I’m looking for a desktop search utility. I know there have been numerous threads on this topic in this forum, but the most recent one that deals specifically with desktop search utilities was nearly a year ago, even though this has been a very active area of software development. Copernic and X1 are two utilities that have often been mentioned. Some have enthusiastically endorsed Enfish Find, with which one can preview files without opening them in the corresponding applications. That would be quite nice, but I recently came across a recommendation for Enfish in a book and then found that Enfish has ceased development and support for the product and has licensed the technology to another company.
I seem to recall that Marc Ochant preferred X1 a few years ago, after trying out most of the popular programs, but subsequently switched to the MSN Toolbar search. Just yesterday I was told that the MSN product will index and retrieve Adobe Acrobat documents, which I should think would be a real plus.
I think I’m looking for something that:
• Is Fast. I presume this means indexing the drive(s). But it should not degrade overall system performance. (I assume this means that it’s smart enough to do its indexing only while the system is idle.)
• Can find and retrieve any pertinent piece of information, including documents whose existence I’ve forgotten. This would include e-mail messages both within Outlook but also those archived in an out-of-Outlook folder by MessageSave. Also pdf documents, in addition to all of the other standard formats. And how about Outlook Journal records too?
• Can search local drives and also files or directories on a server. But not the Internet. (I think there are utilities that search both desktop and Internet, are there not?). The Google-type Internet search engines work fine, but I prefer to keep desktop searches separate.
• Being able to preview retrieved files without opening applications—a la Enfish—would be great. And the ability to do Boolean searches would be useful.
All that.... and perhaps keep a sixpack of beer cold on a hot afternoon. Any suggestions?
I seem to recall that Marc Ochant preferred X1 a few years ago, after trying out most of the popular programs, but subsequently switched to the MSN Toolbar search. Just yesterday I was told that the MSN product will index and retrieve Adobe Acrobat documents, which I should think would be a real plus.
I think I’m looking for something that:
• Is Fast. I presume this means indexing the drive(s). But it should not degrade overall system performance. (I assume this means that it’s smart enough to do its indexing only while the system is idle.)
• Can find and retrieve any pertinent piece of information, including documents whose existence I’ve forgotten. This would include e-mail messages both within Outlook but also those archived in an out-of-Outlook folder by MessageSave. Also pdf documents, in addition to all of the other standard formats. And how about Outlook Journal records too?
• Can search local drives and also files or directories on a server. But not the Internet. (I think there are utilities that search both desktop and Internet, are there not?). The Google-type Internet search engines work fine, but I prefer to keep desktop searches separate.
• Being able to preview retrieved files without opening applications—a la Enfish—would be great. And the ability to do Boolean searches would be useful.
All that.... and perhaps keep a sixpack of beer cold on a hot afternoon. Any suggestions?