service is that it hogs a lot of system memory. Sure the index building process is only active when the system is idle, but when you get back to work again you find your computer performing considerably slower and less responsive than you left it. Frankly speaking, it is not worth using the Microsoft Indexing Service as it only slows down your computer without providing any significant difference in searching speed. For the sake of keeping this article about the software review, we will discuss disabling the Indexing Service in a separate article.
With the Indexing Service out of the picture, let us now have a look at Microsoft's default search tool. Many users across the globe refer to it as a bloatware, meaning that it is slow and uses a lot of unnecessary memory. It also does not provide an option to include individual drives when searching for files in more than one drive. For example, you have 6 drives, and you want to search for a file in only 2 drives. The Windows search does not allow this feature; you can either search a single drive or search all of your 6 drives. This wastes a lot of your valuable time.
The solution to your file-searching problems might be a third party software Agent Ransack. There are many advantages to using Agent Ransack over your legacy Windows search. Agent Ransack:
- is a very light-weight application
- returns your search results much faster
- installs right-click context menus so that any directory can be searched directly from the file manager
- allows for including individual drives (e.g. 2 out of 6 drives) when searching multiple drives
- allows you to save your frequent search criteria
- previews the contents of the searched files in a pane so that you do not have to separately open each file
- supported Operating systems include Win 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/ XP SP2/2003/Vista
There are also a few cons to the software that I have experienced.
- It does not allow free-text entry for search criteria (you have to use wild cards such as * and ? or regular expressions). While this provides for more precise searching, but may be difficult to use for novices,
- It does not provide an option to change or set program's default settings,
- Does not provide an option to 'Open Containing Folder'.
Despite its cons, Agent Ransack is a freeware. If the features appeal to you, then try it out by downloading from the following link: Agent Ransack.
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