Sowsoft’s Effective File Search
February 10, 2009
One of the goslings here in the mine drainage runoff pond called my attention to Effective File Search. We tested version 4 and more recently version 6. We were favorably impressed. The desktop search systems that are available from some vendors are–to coin a technical phrase–pigs with lipstick. The indexing overhead sucks CPU cycles and the graphical interfaces can get in the way of locating the information the Beyond Search team needs. The built in search systems in XP, Vista, and Windows 6.1 (named Windows 7 beta) make the goslings do some extra waddling and paddling in the murky interface.
Effective File Search eliminates most of these complaints. No search system is flawless, but the EFS search software does its work quickly, clearly, and intuitively. The program installs without any hitches and it works on Windows 7 too. The screenshot below shows a query–alon halevy–and the results from the e drive of one of our test servers.
The most important feature of this system is that it is fast. A query on a 200 Gb drive stuffed with text, PowerPoints, and PDFs took about 20 seconds.
The company, Sowsoft.com, provides a trial version. After three weeks, you will be asked to pay a modest license fee. The single user price is about $30. Commercial licenses are available.
We were impressed with the software. We did encounter one glitch. One of our test drives had an iMac image files. The EFS system stalled when it tried to crunch through the Mac file types. This is a minor issue, and it is not a problem that most Windows users will encounter. Keep in mind that EFS is designed for Windows. Mac users are out of luck.
We learned from Vladimir Sinitsyn, one of the wizards at Sowsoft LLC in Moscow that EFS was a reaction to the sluggish and decidedly non intuitive search system included with Windows. The first version of EFS was designed for Windows 98, and the program has been continuously enhanced. The system is now at Version 6.0. Sowsoft is a privately-held firm. In addition to the company’s EFS product, the firm offers security software and some other utilities as well.
Mr. Sinitsyn was circumspect when talking about the engineering that delivers the excellent EFS performance when search for files, text in files, or folders and text in files. He told Beyond Search:
EFS works without index (real time search). But it is fast (not instant) real time search. EFS offer very flexible choice of search parameters for very fast searches. The program is well optimized.
If you are looking for a fast, easy to use search system for a desktop computer, please, take a look at EFS. We officially issue two happy quacks to the coders in Sowsoft’s Moscow office. For more information, click here. The download page is here.
Stephen Arnold, February 10, 2009
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