File Seeker v3: Errors

[usdcs]

I've been using File Seeker v2.0 and it has worked on any machine that I've tried it on. So, today I downloaded v3 and was looking forward to the new features. However, I am dissappointed. Here is a summary of my experience.

First Use (Win2K):

1. Extracted v3 using UniExtract to my Win2K machine with 6GB disk. (I tried my small machine, first, because of the new indexing...)
2. As soon as I started the FSeeker.exe, it began indexing my C: and D: drives using FSeekerDBUpdater.exe. C:\ and D:\ were checked by default.
3. I waited until FSeekerDBUpdater's CPU usage went to zero before searching for a file in the database.
4. When I click "Search", I receive a Warning message: "It is the first time you're using File Seeker. Wait a few moments for the database to be created."
5. I can see that a 3MB file, "files.tmp", is created that contains file and path names.
6. When I pick "Search", I receive the following error:

   ---------------------------
   File Seeker
   ---------------------------
   Access violation at address 004EC768 in module 'Fseeker.exe'. Read of address 00000004.
   ---------------------------
   OK
   ---------------------------

7. Furthermore, I receive this same error when I try to pick the "Settings" button, with no drives selected.

Second Use (Win2K):

1. Installed v3 to my Hard drive.
2. Same Result.

Third Use (Win2K):

1. Uninstalled File Seeker and re-extracted it using UniExtract.
2. Allowed it to run for one hour before attempting to use it.
3. No change observed to the files.tmp file, entered a filename into the Name dialog, clicked "Search"
4. Received the same Warning as above.
5. Waited 15 minutes, for good measure...
6. Clicked "OK".
7. Received same Access Violation error.
8. Checked FSeeker.exe with Dependency Walker. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.

Fourth Use (WinXP):

1. System = 1.6GHz P4 / 1 GB RAM / 60 GB HD
2. Ran program from USB
3. Indexed disk in just a few minutes and created a 25 MB files.qdb file. (This file was never created on the Win2K system)
4. Searched for a file without errors.
5. Opened Settings without incident.
6. Changed a few things.
7. Clicked "OK". Received this error:

   ---------------------------
   File Seeker
   ---------------------------
   Failed to set data for "FileSeekerUpdate"
   ---------------------------
   OK
   ---------------------------

8. Can only Cancel out of the File Seeker Options Dialog.

Observations:

1. On both systems, each time I exited File Seeker, FSeekerDBUpdater.exe continued to run. Closing File Seeker doesn't terminate FSeekerDBUpdater.exe. As a result, I cannot unmount my USB drive until I kill FSeekerDBUpdater.exe.
2. The orphaned, idle FSeekerDBUpdater.exe process uses 5 MB of RAM.
3. Despite selecting to "Seek within:" Compresses files, and Updating the database, the program did not return the filename of a Word document contained within a ZIP archive on my Desktop. Searching the QDB file with Universal Viewer shows the ZIP file name but, not the desired Word document name in question.
4. I'm not sure that v3 is ready for prime time...

Regards,
Dan

[Fluffy]

Fantastic. I'm having the exact same problems. That and I'm not sure why the hell they need to index all of my files in the first place since FSeeker was very fast and effecient to begin with.

[usdcs]

I sent the author a message through his web site, too, pointing him to this thread.

[EDIT:]

I just downloaded version 3.0.7 from the web site. I don't have time to put it through all of its paces. But, my initial experience on my Win2k box is the same. The author should publish a changelog or something...

[Fluffy]

Thanks man, hopefully he looks it all over. I'd love to have my old File Seeker back - I absolutely adored the app. I'm also hoping that the database will be optional, as I doubt it uses relative paths (and plus I don't like it, obviously). There may be a setting for this already established, but I can't get to the settings anyways.

And yes, 3.07 didn't fix any of the show-stoppers for me either.

[usdcs]

Yeah, I overwrote my v2 install on this machine but, thankfully, I still have it on my USB stick.

[usdcs]

Version 3.1 is now listed on the site. Still no changelog or anything...

Still throws off the Access Violation on my Win2K box whenever I try to pick Settings.

To turn off Auto scanning of the file system, you have to start the program and pick Settings -> Database, and uncheck "Enable Auto Database Updating".

The first time that you run the program it creates a Settings.ini file. If you cannot get to the Settings section, exit the program, kill FSeekerDBUpdater.exe, then add this line to the Settings.ini file:

Code: Select all

Auto=0

Place it as the last line in the [Updater] section. Then, when you start the program the next time, it won't start scanning.

I found that, in v3.07 on XP, if I turned off the Auto scanning, I didn't receive the Failed to set data for "FileSeekerUpdate" error.

You may also want to add the following to the [Filters] section:

Code: Select all

cb2=1

This parameter turns on scanning within archives, which is off by default when you first start the program.

Here is a slightly modified Settings.ini file that you could try. Drop a copy of this into the folder with FSeeker.exe before you start the program.

Code: Select all

[Updater]
FolCount=1
updating=0
Total=1
Last=0
Auto=0
[Settings]
view=0
Maximized=0
Left=100
Top=96
Width=600
Height=408
[filters]
cb2=1
cb3=1
[extentions]
Count=0
[Paths]
Count=0
[Named]
Count=0
[words]
Count=1
0=

The Auto=0 setting has been added, and under [Filters], sb2=1 has been added.

It's getting better. But, it still needs work...

Dan

[Fluffy]

Something this buggy doesn't belong on my machine. I'm using LookDisk now.

[Hank7]

I have to say, I was a little disappointed too after downloading 3.0, as it seemed very much like a beta of something still to be released, e.g. the missing buttons on 2 of the 3 tabs. And I preferred the cleaner look of 2.0 compared to the not OS conform blue gradient

But in the end I got it to work like 2.0. After all that time trying to get applications to work portable I got used to creating an empty *.ini file, moving a few files or starting an app, making a few changes and then closing it again, before I finally put the application folder on my removable drive.

In this case, this means extract FileSeeker, start it once, wait till it's finished indexing, uncheck the "Enable Auto Database Update" box (or better, use Dan's *.ini). Optionally, delete the newly created database, FSeekerDBUpdater.exe and sqlite3.dll to save space and castrate it back to 2.0, if that's what you want.

This sounds easy compared to some other descriptions, and with 3.5 it's also possible to stop the creation of the database.

I guess, If you're not working from a small usb stick but a larger drive it could even be worth to keep the database functionality. After indexing 900GB in 1-2 minutes (which produced a 280MB database) I was able to delete 210MB of those unnecessary Thumbs.db's in merely two seconds.

Also, if you don't update it will keep information of already disconnected drives, so you can search your home PC while at work.

But that's how it worked for me, dunno if the problems you two described are gone with 3.5. I only could test it on XP SP2, with no application installed at all except for a codec pack.

Yes, a changelog would be nice.

[Fluffy]

I actually just updated to some newer versions and everything works great now. Database is optional, preferences are accessable - it works like it's supposed to. I'm back to using it again.