blog: here's deskrule, a new kind of desktop search engine

[Enternal]

*sigh* Another utility I have to add to my list of "great apps to use".

On my current list, I have "Everything", my file manager, and FileLocator Pro. Now deskrule is joining the party.

I still love "Everything" however since most of the time, I search for files by name and I think there is nothing that can beat it in terms of that. Plus, newer versions can now be installed as a service so the main "Everything" windows does not need to be elevated. FileLocator Pro to me is excellent at finding file contents and it's very fast as well. Deskrule is really nice because I always enjoyed the Find feature that came with xplorer2 but now deskrule is a separate file. Sweet. Thanks!

EDIT: Oh right. I also forgot that I have Nirsoft SearchMyFiles in my toolkit. Why? Because Nirsoft is awesome and because I can.

[bawldiggle]

As a creature of habit ... I am still using commercial "FileSearchEX".
- 99% of the time I am searching for contents
It operates independently of Windows indexing (... that is no loss) ...
- Windows indexing does not index everything, eg, system folder/files
- despite what "believers" say Windows indexing does affect performance.
"FileSearchEX" maintains its own database.
- based on the active folder/drive in the current WinExplorer/Xplorer2 window
- first search it builds the database for the active folder (or drive) only.
- subsequent searches (provided no changes to the folder (or drive)) are quicker than anything I have ever used
"FileSearchEX"
+ multiple instances
+ primary filter fields are adjacent ... one tab from "Name" to "Contents"
+ Search button caption = "Search"
+ two buttons on UI ... Search and Stop ... stop is disabled until search is begun
+ UI is very simple, filters layout very similar to XP windows search
– does not remember last Name search
– does not remember last contents search
– exact string contents search must be wrapped in quotes

XPlorer2 Search engine:
+ remembers last "Name" search ... 99% of my "Name" searches are for "*.txt"
+ remembers last contents search
+ checkbox to search for exact string
– too many windows
– primary filter fields are 4 tabs apart .. four tabs from "Name" to "Contents"
– Search button caption = "OK" ... a bit vague
– four buttons on the UI
– UI is too busy for my liking.

When "deskrule" is more developed I will give it a go ... mean while I will remain subscribed to this thread

[Tuxman]

Over at Gizmo's Freeware they decided not to allow deskrule until it's clear if it will be payware after the beta.

[Enternal]

Over at Gizmo's Freeware they decided not to allow deskrule until it's clear if it will be payware after the beta.

I'm not very surprised. They only talk about freeware and completely freeware. Any mention about paid software and you could get into trouble.

They are somewhat draconian over there. I once tried to comment about XYplorerFree over there so I opened up an account but was banned because it thought I was a spammer. Opened up another account successfully and made comment about XYplorerFree only to be banned again because "I supposedly acted like a spammer and a fanboy" and the basis for that was not my post on XYplorer but on an unrelated topic. Me sad. Whatever though. I love the site but definitely have bad experiences with the community and it's not the first time either. Tried signing up many times in the past only to be locked out because it keeps thinking I'm some kind of spammer. Their software are evil!

As a result, I have always been more of a fan of portablefreeware's community. Very open and you are free to talk about paid software without being censored but of course, the focus is on freeware and portability.

[nikos]

deskrule will be sold eventually but there could be some free "lite" version of it, I haven't decided yet

[pj]

Discussions about deskrule will be buried in the xplorer2 topics. My I suggest creating a separate forum like you already have for Editor2 and CrackTracker?

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PJ in (it's storming across the street but still no rain here ) FL