gHacks technology news » file search

Tags For Your Files

Martin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:45:49 +0000

The usual way of organizing files is by either performing a realtime search on the computer system or by using a search software that build an index of files which speeds up the search tremendously. The search usually finds file names and directories but can also search for information contained in the files, at least some file types like documents.

Tag 2 Find uses a different approach. It brings the tags known from indexing websites to the computer desktop. It is currently available in a preview version for the Windows operating system. Users who have been using services like Delicious and Flickr or run their own blog will be immediately comfortably with the software program. Any file located on the computer system can be tagged by the user. No user would want to tag all files as this would mean to work with hundreds of thousands of files which could take a lifetime. The software program can assist the user by automatically suggesting tags based on file names, directory names, file extensions and even metadata for multimedia files.

It is furthermore possible to include and exclude drives from the program completely. The software program will display a wizard after installation that is walking the user through the first initial configuration. The user can pick drives, directories and files that he wants to tag right away. Tag 2 Find can also be integrated in Windows Explorer to add tags right away for selected files.

It would be impracticable if the application window would have to be opened to search the files and tags. The application is therefor offering a floating transparent search window that can be moved around on the computer desktop. Entering tags into that search form will open another transparent connected window that is displaying the results which include hits, partial hits and related tags. A click on a resulting tag will show all the file names that have been tagged with the word or phrase.

Tag 2 Find can monitor the computer system for new files. The folders that are monitored can be defined in the application. It is for instance monitoring the Windows Clipboard and will display files that are copied to it for a while waiting for user input.

Additional options that might be interesting for some users are access to a tag cloud, automatic category management for selected file types, color coding tabs, drag and drop support plus import and export options for tags. It is really surprising how stable and extensive this early version of the software program is.

The only downside is the rather large resource usage. The software program uses roughly 23 Megabytes of computer memory while displaying the floating tags search box and about 53 Megabytes of virtual memory. Tag 2 Find runs on Windows XP or Windows Vista and requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0, an NTFS formatted file system (at least on the partitions that contain files that the user wants to tag and administrative privileges during installation.

Tags: desktop search, file search, tag, tag 2 find, tag files, tags, windows search, windows software

Searching for Files in Linux via Command Line

Jack Wallen — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:38:29 +0000

Being able to search for files is a fairly important aspect of using a computer. Naturally there are a number of ways to accomplish this task. You can use a powerful tool like Beagle (check out my article Enable Beagle Searching in GNOME) or you can use easier, faster command line tools to handle your searching tasks.

There are a couple of searching tools that immediately come to mind to take care of your searching needs. The first tool is locate and the second is find. I much prefer the former tool because it is much faster. But both tools can do the job. Both tools are run from the command line and can be run as either the root or a standard user. Let’s take a quick look at each.

Locate

The locate command does not actually search through the directory hierarchy. What locate does is search through a database for the files you are looking for. Because of this the search is faster. But because it uses a database that means the database has to be updated in order for new to show up in results (or deleted files to not show up in results). So before you actually start using this command you will want to update the database. In order to update the database used by locate you need to issue the command updatedb. It might be wise to set up a cron job to have the database updated regularly (as most of us won’t remember to update the database as often as it is necessary.)

Once you have the database updated you are ready to search. The locate command is simple:

locate FILENAME

(Where FILENAME is the actual name of the file you are searching.

Naturally there are switches you can use with the command. The most useful of these are:

(NOTE: Switches will be proceeded by the “-” character.)

c – Instead of writing the resulting names it writes the number of matches found.
d – Use a different database than the default.
i – Ignore case
r – Use a regular expression.

The last switch should really raise the eyebrows of the hard core at heart. The locate command can use regular expressions which makes this command VERY useful.

Find

Unlike the locate command, find does search through the filesystem hierarchy. Because of this find is much slower than locate. But also because of this, there is no need to update a database. So the find command always will have the most up-to-date results.

The syntax of the find command is very similar to that of locate.

find FILENAME

Where FILENAME is the actual name of the file name to search.

And, like locate (and nearly every Linux command), there are switches to enhance the usability. The most useful of these switches are:

(NOTE: Switches will be proceeded by the “-” character.)

L – Follow symbolic links
delete – Will delete the found files.
exec ; COMMAND FILENAME- Will execute the COMMAND on the FILENAME.

The find command is actually quite a bit more complex than locate. Because find’s actually purpose is to examine files (the end results can be found files), find does much more. But for command line file searching, it does perform admirably.

Final Thoughts

My preferences is to use locate. I always use locate before I will use a gui search tool. I trust the results, the results are faster, and often more accurate (so long as I have updated the database.) Give either of these tools a try. You will most likely be happy with the results (unless, of course, you can’t find the file you’re trying to locate.)

Tags: command-line, file search, find, Linux, locate

Rapidshare Links Checker

Martin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:42:20 +0000

Greasemonkey scripts can really increase the usability of a web browser which is especially true for scripts that improve a day to day activity. If you regularly search for and download files at Rapidshare you might have felt the frustration when a link was not working anymore. Most Rapidshare Search sites and search engines give no indication if a link is valid or expired.

The Cavern Links Checker has been developed as a links checker for the Cavern’s forum but has been expanded since then to check links anywhere on the Internet pointing to various file hosts like Rapidhsare, Megashare or Megaupload.

A total of 13 different file hosters are currently supported by the script. Since the link checker works on every Internet site it comes in handy for users who use search engines to find files on sites like Rapidshare but also for users who frequent forums or websites with their own databases.

Firefox users will have to download and install the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox before installing the user script. Google Chrome users can take a look at the Google Chrome Greasemonkey article while Opera users can do the same at Greasemonkey in Opera. Internet Explorer users might want to take a look at Trixie to add Greasemonkey support.

Tags: file search, firefox, google chrome, greasemonkey, opera, rapidshare, rapidshare files, rapidshare links checker, rapidshare search, userscripts

Windows Search 4.0

Martin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:37:43 +0000

Microsoft released a new version of Windows Search on Windows Update and made it a recommended update for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and 2008 users. Windows Search 4.0 introduces a wealth of new features and improvements over the previous version including the automatic indexing of shared folders, improvements in indexing online e-mail as well as in the performance and stability of the indexer.

Windows Search is basically a desktop search application much like Google’s Desktop Search. It builds an index of the files – and other information like emails – on the system after installation which takes some time depending on the size of the hard disks and the amount of files stored on them. Some users reported indexing times of several hours in previous versions of Windows Search.

It does take this long because Windows Search does not only index file names and attributes but also file contents for selected files including most text formats like Word and HTML documents but also media files like images and video formats.

I still prefer Locate32 which is resource friendly and faster in my opinion.

Tags: desktop search, file search, locate32, microsoft, search, windows search

Windows Search Replacement Fileseek

Martin — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 09:50:07 +0000

Fileseek is another application developed by the creator of Display Fusion, one of the best multi-monitor wallpaper applications in existence. The software is a file search that can be seen as a Windows Search Replacement. Why could it be a great replacement ? Because it does offer features that the default Windows search does not offer and it provides results much faster than the default search.

The two parameters that you always have to select are a path and a search term that you want to find, every other parameter is optional. Search results begin to appear immediately while other files are still processed. The time it takes to process all files depends on the size of the hard drive(s), the cpu, ram, files on disk and several other factors. It is still fast enough and responsive so that it is possible to work with the search results even if the search is still going on.

Search queries are not only compared to filenames but also with file contents. This is extremely useful if you are looking for documents that contain a specific phrase. The line containing the phrase is shown in the search results together with the filename and path of the file.

Fileseek offers a few functions that allow users to refine their searches. Files and Filetypes can be included or excluded in the search. This feature supports wildcards and multiple entries.

Regular Expressions are supported in the search queries. This is a powerful advanced feature of Fileseek. Best of all though is the size of Fileseek. It’s tiny with only 186 Kilobyte unpacked.

Fileseek uses a different approach than my favorite search utility Locate32. Locate32 uses a database that has to be updated regularly. The benefit of this approach is a blazing fast search, much faster than that of Fileseek. If you do not search that often Fileseek might be the better alternative.

Tags: desktop search, file search, fileseek, locate32, search, windows search

The fastest Windows File Search just got better

Martin — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:58:28 +0000

Locate is one of the fastest ways to search for files and content in files in Windows. It uses a file database which is created once at first run and then updated regularly to reflect the changes to the system. The initial scan takes a few minutes while the updates usually finish in a matter of seconds.

I did mention Locate before here at Ghacks and thought that this awesome program deserves another article. The software developer is constantly working on Locate and he has added several new functions since the last time that I wrote a review about it. The biggest change in this new version of Locate is the Find as you type function. Locate does not wait anymore until the user presses the submit button to find files or text in files but presents results immediately.

You can still filter results in so many ways that it would take ten articles to explain all the options. It is possible to filter by file size, file date, extension and file path for instance. Normal file searches take about a second before all results are displayed, it takes a bit longer to search for content in files naturally but it is fast as well if you consider that all files on all hard drives can be searched.

I would suggest to schedule daily updates for Locate if you have the intention to use it regularly. You can either configure this option in Locate but the application has to be running to start the file update process on its own or you can use the task scheduler of Windows to update the Locate database regularly.

Tags: file search, locate, software, Windows, windows search

5 Rapidshare Search Engines

Martin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:52:45 +0000

Rapidshare is a file hosting goldmine if you know how to search it properly. There are basically two ways to do that. First, you can use Google search parameters to search Rapidshare. Several websites offer a basic search interface that does nothing more than to add the parameters to your searches and display the Google search results. Then there is a different kind of website that has its own database and performs searches using it.

The second kind of site tends to be more up to date because they use several sources for finding new Rapidshare files including user submitted ones. I do not like the first kind of sites to search Rapidshare that much because I can enter those parameters by myself into a search engine like Google and get the desired results.

To be able to compare the Rapidshare search engines I have performed searches for the terms “video”, “avi” and “windows”. Finding files is one thing but finding working files on file hosting websites and keeping the file database up to date deleting files that have been removed from the file hosting website properly is another. This has also been born in mind.

I did check three results for each search term, namely the first, fifth and tenth entry to see if the links were not broken.

A basic search engine and site that does nothing more than to offer a search form and a results page.

Video: More than 5000 results. Gave no exact number unfortunately. All three results that I tested were valid and could be downloaded.

Avi: This search revealed more than 5000 results as well. All three results worked fine.

Windows: The search revealed 2096 results, the test downloads were working.

Removed because of Zango Ads on site

Removed as well.

Offers Web and Database search for files hosted on Rapidshare. Offers additional functions that increase the value of this service. Has a Rapidshare link checker for instance and offers keyword email updates.

Video: 1471 links were found in their database for the term video. Passed all three test downloads.

Avi: Not found in their database.

Windows: 2100 links found for the term Windows. All three downloads were working fine.

A basic search engine that seems somewhat slow at this time. You can limit the file size of the files that are displayed in the search results. Users can report broken links.

Video: 500+ results found. All three tests were working.

Avi: 500+ results found. All three tests successful.

Windows: 500+ results found. All three tests successful.

Is not displaying the amount of search results. Search is tag driven and the file size is shown for each file. Is listing dead files as well, wonder what that is good for. Great Speed.

Video: Does not list the amount of results. Test were fine.

Avi: Does not list the amount of results. Test were fine.

Windows: Does not list the amount of results. Test were fine.

Alternatives:

RapidShare Data
Xoogo

The alternative Rapidshare Search Engines have been added because some of the initial sites have been deleted or added malicious software to their sites.

Tags: file search, rapid share, rapidshare, search rapidshare

Save and Locate all Files on your hard drives fast

Martin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:54:01 +0000

The build in Windows search is slow, really slow compared to a software like Locate that indexes all of your files on all hard drives and offers almost instantaneous results. But let us start at the beginning. Locate32 is a small software for Windows that works like updatedb and locate on Unix machines.

It scans your hard drives initially for all files, writes them to a database and offers a basic search form that can be spiced up with advanced search options. The basic search lets you search for filenames, extensions and specific locations on your hard drive. Advanced search parameters let you specify minimum and maximum file sizes, file age and other parameters like searching for files and folders or matching names only.

After the initial scan which takes a few minutes normally all search results are presented in 1-2 seconds. The speed is really incredibly and it is well worth using it. I wish there was a way to replace the Windows search with Locate for Windows.

Locate comes with its own scheduler that can update the file database on a regular basis. Those updates don’t take long because only new files will be added to the database (and old removed). There are so many options available that it would take a book to describe them all.

To sum it up. Locate is the best file search for Windows that I encountered so far. A must have software.

Read More:

Locate for Windows
Locate Introduction (Screencast from Donation Coder)

Tags: desktop search, file search, locate, windows search

Efficient Rapidshare file search

Martin — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:18:02 +0000

Just a quick rapidshare trick to find valid files and less already deleted ones. Just add to your searches the following: -forbidden -inactivity -found -deleted

This ensures that most pages with invalid files will be removed from your search results. Thanks to X3r0X from governmentsecurity.org for this tip.

Technorati Tags: rapidshare, file, search, download

Tags: file search, rapidshare file search, rapidshare search, rapidshare tips

Google File Search

Martin — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:41:43 +0000

So far we´ve got the following tutorials about our program Google File Search.

1. Google File Search Tutorial 1
2. Google File Search Tutorial 2
3. Google File Search Decoder

Click here to download the newest version

Tags: file search, Google

New GFS Version Screenshot

Martin — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 09:03:02 +0000

We are currently beta testing some new features that Kenny coded in our Google File Search Tool. The most prominent one is that you now can use anonymizer services while doing vulnerability searches without the need to verify proxies before you use the tool.

There have also been some cosmetic changes to the tool, making it more user friendly to use and we are thinking of implementing an automated scan section.

Take a look at the screenshot to get a first impression of the anonymizer part.

Tags: file search, Google

Google File Search Beta 1

Martin — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:12:02 +0000

We are proud to announce the first beta version of our Google File Search Tool. The most important question you will have is probably: What does it do ? Well, it uses advanced searches to find Files (and more) using the google search engine. You can look for Apps, Movies, Games and Adult Content with it and I suppose you will be suprised at how much you will find.

The tool is also able to test websites for security holes using the google cache. You can search for webstats, usernames, passwords, logs and much more.

A nice feature is that you are able to test and add your own findings to it by simply clicking a button. You can also import searches from other websites. The tool grows with its community.

Enjoy the program, remember to read the Help file first.

If you find errors or bugs or have ideas on how to improve it then tell us about them in our support forum located @ Deny.de

yours truly
Martin and Kenny L

Tags: file search, Google

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