Great search engine for finding files

Great search engine for finding files

I had always wondered why the same capability that Google provides for searching documents on the Web was not available for searching documents in one’s own computer. Windows’ Find utility can only find a document that contains an individual word or text string, not two or more words or text strings, and Windows Find is also slow. But now Copernic (which also provides the invaluable but little known Winkey utility) has created a Desktop Search utility that instantly searches the contents of your computer’s hard disk in the same way that Google searches the Web. For example, I type in two unrelated words that may appear at different places in the documents I am looking for (i.e., the words are not part of the same text string), and Desktop Search instantly—and I mean instantly—finds the documents that contain both of those words. This is a great advance in computer capability, making the contents of one’s computer accessible as never before.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 24, 2004 01:58 AM | Send

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This news won’t apply to about 96% of the wired world, but Apple’s update of the OSX system (dubbed “Tiger”) due out in the winter or spring has a similar feature built right into the operating system:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/spotlight.html

Google itself offers something for its business clients:
http://www.google.com/appliance/

I thought they already had a product out that searched one’s own computer, but apparently not.

Posted by: Reg Cæsar on November 24, 2004 4:41 AM

God Bless the Steves (Jobs and Wozniak).

Posted by: Michael Jose on November 24, 2004 5:02 AM

Finally, a search method that is useful. Now we will not have to create so many folders and subfolders. Just punch in a word or two and voila! Now why did our diligent government not impose this competitive idea on Microsoft, et al., many years earlier as I had asked my IT people? I really don’t need scores of fonts or colors, so why do I receive them?

Posted by: Paul Henrí on November 24, 2004 5:22 AM

Mr. Caesar,

I heard about the Google version. Many people have reservations about it because they fear the way their current version works, Google will be able to monitor your data flow. Big Brother can definitely be watching now in this post information age society.

Posted by: Andrew on November 24, 2004 7:57 AM

I read various reviews. The consensus was that Google’s Desktop search engine was not that good, Copernic’s is better, while Google is still the tops of course for Web searches.

Posted by: Lawrence Auster on November 24, 2004 10:15 AM

Firefox 1.0 is a very good browser. It is extremely easy to download, and use. I like the tabbed browser ( Press “ctrl” and “T”) feature which allows you to open several web pages simultaneously (can get hectic). The best thing is that it feels and is faster and certainly eliminates almost all pop-up ads.

I do not load the optional extensions because the excutable programs slow performance slightly. If you go to a site that requires explorer, just use your explorer browser which I recommend you not uninstall. Use both as needed with Firefox as your primary browser.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Posted by: Andrew on November 24, 2004 12:23 PM