Best desktop search tool overall
Pros: Fast and customizable, windows, Mac, Linux and Mobile versions, lots of add-ins and widgets available, indexes Gmail, instant messages, inside zipped files.
Cons: Minimal categorization of results, limited formatting of previews, not quite as fast as Copernic.
not avail.
5.8
PC, Mac, Linux
Windows XP SP1 and higher (32-bit only); Mac version: Mac OS X v10.4+; Linux version: glibc 2.3.2+, gtk+ 2.2.0+
1.9 MB
1 GB, 5 GB recommended
No
No
Only fixed drives
Yes
Yes, via Internet
No
Yes
No
Limited
Very limited
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes, in Internet Explorer, Firefox
Yes, in Internet Explorer, Firefox
Yes
AOL, MSN, Google Talk (plus 3rd-party plug-in for Skype Chat)
Gmail, Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape, Thunderbird (Enterprise version adds Lotus)
New or opened archives, but may require changing Outlook settings or reinstalling Google Desktop
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Searches the most file types
Pros: Fast, easy to use, excellent previews, categorization of results, indexes WordPerfect, OpenOffice files.
Cons: Price (free version is limited), doesn't index inside zipped files, doesn't index chats or Gmail.
not avail.
3.1
PC
Windows XP, Vista
7.48 MB
20 MB minimum
Yes (*est. $5)
Yes (30-day)
Yes
Yes
Yes, with Copernic Mobile
No
No
No
Yes
Yes, in original formatting
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes, in Internet Explorer, Firefox
Yes, in Internet Explorer, Firefox
No
No
Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird (Corporate version adds Lotus)
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Fastest desktop search for PC
Pros: Fastest desktop search, automatically re-indexes changed files, indexes file folder names, can run from a USB flash drive.
Cons: Windows only, doesn't index text inside files, not compatible with some older PC file systems.
not avail.
1.1
PC
Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista (NTFS -- not FAT32 --with Administrator privileges)
293 KB
Not available
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes but requires Administrator privileges
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
File names
File names