Fastest way to get a list of every single file on the root drive?

I know, looping through is fast enough. But the search program "Everything" can index my entire C:\ drive in about 15 seconds. Does it read the MFT or something? Can I do this easily enough with VB.NET? Or at all?

My guess is the hint's in how it requires admin privileges. I bet it doesn't go through the filesystem API but through something lower-level. That means it doesn't have to build filesystem objects *just in case* you want more than the name of each file. If it's driver-level or kernel mode stuff it's either impossible with VB .NET or hard enough you just don't want to do it.

Not sure if you're interested, but there is an SDK for that program. It contains an example written in C#.

I'm definitely interested, but I can't find it. Do you have a link?

Here you go. You know, that program really makes me wonder what Windows is doing when you search.

Didn't you know, that's how they calculate all those digits of pi? For every search you make, it calculates one more digit and sends it back to Microsoft. Anyways, thanks!! :D