WizFile 2.0 file finder released
When Antibody Software released WizFile back in April 2018, it was already one of the best file search and management tools for the Windows operating system. Now with the release of WizFile 2.0 just months after the initial release, it is even better as the new version adds a ton of new features and improvements to the application.
WizFile is available as a portable version and setup version. You can run the portable version right after you have downloaded the archive and extracted it. From there, it is just a matter of typing the search term to get the list of matching file types.
That's WizFile's core functionality and it has not changed in the new version. The program is still very fast, requires no indexing, and is very responsive even if you search for a term that returns thousands of matches.
Tip: if you have not already, check out the author's other programs Bulk Image Downloader and WizTree.
WizFile 2.0
One of the biggest changes in WizFile 2.0 is support for non-NTFS drives and individual network shares and folders. These need to be enabled by the user as they are not selected by default. For non-Ntfs drives, you simply select Options > Select Drives to include them when you run searches for files.
To add network shares, use the same menu but select the "add folders" option in the interface. There you may add shares, e.g. //Server/Name, to have it included in searches as well.
Another big change is support for file type filters. While you could run searches for certain file names or types using the search field already, e.g. jackson *.mp3, filters make the whole process permanent and more user friendly.
WizFile 2.0 comes with a set of default filters to only display certain types of files. You may switch from the default "all" view to display only audio, video, image, document, executable, or compressed files.
The filters match several file types and you may edit them or create new filters using Options > Filters.
You could use the interface to create a development filter to only display programming language file types, or one that displays only backup files.
Creation is super simple: open the filters menu and hit the add button when it opens. Type a name for the new filter and enter strings that you want it to match. Use * to add wildcards, e.g. *.php to include all php files, and separate different file types with the pipe "|" character.
WizFile 2.0 supports new quick actions besides all that. You can double-click on the path of any file listed in the interface to open it in Explorer, and hold down the Alt-key before you click on the path to launch a command prompt window at the file's location. A double-click on any other value opens the file instead.
You can use shortcuts, e.g Ctrl-P to open the command prompt at the location, or the right-click menu as well to run these.
Another useful feature is the ability to monitor folder changes. The feature is disabled by default as it causes higher CPU usage when the system is under load. The folder size that WizFile displays in the interface is updated automatically when you enable the feature. Searches are updated automatically just like before, but you may disable this under options if you don't want the list of results to be updated automatically when new matching files are discovered.
What else is new?
Windows 10 users benefit from full high DPI support, and some operations have been optimized. Searches that include folder names, full or partial, are much faster in the new version, and CPU usage has been reduced when results are updated.
Closing Words
WizFile 2.0 is a big update that introduces several new features and options that make the program even better than before. It supports network shares and non-NTFS drives now, and comes with filters support to improve the finding of specific file and content types more comfortable.
Now You: Which search program do you use?
How about some testing between WizFile, Agent Ransack, Everything, NirSoft’s Search My Files, maybe Jam Software’s UltraSearch, and/or any other worthy other file search utilities? Note which ones support non-NTFS, network drives, regex searches, search speed (for file names and for data inside files), etc.
michlin said on June 8, 2018 at 1:57 pm
“Laugh, roll your eyes… but I am still using the 20 yr. old, that’s right, 1998 portable Mijenix Find Utility (197kb) and it works great on Win 10.”
Could you share this “old” freeware please, I’m curious to test it.
Thanks in advance and have a good evening!
Robert G.
This works just as good as the “Everything” software as I tested them both out to see. I like the options in Wizfile 2.0 though and the ability to add extensions for little known or unpopular programs. I donated twenty bucks and all that does is remove the donation button but the free version works just as good if you don’t mind it jiggling in the top right corner.
It looks like a copy of Everything.
Laugh, roll your eyes… but I am still using the 20 yr. old, that’s right, 1998 portable Mijenix Find Utility (197kb) and it works great on Win 10.
Nothing to laugh at! Some of these old, tiny, and beautifully crafted bits of code are gold….and if they work….they work!
Avast is warning it might have a virus.
It just came back with a message that its clean.
I am still using portable ‘Everything’ .
Everything and NirSoft’s Search My Files.
do you know alternatives that work exactly like hddb? i.e. something that doesn’t force you to scan entire drives just to look for old stuff
hddb works really good in that it gives you option to immediately search its un-updated database if you just want to look for old files. pretty much the fastest possible search program for specific needs that fit most use cases.
unfortunately the creator went mia (though the program itself still works good)
Ever tried “Everything”?
Still using Agent Ransack. No need to switch to anything else yet.
I agree completely.