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If you want to actually find stuff on your computer at instantaneous speed, use Everything by voidtools.

I use this instead https://www.voidtools.com/ Windows can take 10 minutes to search a hard drive while that program does as fast as you type.

Another one which is good and free is Everything - http://voidtools.com/

Not everything that windows has, the search software Everything. There is no real substitute, just very poor alternatives. It is so fast to find stuff with it. Way better than navigating folders. I gave up linux twice because of this one. Time to try again now that windows telemetry rolled out.

Everything search tool @ http://www.voidtools.com/

Every data packrat or file hoarder needs this program!

Even so, I've found Windows local search to be more trouble than it's worth anyway. the "perpetual green bar" kept getting in my way, so I just disabled Windows Search entirely. On the sad side, I can't use instant search in Outlook anymore. On the bright side, I replaced it with Everything. It legitimately searches everything, and does so instantly. I'd prefer doing that in Windows 8.1. If for no other reason, I haven't the foggiest idea why someone would want to simultaneously search the internet and a local drive for the same search string. They're foundationally different - internet search is for "stuff you don't have", and local search is for "stuff you have, but don't know where". I can't ever once think of a time I've wanted to search both at a time.

Serato really, REALLY needs to port itself to Linux.

As others have said before, you can emulate folders with a metadata system anyway. Having actual folders on TOP of that is a kludge.

Besides that minor issue, Microsoft isn't exactly encouraging people to use virtual folders (and do third-party programs allow you to save metadata when saving files?). Does it utilize a realtime filterable window like Everything, where you can search for something in an instant based on the metadata they contain? I very much doubt it. That's a vital part of the tech if a metadata system is to become standard.

I was thinking of something which was designed completely from the ground up to fully support a metadata filesystem, and where actual folders were an 'extra' if implemented at all (since they can be emulated perfectly). Explorer windows become extinct and are replaced by a powerful filterable window which lists any and all files in realtime.

Even if I did that, it would be much more of a mess than having a clean "/usr/bin". AFAIK, the length of %path% is limited too.

What I do when I want to launch a program that I know the executable name of is to use Search Everything.

These bastards.

I've tried most of the indexing utilities for Windows, and Everything is the one I ended up choosing.

It builds its index in seconds, and searches in realtime. It does not search inside files, though, but usually I know the filename.

try everything http://www.voidtools.com/

That would be nice if they grafted Everything into every Explorer window.

I keep Windows' indexing service disabled and use Everything instead. It also works over a network pretty easily, and can double as an ftp server in a pinch. The latter two features can be disabled, of course.

Hmmm...thanks, I'll check it out!

I keep Windows' indexing service disabled and use Everything instead. It also works over a network pretty easily, and can double as an ftp server in a pinch. The latter two features can be disabled, of course.

If you know some or part of the file name and/or want to search directories easily, Everything http://www.voidtools.com/ is the best utility for the job. It keeps a and db searches everything in seconds.

It does not search file contents.

If you get a laptop then get a docking station too so if she does not like the small screen of the laptop or the keyboard, she can dock the laptop and plug in a big monitor and a regular keyboard. She can always undock the laptop to go anywhere with it. Buy a quality pc. Lots of junk out there. I put together a desktop pc using a Gigabyte X58 motherboard and a Intel I7 quad core cpu with 6gb of ram. It was overkill. Look at an expensive model then take note of the specs then look at a cheap pc and do the same. Compare costs and features. Google the brand or parts and see other comments about them. Windows 7 vs Mac OS? I always thought Mac looked better but since I do not use them I cannot say which is better. The market shows 10% for Apple and nearly 90% for Windows so that says something. Windows 7 is half baked. Boy is it disorganized. It is XP and Vista thrown up in the air then picked up and rebranded. Microsoft needs to hire people who have a design flair plus those that actually read the complaints about previous versions of Windows and will work to fix the problems. Something as simple as changing the highlight color of a menu is not possible in Windows 7 with using a program like Resource Hacker and good luck finding the image. Example: right click on your desktop. Cannot change that nearly invisible highlight to what you want using the aero interface. Here are some programs I have found to make it easier to use Windows 7: Use Xyplorer http://www.xyplorer.com/ This is a file manager. Windows 7 folders are a mess. Xyplorer can be customized. See website. Try for 30 days. Costs $42 afterward. Worth it. You can easily increase the size of the text and the spacing by using your mouse scroll wheel or ctrl + shift. See the screenshots at the site. Makes reading the text so much easier. For search use "Everything" http://voidtools.com/ or "Locate32" http://www.locate32.net/ Instantly find anything you are looking for. Windows 7 search just won't. They are FREE. Change the Start menu use "ClassicShell" - FREE http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/index.html Use "Ultimate Windows Tweaker" to fix some of the problems. FREE. http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista Use "Iconoid" - FREE http://www.sillysot.com/ to remember your icon positions. There are 32bit and 64bit versions. In Windows 7 if you hold down the Ctrl button then use your mouse scroll wheel you can increase the size of the icons and text. That is a nice feature but.....When you resize them the icons go all over the place and will not return to their original positions when you revert back to a smaller size. With Iconoid installed you just right click on the desktop and click on Manage Desktop Icons and restore the positions. Windows Vista-7 Taskbar Color Changer - FREE. http://grantman.net/info/win7tbcc 7 Taskbar Tweaker - FREE. http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker AveHTMLPreview - Windows Explorer no longer shows thumbnails of HTML files. This functionality has simply been removed. This addon for Explorer will show thumbnails for HTML, MHTL and URL files. FREE. http://www.aveapps.com/htmlpreviews.html ShellMenuNew: Remove Items From ‘New’ Menu Of Windows Explorer. FREE. http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_new.html Use MiniTool Partition Home Edition http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html to partition your large hard drive without losing any files

http://www.voidtools.com/ As long as you use a descriptive filename or have your media in hierarchical folder structures you can find any file within seconds on any indexed hard drive. It only works on filenames and folders, not metadata.

Not sure how well it scales to your level of data, but Find And Run Robot may be just what you are looking for.

A couple other comments mention Everything as being quite good, but is not when I have tried out.

I have recently found an incredibly fast search tool called Everything. We're talking about Google-like searching where the results pop up as you type...

So... like Spotlight, then?

Everything is what I use on the PC to quickly find any file I am looking for.

On the Mac I use Spotlight.

While it would be nice to be completely organized, these tools let me find my files anywhere they are located on my PC. I try to keep things organized into folders, but I am always falling behind so these are what I can use in the interim.

I have recently found an incredibly fast search tool called Everything. We're talking about Google-like searching where the results pop up as you type. It must be something on the order of a fifth of a second for my 1.5 million files. This kind of technology should be widespread - it makes searches actually *pleasant* to do. Anyway thanks to Everything, I worry less now about where I store my files, and I also try to pack in keywords into the filename.

Anyway, this kind of program is just a glimpse of what a future OS would look like. Imagine a system where everything is stored in tags and where folders become obsolete or used far less often. What you have then is a database or metadata file-system. The relatively new Haiku OS uses such a system, and I wrote about the massive advantages from this old page:
http://www.skytopia.com/project/articles/filesystem.html

Honestly, we'll all be better off the sooner we switch.

1 word: Everything

It just looks into the NTFS Master File Table, so it always knows where stuff is (as long as the filesystem itself knows it), it has an absolutely tiny footprint and will load in a handful of seconds even on a multi-TB hd full of stuff.
Its search speed is.... well, you have to see it in action to believe it.
Oh and it understands regex.

Caveats: it doesn't look inside documents or inside zips (both of which are pluses for me, but ymmv), only works on local NTFS drives, if you set it to start automatically at boot on Vista/7 you'll have to click the usual pointless windows UAC window (there's a workaround for that though).

I have no relationship with Everything or any of its developers - I just happen to be in love with the program.

Sorry I'm late, but you might want to look into Everything.
http://www.voidtools.com/

How about Everything (assuming the server is Windows & NTFS)? Works well for me (quickest desktop search I've found yet), and can either run locally or connect to an ETP server. The site seems to be down right now, but here's the original Lifehacker article where I found it. Incidentally, I never heard of ETP til I started using it. Anyone know if it's an Everything-specific protocol?