7 ms·

I never understood why file search is SOOO bad on windows (mac too). Its so damn slow and even feature wise I never figured out why it was so difficult to just

by andoando 11mo ago

I never understood why file search is SOOO bad on windows (mac too). Its so damn slow and even feature wise I never figured out why it was so difficult to just search for files in this directory

marcosdumay 11mo ago
I still don't understand how search just can't file files with the string I write in the search bar on the name. Or menu items either. Some file browsers on Linux have this problem too, and the KDE launcher had it for years (it's fixed now).
- 3eb7988a1663 11mo ago
  For a look into a parallel universe of what could be, check out Everything[0]. Super fast search that should be embarrassing for Microsoft. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_(software)
  - 0134340 11mo ago
    It's a must have for me on Windows. Now that I'm on Linux, Fsearch is a pretty good replacement.
TACIXAT 11mo ago
It is quite honestly faster to start WSL then use grep or find.
- Bolwin 11mo ago
  You don't need wsl, just install rigrep or the powershell equivalent of find
abnercoimbre 11mo ago
And there really is no excuse, take a look at this indie dev blowing the default explorer out of the water: https://filepilot.tech https://filepilot.tech
- morganherlocker 11mo ago
  "Everything" is another that puts the default search to shame. I've also seen people who just have a script that pumps all new files into a txt file every so often and runs bruteforce ripgrep on it, which gives instant interactive results. It's really hard to imagine coming up with a search routine that is as slow and unreliable as what ships with mainstream OS file managers.
dangus 11mo ago
The “Everything” application is what you want: https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/ https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/
- Traubenfuchs 11mo ago
  One of the most powerful and unique tools for windows ever. The only thing I miss being on OSX, I hate its search.
gambiting 11mo ago
It regressed compared to Windows 10 too - I have a folder with photos, I normally have them sorted by date taken. On windows 10 I would open the folder and they were always sorted correctly the moment I opened the folder. Maybe there was a point in time at the start there the system had to sort them for the first time but ever since they were always shown correctly the second I opened the folder. On windows 11? Every single time it opens unsorted, the photos are in some random god knows what order, and literally 10 seconds(!!!!) later they suddenly move themselves to the correct position. Every single time. That's with maybe 200 photos? On a machine with 16 cores and 64GB of ram. People coding on 16kHz chips decades ago could do this faster than whatever microsoft is doing.
- chrneu 11mo ago
  it's also worth mentioning that windows 10 search was a huge regression from 7 and xp.
eviks 11mo ago
File search is also the fastest thing among all the 3 OS it's not even funny. Just use the Everything search app and a good file manager that can integrate Everything.

I never understood why file search is SOOO bad on windows (mac too). Its so damn slow and even feature wise I never figured out why it was so difficult to just search for files in this directory

marcosdumay 11mo ago

I still don't understand how search just can't file files with the string I write in the search bar on the name. Or menu items either. Some file browsers on Linux have this problem too, and the KDE launcher had it for years (it's fixed now).

3eb7988a1663 11mo ago
For a look into a parallel universe of what could be, check out Everything[0]. Super fast search that should be embarrassing for Microsoft. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_(software)
- 0134340 11mo ago
  It's a must have for me on Windows. Now that I'm on Linux, Fsearch is a pretty good replacement.

TACIXAT 11mo ago

It is quite honestly faster to start WSL then use grep or find.

Bolwin 11mo ago
You don't need wsl, just install rigrep or the powershell equivalent of find

abnercoimbre 11mo ago

And there really is no excuse, take a look at this indie dev blowing the default explorer out of the water: https://filepilot.tech https://filepilot.tech

morganherlocker 11mo ago
"Everything" is another that puts the default search to shame. I've also seen people who just have a script that pumps all new files into a txt file every so often and runs bruteforce ripgrep on it, which gives instant interactive results. It's really hard to imagine coming up with a search routine that is as slow and unreliable as what ships with mainstream OS file managers.

dangus 11mo ago

The “Everything” application is what you want: https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/ https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/

Traubenfuchs 11mo ago
One of the most powerful and unique tools for windows ever. The only thing I miss being on OSX, I hate its search.

gambiting 11mo ago

It regressed compared to Windows 10 too - I have a folder with photos, I normally have them sorted by date taken. On windows 10 I would open the folder and they were always sorted correctly the moment I opened the folder. Maybe there was a point in time at the start there the system had to sort them for the first time but ever since they were always shown correctly the second I opened the folder. On windows 11? Every single time it opens unsorted, the photos are in some random god knows what order, and literally 10 seconds(!!!!) later they suddenly move themselves to the correct position. Every single time. That's with maybe 200 photos? On a machine with 16 cores and 64GB of ram. People coding on 16kHz chips decades ago could do this faster than whatever microsoft is doing.

chrneu 11mo ago
it's also worth mentioning that windows 10 search was a huge regression from 7 and xp.

eviks 11mo ago

File search is also the fastest thing among all the 3 OS it's not even funny. Just use the Everything search app and a good file manager that can integrate Everything.