Finder

⚡ Ultra-Fast, Intelligent System-Wide File & Application Search for Windows
Spotlight / Raycast-style instant search with a sleek dark UI, real-time filesystem sync, and < 50 MB RAM footprint.

Download • Why Finder? • Features • Shortcuts • Architecture • Build • License

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⚡ What is Finder?

Windows Search is notorious for being sluggish, resource-heavy, and cluttered with unwanted web search results and telemetry.

Finder is an ultra-lightweight, blazing-fast desktop utility built from scratch in C# and .NET 8 (WPF) by TN Dev Lab Studio. Summoned instantly via a global hotkey (Alt + Space), it indexes hundreds of thousands of files across all your drives and returns search results in sub-milliseconds without hogging your CPU or memory.

Developed under a strict < 50 MB RAM budget, Finder stays quiet in your system tray, automatically captures file changes in real-time, and is 100% offline and free.

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📊 Why Finder? (Benchmark & Comparison)

Feature	⚡ Finder (TN Dev Lab)	Windows Search	PowerToys Run	Others
Idle Memory (RAM)	~35 – 45 MB	250 MB – 500 MB	150 MB – 300 MB	70 MB – 120 MB
Search Response Time	Sub-millisecond (1–3 ms)	300 ms – 1500 ms (Laggy)	50 ms – 150 ms	Sub-millisecond
Global Hotkey	Alt + Space	Win + S	Alt + Space	Custom
User Interface	Sleek Floating Dark UI	Heavy Windows Sidebar	Boxy Launcher	1990s Table Grid
Fuzzy Typo-Tolerance	Yes (Damerau-Levenshtein)	❌ No	⚠️ Partial	❌ Strict Regex Only
Live Real-Time Sync	Yes (FileSystemWatcher)	Indexing Delays	Periodic Updates	USN Journal Sync
Web Ads & Telemetry	Zero (100% Offline)	Bing Ads & Cloud Sync	None	None
One-Click Path Copy	Ctrl + C / Dedicated Button	3-4 Clicks	Context Menu	Context Menu
Open Source	MIT License	Closed Source	MIT License	Freeware (Closed)

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📥 Quick Download

Package	Type	Description	Link
FinderSetup.exe	Installer (Recommended)	Single-click native installer with automatic startup & desktop shortcut	⬇️ Download Installer (v1.0.0)
Finder-Portable-v1.0.0.zip	Portable Binary	Standalone single-file executable, zero installation or admin rights required	⬇️ Download Portable ZIP

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✨ Key Features

• 🚀 Instant Invocation (Alt + Space):

  • Floats smoothly above any fullscreen application, IDE, or game.
  • Automatically hides when clicking anywhere outside (OnDeactivated) or pressing Esc.
  • Freely draggable anywhere across your monitors.

• 🔍 Sub-Millisecond Search Response:

  • Parallel multi-core scanning matches against hundreds of thousands of files in 1–3 ms.
  • Zero-allocation string comparisons without generating garbage collection heap pressure.

• 🧠 Typo-Tolerance & Acronym Matching:

  • Fuzzy Damerau-Levenshtein Tolerance: Typing exel finds excel.exe, chorme finds chrome.exe, and pyhton finds python.exe.
  • Acronyms: Typing vsc instantly matches Visual Studio Code.
  • Multi-Word Search: Queries like invoice 2024 or project plan match file names across word boundaries.

• 📂 Slidable Category Filter Pills:

  • Real-time category counters: ✨ All, 📁 Folder, 💻 Code, 📄 Document, 🖼️ Image, 🎬 Video, 🎵 Audio, 📦 Archive, 📄 Other.
  • Slide horizontally via mouse drag / swipe, mouse scroll wheel, touchpad gestures, or navigation chevrons.
  • High-contrast crisp white category icons on dark backgrounds for optimal readability.

• 📅 Advanced Date & Target Range Filtering (Ctrl + D):

  • Instant presets: ✨ All Time, ⚡ Today, 🕒 Past 7 Days, 📆 Past 30 Days, 🗓️ This Year.
  • Custom Target Date Range: Select exact From and To dates to inspect files modified within a specific timeframe.
  • Works standalone (browse all files modified today without keywords) or combined with queries (e.g. report in past 7 days).
  • Compact formatted date display directly in the search results table.

• 📋 One-Click Copy Path & Actions:

  • Quick copy button (📋) in results list.
  • Ctrl + C shortcut to immediately copy the full path with animated toast notification.
  • Right-click context menu: 📋 Copy Full Path, 📁 Open Containing Folder, 🚀 Open / Launch.

• 🔄 Real-Time Live File Sync (FileSystemWatcher):

  • Watches all local and removable drives in real-time.
  • Automatically captures file creations, renames, and deletions in real time—no manual re-indexing required.

• 🛡️ Ultra-Low Memory Footprint (< 50 MB RAM):

  • Non-LOH 64 KB chunked record allocation (ChunkedRecordList).
  • Zero-allocation string deduplication pool (StringPool).
  • Zero-allocation Unix epoch date packing into struct alignment padding.
  • Active working set trimming via native Win32 psapi.dll.

• 🧭 System Tray & Background Execution:

  • Native Win32 notification area tray icon with context menu ("Open", "Reindex", "Exit").
  • Clean exit button in footer and Ctrl + Q / Alt + F4 shortcut.

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⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Alt + Space (or Ctrl + Space)	Toggle Finder window (Show / Hide)
Ctrl + D	Toggle Date Filter drawer (Presets & Custom Date Range)
↵ Enter	Launch the selected file or application
Ctrl + ↵ Enter / Alt + ↵ Enter	Open containing folder in Windows Explorer with file selected
Ctrl + C	Copy full file path to clipboard (with toast feedback)
↑ / ↓	Navigate through search results list
Esc	Clear search input / Hide Finder
Ctrl + R / F5	Trigger manual full-system re-indexing
Ctrl + Q / Alt + F4	Exit Finder completely

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🏗️ Architecture & Performance

Finder is engineered from the ground up for raw speed and minimal resource usage:

Finder/
├── Controls/
│   └── HighlightedTextBlock.cs  # Zero-allocation two-pointer highlight renderer
├── Models/
│   ├── FileRecord.cs            # Compact 16-byte struct (DirIndex, Name, IsDirectory)
│   ├── SearchCandidate.cs       # Transient search match struct (avoids heap allocations)
│   ├── SearchResultItem.cs      # Bound search item with category badge & copy action
│   ├── CategoryCount.cs         # Category filter pill model with count & styling
│   └── SearchResponse.cs        # Payload containing items & category counts
├── Services/
│   ├── FastDirectoryScanner.cs  # Native Win32 FindFirstFileExW high-speed disk scanner
│   ├── FileIndexService.cs      # Background indexing, real-time watchers & search engine
│   ├── FuzzySearchEngine.cs     # Typo tolerance, strict extensions & acronym matching
│   ├── FileCategoryHelper.cs    # File extension to category classifier & icons
│   ├── ChunkedRecordList.cs     # 64 KB non-LOH contiguous chunked record store
│   ├── StringPool.cs            # Zero-allocation 128 KB direct-mapped string deduplicator
│   ├── HotKeyManager.cs         # Win32 RegisterHotKey with fallback support
│   ├── TrayIconManager.cs       # Native Win32 notification area tray manager
│   ├── StartupHelper.cs         # Windows Task Manager Startup registry manager
│   └── IconHelper.cs            # On-demand Win32 SHGetFileInfo with caching
└── Setup/
    ├── NativeInstaller.cs       # Ultra-lightweight .NET 4.8 native single-file installer UI
    ├── build_installer.ps1      # Compiles standalone installer executable
    └── Setup.ps1                # Scripted setup and registration runner

Key Technical Innovations:

1. Contiguous Chunked Storage: Uses 64 KB non-LOH contiguous arrays (4,096 records per chunk), preventing Large Object Heap fragmentation.
2. On-Demand Resolution: Full paths, file sizes, and high-res shell icons are resolved strictly on-demand for visible items (50 items per page), keeping CPU overhead minimal.
3. Smooth Virtualization: List virtualizer maintains a 20-item off-screen GPU cache and a 350px proactive prefetch buffer for butter-smooth 60+ FPS scrolling.
4. Direct-Mapped String Pool: Filenames deduplicated across folders using a zero-allocation 128 KB direct-mapped pool.

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🛠️ Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 (Build 19041+) or Windows 11
• .NET 8.0 SDK

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/rjppppppp/Finder.git
cd Finder

2. Build & Run (Debug)

dotnet build
dotnet run

3. Build Standalone Portable Executable

powershell -Command "Stop-Process -Name FinderApp, Finder -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue"
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true -o ./Portable

4. Build Native Single-File Installer

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File Setup/build_installer.ps1

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🌟 Support & Community

If Finder saves you time and makes your Windows workflow smoother:

• ⭐ Star this repository on GitHub to help more people discover it!
• 🐛 Found a bug or have an idea? Open an Issue.
• 📢 Share it on Reddit, Twitter / X, or LinkedIn with other developers.

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - feel free to use and adapt it as needed.

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Crafted with ❤️ by TN Dev Lab Studio
"Engineering software where speed, precision, and simplicity converge."