Tool to find files in Windows 64 bit

I need a tool to find files (by name pattern, or by content) under Windows, that supports correctly the 64 bit environment.

The embedded search tool in Windows 7 is great for indexed content, but does not work well if you have to find files in system folders and program files (e.g, all the instances of a DLL in the system). 32 bit third party tools often don't work well in the 64 bit environment, due to the redirection of system32 and program files.

What tool can I use?

Wizard79

Posted 2010-10-06T18:22:02.410

Reputation: 223

Answers

dir <startpath>\<searchpattern> /s

So if I wanted to search for foo.dll on the entire c: drive, I'd use:

dir c:\foo.dll /s

For all files starting with foo under my user directory:

dir c:\users\myUserName\foo* /s

Robert S Ciaccio

Posted 2010-10-06T18:22:02.410

Reputation: 1 470

1I'd been wondering if I was the only one doing that. :) – MetalMikester – 2010-10-06T18:44:42.147

Nice, but not user friendly. – Wizard79 – 2010-10-06T19:51:38.163

what specifically is not user-friendly about it? That it's command line and not GUI? Or is it the way it outputs the results or something? – Robert S Ciaccio – 2010-10-06T22:32:45.047

@calavera: yes, being command line makes it not user friendly. And also the output is less useful: you can't right click or double click a result. – Wizard79 – 2010-10-07T07:28:42.297

@Lorenzo: As a software developer myself, I'm a bit surprised that you find the command line to be unfriendly. True, you can't right click or double click a result. However, you can pipe or log it, and you can get all the same information about the files (right click) or open the files (double click) from the command line that you can get in any GUI interface. I suppose it just takes being a bit more used to using the keyboard rather than a mouse. – Robert S Ciaccio – 2010-10-07T14:50:51.927

@calavera: I think that a proper GUI is much more user friendly, easy to use and powerful than a command line. Relying on a textual command prompt may be geekly cool, but in practice is just a sixties legacy I firmly oppose. – Wizard79 – 2010-10-17T21:15:14.407

@Lorenzo: 60's legacy? LOL, you better get to work converting the 10's of thousands of command line tools if you ever hope to be able to do all of your software developer duties in the GUI then :) – Robert S Ciaccio – 2010-10-18T00:58:05.083

If you don't mind paying, Filelocator might be what you're looking for.

CGA

Posted 2010-10-06T18:22:02.410

Reputation: 3 767

Nice but does not worth $39.95... – Wizard79 – 2010-10-06T20:16:04.540

For a free alternative, the File Manager Q-Dir, has an excellent file find capability if command line execution is not to your liking.

For a paid alternative, I have been using the PowerDesk series of File Managers from v.4 to the newest which is v.8. Don't care for the customer service at all but the product has been a boon to me.

Qwik

Posted 2010-10-06T18:22:02.410

Reputation: 11

I like Agant Ransack (freeware) for searching file contents and Search Everything (freeware) for searching by filename.

Thomas Weller

Posted 2010-10-06T18:22:02.410

Reputation: 4 102