Search with Everything!

Don’t you just love those little programs that do that one small thing, oh so perfectly? (Remember the Norton User Access Control tool?). Well, this little program is also just as awesomeous.

So what does Everything do? Simply put, it is the fastest desktop file indexer and search engine I’ve seen till date.

Here’s what it does:

1. First it indexes all the files in your system
2. …and now its ready to search

There, its that simple. So whats so good about it? Well, for one thing, it indexes really really quickly. And it does it better than even Vista’s search functionality. I believe its magic lies in the NTFS indexing feature, which for some reason even Vista doesn’t use as well.

For example, I searched for the file ‘bebot’ in my system.
Vista returned no results.

Vista Search Fail!

While Everything got it in hairsplits of seconds:

Bebot in Everything!

Another really super feature is that it doesn’t take any time at all to refresh the locations (That NTFS index magic I think). Here, I moved the Bebot.mp3 file into a subfolder. And hey presto, the path was updated. Ma-ma-magic!

Moved Files Found Instantly in Everything!

Other cool features include:

• Searching by Case
• Search using Regular Expressions

Everything, with Regular Expressions

• Ability to launch a HTTP Web Server to search using Everything
• Ability to Start an ETP Server, or connect to another ETP Server, so you can search remote computers as if you were searching your own
• Oh, installation size? 334KB

My take: Damn useful. Get it now. Why wasn’t Vista search like this?

Download Everything File Searcher here!

The oh-so-annoying User Access Control dialog

If you’ve used Vista, or rather, if you are still using Vista, you’ll know one of the most annoying this about it is probably the User Access Control.

I’m talking about the ridiculously annoying pop up that comes up everytime you do anything beyond basic usage. This means opening up any options, applying any settings, and of course, when you want to run anything as Administrator.

So for the Download of the Week for this week, I present a solution: The Norton Vista User Account Control.

Heres how it works:

1. You install it (in Vista, of course)
2. You try running anything that would normally trigger a User Access Control dialog box
3. Hey presto, you’ll see a different kind of prompt.

Norton's UAC Dialog

4. Check, thats right, check the checkbox that says ‘Don’t Ask Me Again’
5. You’re done.

Try doing the same action again. Thats right, no more annoying prompts.

My take: A must have program for every Vista user. UAC is a good idea, however horribly implemented in terms of HCI principles. Install Norton’s UAC tool, live life easier. Kind of ridiculous that this feature didn’t come from Microsoft in a Service Pack or something. One would have thought it obvious right?

Download Nortons UAC Tool here.

Did this make your vista experience any easier? Sound off in the comments