Everything by voidtools
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 3 file search tools
A free Windows app that finds files and folders by name almost instantly, which people say beats Windows Search. The most common caveat is heavy memory use, since it keeps its index in RAM.
A free Windows app that finds files and folders by name almost instantly, which people say beats Windows Search. The most common caveat is heavy memory use, since it keeps its index in RAM.
82 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 78
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 78 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 20 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Finds files by name instantly
“using the Everything app (on hotkey) to quickly search my Drive files immediately as I type”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “Gaming on Linux has never been more approachable” “used it to find a file while Windows Search was still saying 'Working on it...'”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly” “It finds filenames instantly, by searching the NTFS structures.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Coreutils for Windows” - Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop”
- Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly”
- Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark”
- Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark”
Long-time staple on Windows PCs
“I used this a lot when I was doing Windows stuff professionally, and I always really liked it.”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly” “Everything Search is one of the first tools I install on any new Windows PC.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” “I switched to Everything for search a while ago and haven’t looked back”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27” - Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly”
- Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “It's hard to justify Tahoe icons”
- Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Cardinal: Fastest file searching tool for macOS”
Advanced queries and custom options
“The tool is truly amazing. Both for simple usage, and the advanced queries that it accepts.”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly” “an amazing search program that allows you to create custom categories and the like”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “The beauty and terror of modding Windows” “especially Dark Mode and support for Properties/Tags/xattr/ADS/XMP”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly” Free with no adware
“Everything Search is free, powerful and fast, and thankfully, unlike some other famous tools (CCleaner), it is not adware, spyware or malware.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” “there is a free (and probably open source) tool for everything”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account” “a free third-party tool can instantly find any file anywhere”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Heavy memory use
“Everything is heavy. 400MB on my current machine.”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Our Commitment to Windows Quality” “It is a HUGE memory hog so buyer beware”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly” “Halfway because it is fast, but it's fast because it keeps the index entirely within RAM”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Voidtools Everything – Locate files and folders by name instantly”
Other file search tools people recommend
The two most recommended other file search tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everything by voidtoolsThis page | 78 | 4 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Cardinal file search for macOS | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Recoll | 6 | 1 | 86% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 92 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“VoidTools’ Everything [0] which - unlike this repo - is a very useful utility.”
“I switched to Everything for search a while ago and haven’t looked back”
“another indispensable piece of Windows software Everything Search, both of which I miss keenly”
“Everything is excellent, and for many interactive desktop lookups it is still the tool I would recommend.”
“It finds filenames instantly, by searching the NTFS structures.”
“Everything is an absolute gem. I literally cannot survive on the work computer without it.”
“I built VoidTools because I was tired of Googling the same tools over and over.”
“a couple of advice I have gotten that made me suffer less with Windows”
“there is a free (and probably open source) tool for everything”
“Everything is heavy. 400MB on my current machine.”
“It's crazy when the option to integrate Everything is right there.”
“the perfect, magical, instant, high performance search tool has existed for a decade at least”
“an amazing search program that allows you to create custom categories and the like”
“you need the alpha version (1.5) of Everything for best performance”
“So powerful, I unitentionally slide into using it sometimes as a file manager.”
“This tool is living proof that high-performance software is straight up addictive.”
“I used this a lot when I was doing Windows stuff professionally, and I always really liked it.”
“a free third-party tool can instantly find any file anywhere”
“Halfway because it is fast, but it's fast because it keeps the index entirely within RAM”
“It is a HUGE memory hog so buyer beware”
“Combined with good tagging in file names it makes finding things so fast.”
“The tool is truly amazing. Both for simple usage, and the advanced queries that it accepts.”
“This tool has completely changed the way I work with files - I no longer need to remember where they are, just a part of the name.”
“especially Dark Mode and support for Properties/Tags/xattr/ADS/XMP”
“This is the first thing i install on windows for like 10 years.”
“used it to find a file while Windows Search was still saying 'Working on it...'”
“Everything Search is free, powerful and fast, and thankfully, unlike some other famous tools (CCleaner), it is not adware, spyware or malware.”
“Can't be emphasized enough how useful this tool is and how insane it is that it is not native to Windows”
“Amazing, perfect app! I use it frequently, and I love the response I get from customers or friends whom I turn onto it”
“Everything Search is one of the first tools I install on any new Windows PC.”
“all the programs I have fond memories of are written with it (foobar2000, winamp, Everything, etc)”
“I don't know how I used Windows before I installed Everything.”
“rock solid, performant applications that have been developed and maintained over decades”
“instant search of any file in a nice resizable/sortable table”
“Its a really cool game where you explore the various scales of the universe.”
“Everything is one of the few pieces of software I've missed”
“When I instead use Search Everything on Windows it works perfectly.”
“using the Everything app (on hotkey) to quickly search my Drive files immediately as I type”
“File search is also the fastest thing among all the 3 OS it's not even funny.”
“Super fast search that should be embarrassing for Microsoft.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.