Alternatives to Windows Search/Indexing

[Marin85]

Hi all,

Since my clean reinstall of Windows 7 two weeks ago I have been having only problems with ridiculously high cpu usage from SearchFilterHost.exe, which accompanies Windows 7 indexing. Despite the high cpu usage, indexing is slow, let alone that the constant high cpu usage eats battery life and noticeably affects performance of computational software... So, I ended up completely turning off indexing, which solved the problem. The funny thing is that, even with indexing disabled, windows search is still able to deliver fast and accurate results for every location except for the libraries, where it does not deliver any search results at all. What is even more funny, I am still able to search indirectly within the libraries by searching from, say, my personal folder. Search also works if I open a library as a folder, e.g. navigate the following way: my personal folder -> my documents -> some folder. In other words, it seems like, with indexing disabled, windows search works for folders, but it does not work for libraries...

Anyways, I am currently looking for a substitute or complement to windows search and indexing. I have already googled out a few things, but I was wondering if you may have some particular recommendations for such software. I was thinking of something to replace windows indexing and cooperate with windows search in explorer, so it will stay integrated in explorer and I don´t have to use a separate GUI for that. Also, any other kind of search/indexing software that integrates well with windows explorer would be cool (as long as it is working) I know, some explorer substitutes also offer search functionality, but I would rather avoid these as I don´t really need a second explorer GUI. If there isn´t any such program, I guess some slick and well-working application would do the job just fine too.

Cheers,

Marin

[w0qj]

I've been using X1 for more than 5 years, and it's got a really good interface to fine-tune your searches, right down to which email folder or which file folder you wish to find your email/files...

I can attest that it really does save you lots of time each day, and I use it everyday for office work... so for US$50, think of it as an investment in your time saved each day...

X1 indexes your files on the fly (Real Time Indexing), X1 also does Real Time indexing for Outlook emails, and if you're using Thunderbird it also indexes it as well (X1 is much better than Thunderbird 3's built-in indexing, i've tried both).

http://www.x1.com
http://forums.x1.com

Disclaimer: I do not work for X1; I'm just a X1 user.

[mgo]

Have you tried checking/unchecking folders within Indexing Options to prevent indexing in unnecessary folders?

[Marin85]

Have you tried checking/unchecking folders within Indexing Options to prevent indexing in unnecessary folders?

Yes, of course. That is how I ended up unchecking all of them, one by one, within Indexing Options (and effectively disabling indexing). I don´t think it is a problem with indexing itself, but rather with that funny process SearchFilterHost.exe. I also thought of malware and similar, but this is highly unlikely as it was a clean install plus my AV (Kaspersky) would (should) have detected it. The problem was solved with unchecking all folders within Indexing Options. But it doesn´t really bother me now as I can still search within folders without any problems (well, ok, some other fancy things like OCR search and library search don´t/won´t work, but I don´t need them either).

Cheers,

Marin