Scholars using the genuine freeware DocFetcher, to search across and inside many indexed local documents, will have found that the latest Java update bjorks this useful desktop-search software. What’s needed to get it working again is a slight roll-back to Java SE Runtime Environment 8u251 (jre-8u251-windows-x64.exe) from April 2020.

The broken DocFetcher won’t otherwise be fixed, since the maker has taken the opportunity of the failure to announce that his next version will be ‘DocFetcher Pro’ for $50.

Until then commercial full-text desktop-search alternatives include Copernic Desktop (good, Google-like, but now only via an annual subscription) and dtSearch (very pro, a bit fiddly, very expensive). The newer pocket-money priced Recoll is also worth watching as it develops.