Agent Ransack vs Everything

Agent Ransack is a Windows file-search tool for finding files on a PC or network drive. It can search file contents using Boolean AND, OR, and NOT expressions, as well as Perl-compatible regular expressions. Matching text is highlighted in results, which can be printed, exported, or shared as reports. Listed formats include popular Office files, Office 2010, and OpenOffice. Further search options cover Outlook PST and MSG files, OCR for scanned documents or images, and ZIP, JAR, 7Z, RAR, and TAR archives. Network searches can use mapped drives or UNC paths, and searchable locations include local, removable, and network storage. Lite mode is free for personal and commercial use, but includes no support. Professional mode adds optional paid features, including indexing and advanced reporting and export capabilities. The product supports Windows 10 and later, as well as listed Windows Server versions. Installer choices include combined, portable, and IT-department MSI packages.

Everything is a Windows search engine for finding files and folders by filename. It indexes names rather than file contents and generally builds its database in a few seconds, then updates results in real time as file systems change. Search syntax includes Boolean operators, wildcards, file types, and location filters. The index can cover local, removable, and network locations. A content: function can search inside files, but content is not indexed, so those searches are slow. The maker says the name cache stays local and is not sent remotely; its support page describes the client as offline, without user data collection or telemetry. It reports that a fresh Windows 11 installation with about 250,000 files uses about 35 MB of RAM and less than 14 MB of disk space. An HTTP Server plug-in allows browser searches and file access, while ETP/FTP supports access from Everything or an FTP client. The HTTP server uses Basic authentication without TLS, and the maker advises against exposing it directly to the internet. NTFS indexing requires the Everything service or running as administrator. The freeware plan costs nothing; business and enterprise use requires a site license.