Latest in desktop search

The more I use my computer, the more I realize how much I take search for granted. How many times have you lost a pair of socks or misplaced your keys only to wish you could search for them and have the location spit back out to you? Fortunately, Windows (and most other operating systems) comes with a handy search feature. But on top of the default search feature, there are a number of third-party tools that claim to be better and faster.
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It's quite easy to accumulate hundreds or thousands of files and folders on your computer, but it is often more difficult to locate what you were looking for no matter how organized you try to be. For Apple users, the Mac operating system includes several ways to find and keep track of document files, photos, applications, and other saved content. Though I have been a Mac user for over 20 years, I am still sometimes have difficulty locating files.
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It's a bit of a shame that the Windows Search experience has been lackluster in recent OS releases like XP, Vista, 7, and even (in my opinion) 8. Luckily, for the savvy user, there are a whole mess of third-party solutions that make searching the Windows file system what it ought to be: simple and effective. Another of our writers, Aaron, recently pulled through with an article that introduces users to seven pieces of software in this class. In the comments, I stumbled across a recommendation by one of our great readers: UltraFileSearch.
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One of Windows' long-time shortcomings is the performance of Windows Explorer. If you don't know what Windows Explorer is, it is the face of Windows. It's what wraps around this skeleton of code and allows us to see our desktop, browse our files, and more. It's the visuals of Windows as you know it. Even on Windows 7, it has yet to be perfected. With the release of Windows 8 coming up pretty soon, you can expect a lot of changes to Windows Explorer.
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A major part of our time is spent on the web, but for a lot of people the computer file system makes for a close second. Finder, Apple's file browser, provides a very slick way to do this by default, and you'll be able to clock good time even if you don't know all the finer points of the application. Getting to know those fine points, however, can provide an additional (and always much welcome) boost to your productivity and overall file-handling speeds.
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Although there are some things you can do to improve searching using the Windows Search - and the search application seems to be much more improved in Windows 7 - there are some excellent alternatives to the default Windows Search that you should consider. These applications are all free and allow you to get your results quicker and more efficiently.
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In my eyes, software developers can often be the saviors of the world, especially when they develop and release little free Mac gems that save us power users several laborious clicks or taps to get something done. This is the case with a new Apple related search application called Tunesque.
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Aero Snap is a cool feature in Windows 7 that allows you to easily view windows side by side simply by dragging the window to the side of the screen. AquaSnap is a free utility for Windows that mimics the features of Windows' default tool and also brings some of its own. Plus, it works on older versions too.
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Quickly browse the latest news from Reddit, that particular book you're looking for or answers to your Ubuntu problems. Ubuntu's new Unity interface features Lenses, which can put a variety of different searches just a quick click or a keyboard shortcut away. The "Lens" concept is new to Ubuntu's Unity interface. By default Ubuntu includes two lenses, found in the launcher: one for applications and another for programs.
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There are several features that I like about OS X, but Spotlight is not one of them.  Spotlight is a desktop search feature for Mac OS X and when it was released in 2005, it was very nifty and useful. It felt cutting edge, even quick. However, it doesn’t seem to have aged very well. [...]
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What is it with Microsoft and “optional” mandatory updates? Windows Desktop Search (though Microsoft have dropped the “desktop” making version 4.0 Windows Search) probably made its way onto your Windows XP PC when you installed Microsoft Office, the MSN Toolbar or similar Microsoft product. The update creates a full-text index of all the files on [...]
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With ample hard disk capacities at disposal, its only natural if one gets complacent about deleting older documents. However, such a habit requires efficient management so that you can find the file you are looking for quickly and don’t have to go through pile of unneeded files to find out what you were looking for. [...]
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This application is pronounced as “˜transfuse‘. Literally that should stand for imparting something gradually. Functionally, Transfz does the exact reverse ““ it’s meant to make your search easier and faster from any application. The usefulness of this tool that lets you search the Internet from any application is what makes us call it an integrated [...]
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Nobody’s perfect. We try our best and still there are imperfections in everything that we do. Human learn from their mistakes, but the opportunity to apply what we have learned is not always present. So what would you do if there was a second chance in life? Would you start over from scratch and try [...]
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I once was an avid Quicksilver user. I got so used to it that I don’t think I could life my Mac life without it. Then there was the news, the one that I didn’t believe was true, Quicksilver was abandoned by its creator. Several months forward, I wasn’t able to use Quicksilver anymore. It [...]
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