Why is search in Windows Explorer so slow after all these years? We don’t know, but Everything is a free Windows search app that’s pretty much instant.

Numerous people pointed out Everything yesterday, after we published a command prompt trick for searching your PC. And we have to admit: this isn’t just easier than the that method, it’s also a lot faster. Once Everything indexes your drives, which doesn’t take long, results show up pretty much as you type—even across 4TB of storage.

How is Windows’ built-in search so slow if this free application is basically instant? I asked Cortana but she was not helpful.

So we may never know, but you should probably download Everything right now if you haven’t yet. It’s available as an installer or as a portable application, so you can use it pretty much anywhere Windows is running.