I use this decade-old free tool that finds files faster than Windows Search does

I've kept Everything installed for many years, and it still beats the Windows 11 search box at finding files, so results appear as fast as I can type them.

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Yasir Mahmood

Guides Editor

Published Jul 19, 2026 1:40 PM CDT

3 minutes & 30 seconds read time

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On a PC that has collected years of files across several drives, Windows Search tends to stall right when I need it most. I Type-A filename I know exists, wait a beat, and get back a slow, half-relevant list. So for the past couple of years, I haven't really used it to find my files at all.

Windows Search crawls your files, while Everything reads what Windows already tracks

The reason Windows Search feels slow comes down to how it works. It builds and maintains its own index by crawling through your folders, and on large drives that crawl lags and eats CPU and disk time in the background.

Everything, from voidtools, a small Australian developer, takes a different route. On NTFS drives, it reads the Master File Table, which is the record Windows already keeps of every file's name and location. A fresh Windows 11 install of roughly 250,000 files takes about five seconds to index the first time. After that, it stops scanning altogether. Instead, it watches the NTFS change journal, so a file I just created or renamed shows up in the results within a second. There is no rescan and no waiting for an index to catch up.

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Getting it running is quick, too. Head to voidtools.com, open the Downloads page, and grab the 64-bit installer, which comes in under 3 MB. Run it, keep the default options, and let the short wizard finish. There is also a portable ZIP if you would rather not install anything, and either way it indexes your drives within seconds on first launch.

The one setting worth noting is to enable the "Everything Service" while leaving "Run as administrator" unchecked. That lets it read NTFS without opening your files with elevated rights. From there, it lives in the tray and keeps itself up to date.

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The search syntax is what keeps me on it

The speed alone would be enough to win me over, but the search syntax is the part I would miss most if I went back.

Wildcards come in handy. An asterisk stands in for any run of characters, and a question mark covers a single one. So project* catches every project file, while file?.txt matches file1 through file9 without me spelling each one out.

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Operators tighten things further. A space between words means both must appear, a pipe means either will do, and an exclamation mark excludes. In practice, report 2026 needs both terms, invoice | receipt accepts either, and !draft drops every draft from the list.

Frequently Asked Questions

TweakBot answers common questions about this guide using TweakTown's own coverage from this page and related content from our archive. Tap a question to reveal the answer, or type your own below.

Question #1

How do I download and install Everything, and is there a portable option?

Go to voidtools.com, open the Downloads page, grab the 64-bit installer (under 3 MB), run it, keep the default options, and let the short wizard finish. During setup enable the "Everything Service" but leave "Run as administrator" unchecked so it can read NTFS without elevated rights. There is also a portable ZIP if you would rather not install anything.

Answered

Question #2

Which installer options should I choose so Everything can read NTFS without running as administrator?

Enable the "Everything Service" during installation and leave "Run as administrator" unchecked. That combination lets Everything read NTFS without running with elevated rights.

Answered

Question #3

How long does Everything take to index a typical Windows 11 system on first launch?

A fresh Windows 11 install with roughly 250,000 files takes about five seconds to index Everything on first launch. The article also notes that it generally indexes drives within seconds on first launch.

Answered

Question #4

What filename search operators and wildcards does Everything support (examples like ext:, size:, dm:)?

Everything supports standard wildcards: an asterisk (*) for any run of characters and a question mark (?) for a single character. Operators include a space to require both terms, a pipe (|) for either term, and an exclamation mark (!) to exclude a term. Functions shown include ext: (e.g., ext:jpg;png), size: (e.g., size:>100mb), dm: (e.g., dm:thisweek) and content: for slow content searches; you can also add a folder path to narrow results.

Answered

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The functions are what I lean on most, though. ext:jpg;png limits results to JPG and PNG files, size:>100mb surfaces the storage hogs I have forgotten about, and dm:thisweek pulls up whatever I have touched in the last few days. Adding a folder path narrows any of them down to a single location.

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Small touches round it out. A filter bar splits results into documents, pictures, or video; the columns sort by name or size with a click, and a right-click gives you "Open Path" to jump straight to a file in File Explorer.

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Everything won't look inside your files, and that's the one job I hand back to Windows

For all of that, Everything has a clear limit, and it is worth being honest about it. It indexes names, not contents. If I can only remember a phrase written inside a document rather than its filename, Everything cannot find it for me.

There is a content: function, so the door is not shut completely. But file contents are not indexed, which makes that search slow, and it works best when I pair it with a filename or extension filter first. I treat it as a fallback rather than a real content search.

This is the one place where Windows Search still pulls ahead, since full-text search across indexed folders is exactly what it was built for. So the two end up splitting the work cleanly. Everything finds a file by name in an instant, and Windows Search covers the rare moment I only recall what is written inside.

Instant file search is a small upgrade that changes your habits

None of this is a big thing on its own, but fast, reliable filename search has a way of reshaping small habits once you start trusting it. You can also pair Everything with a launcher like PowerToys Run or the Everything Toolbar so it stays a keystroke away, and save the searches you repeat as bookmarks. Also, switch off Windows Search indexing if you never search content to reclaim what it quietly uses.