About FileLocator: how we test file search software

Who we are

filelocator.net is run by a small independent team — no parent media company, no software vendor behind the curtain. We write under the collective byline "the FileLocator team" and we have one job: helping you find files faster on Windows, Mac and Linux. Our recommendations live in the best file search software roundup, and everything in it follows the methodology below. (One note to avoid confusion: this site is not affiliated with Mythicsoft's FileLocator Pro product.)

How we test

Every benchmark runs on the same machine: a Ryzen 7 desktop with 32 GB of RAM and a 2 TB NVMe SSD, plus a deliberately slow 5,400 rpm hard drive for worst-case runs. If a tool feels fast on both, it will feel fast on almost anything you own.

The drives hold our 1.2-million-file test library — a realistic mix of documents, source code, photos and archives, not a synthetic folder of empty files. Against that library we measure four things:

• First-result latency — how long from keystroke to a usable result.
• Index build time — the full cost of that "indexing…" progress bar.
• RAM use — at idle and while indexing, because background bloat matters.
• Content-search accuracy — 50 known-answer queries where we already know exactly which files should appear, so missed hits have nowhere to hide.

You can see the methodology applied in practice in our Everything review, where filename results land in milliseconds and we say so — with the caveats that come with NTFS-only indexing.

Our honesty policy

We download or buy every tool we review with our own money. No tool has ever paid for placement, a score, or a kinder paragraph. Amazon affiliate links appear only on our hardware gear pages and are clearly disclosed there; commissions never touch editorial decisions. Scores are the team's judgment, not an average of anything. The full detail is in our affiliate disclosure.

Our own tool

We also build the free in-browser File Finder — instant folder search, duplicate detection and a largest-files report that runs 100% in your browser with nothing uploaded. It's our product, so we hold it to the same honesty rule: it's great for a single folder, and desktop tools win for whole drives.

Corrections

Spotted an outdated price, a wrong version number, or a benchmark that doesn't match your experience? Email us. We correct errors quickly and note the change in the page's "last updated" line.