Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
What is the currently best Desktop Search software?
yksyks:
My fault, I overlooked the option to move the index directory. Thanks, Carol!
I forgot to mention that EOD indexes my three Outlook PST files (one "normal" and two backups) without the slightest problem.
Ralf Maximus:
Based on the feedback here and what I saw in the demo, I went ahead and popped for Archivarius about a week ago. It was only $29; I figured if it didn't work out I could give the thing to my sister as a gift. My plan was to keep both Archivarius and X1 running side-by side for awhile to contrast and compare.
Archivarius took about 8 hours to build its initial index, after a few false starts. When I noticed it was opening .ISO images and indexing their contents I stopped the index operation and excluded them. This happened a few times as I spotted Archivarius getting hung up on various large media I did not want indexed.
By contrast X1's reindexing is multi-threaded and automatic. X1 allows use of the search tool while indexing is in progress, Archivarius does not.
I wonder, however, how much horsepower is sucked up with X1's background indexer running all the time. I've watched its indexing process + document unpacker with Process Explorer, and caught it using horrific amounts of RAM and CPU for brief times. But I cannot actually say it's had an impact on my user experience. I suspect, however, that it has contributed to some system instability since X1's document unpacker gets hung occasionally.
Big plus: Archivarius indexed two network drives I specified -- something X1 has trouble with. X1 *says* it indexes my network shares, but search terms targeted at network media return zilch.
Reindexing completed, the first test I ran was to look for the same search terms in both products. Archivarius generally returned results slower than X1, but X1 does that "autocomplete" thing which narrows the search as you type. Personally, I never liked that, as it messes with my mind while I'm trying to type. I much prefer Archivarius' old school "collect the parameters then search" approach. So point to Archivarius.
Search results are much prettier in X1, a more finished/polished display. But for my purposes, I'd rather view the document using its original container/app, so that has never impressed me. I want search engines to search, dammit, and leave the rest of it to the operating system. Archivarius' results pane is very usable, even if some of my email is formatted funny. But again -- I want fast, accurate results and in this Archivarius delivers.
And accuracy: Archivarius seems to do a MUCH better job at finding things than X1. For instance, I *know* have a Word document someplace with some old bank account numbers, long since closed. I've searched for it many times with X1 and always came up dry. Archivarius found it on the first try, and ranked it #1.
Another example: some email from a science-fiction author I'd communicated with back in 2004. I wanted to drop him a line and say hi again, but could not find his email address with X1. Archivarius found it, again, first time out and ranked it #1. It also found the entire email thread from 2004, our entire exchange, as a bonus. I thought it had been lost forever, victim perhaps of the great Format C: DrivePocalypse of 2005.
I was so impressed I uninstalled X1 right then and there. Archivarius is now my primary desktop search tool. This is a big deal for me, since I was an X1 early adoptor, having paid $79 for the thing when it was spanking new, before it became the basis of Yahoo Desktop search. I've participated in their betas, installed crappy test builds, and worked with their tech folk to resolve issues which later got folded into future builds. For awhile, I felt invested in the product and the company. Since then I've drifted away and haven't even been downloading the latest X1 releases, but I still felt strongly about the product.
So ditching X1 in favor of Archivarius is high praise indeed coming from someone like me.
Thanks to everyone who suggested Archivarius! It's a great program.
--
My system specs: Dell Optiplex GX620, 4GB RAM, 1.3TB disk space, XP SP2.
Archivarius stats: 5.59 GB, 1.07 milliion documents, 369 GB files indexed. Time to build index, 7h 48m.
Darwin:
Just to follow up on an earlier post about Archivarius 3000 version 3.93 triggering a virus alert in Webroot/Sophos AV, it IS a false positive. Both Panda and BitDefender Online virus scans failed to flag the file... I finally got worried enough about the repeated warnings from Webroot Spysweeper with AV that I ran the additional tests this morning.
Great description of your experiences with Archivarius, Ralf. Thanks for sharing it here. I'm having a similar experience in that I was a longtime user of X1, got fed up, tried and bought Archivarius and quickly fell in love with it -despite an inital dislike for the way results are formatted (missed X1's Stellent viewers). Now I'm running the X1 6 beta side by side with Archivaruis but find that I really don't use it much (did you ever try it?). Too bad neither solution works that well with Outlook - as noted above, X1 crashes and takes Outlook with it given that certain options are selected in each (if X1's system tray icon option, Outlook's minimize to tray option, and XP's standby/hibernate options are enabled) while Archivarius chokes on indexing Outlook pst files. I think in a perfect world (in which these issues were, er, not issues) I'd prefer Archivarius because it's footprint is demure. Still playing with X1, though...
I guess it's time to write to Archivarius' developer - let him know about the false positive and request again that he make this:
Currently A3000 use OLE to access Outlook mailboxes. A3000 also support
direct access (via "Custom mails"), it is useful if PST file is not
connected to Outlook (e.g. just stored somewhere as backup).
But OLE access is slow and not good for latest version of Outlook. We should
switch to COM method (it is used in other search systems). We are planning
to switch in the future.
--- End quote ---
a priority.
EDIT: cleaned up spelling, added the odd missing article...
UPDATE: Message sent to Archivarius' developer. I'll let you know about the response.
tinjaw:
Thanks Ralf, you just convinced me to try a product I had never heard of until this thread. You did a good writeup, and the personal testimony about X1 helped convince me. I'm going to download Archivarius and give it a try.
Armando:
Archivarius stats: 5.59 GB, 1.07 milliion documents, 369 GB files indexed. Time to build index, 7h 48m.
-Ralf Maximus (October 21, 2007, 08:01 AM)
--- End quote ---
That's a lot of stuff to read you have there, Ralph :D
Yes, Archivarius does most of what it's supposed to do very well.
But like Darwin said, the switching to the "COM method" instead of OLE accesss to PST files would be a nice thing for the next release.
Also :
1- a feature to save searches or different configurations (X1's implementation of saved searches, a bit like Outlook'S "search folders", is nicely done)
2- easier keyboard navigation in the main window (it IS possible to use the standard keys like ALT+letter, TAB, etc., but... well, try it and you'll see what I mean). (X1 is better at that)
3- easier way to add or remove folders for indexing from the index, and to be able choose if new folders are included or excluded of an index, etc.... Without having to rebuild the index entirely each time. I find that apart from an obvious flexibility (to be able to create different small index for very specific folders, etc.), there's a certain rigidity in the way index are handled.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version