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2951

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 10, 2008, 05:59 PM »

I just tried updating Archivarius' E-mail index - the one created using "custom mailboxes" with Outlook still running in the background and, as far as I can tell, no new messages were added after updating for 8 minutes. I deleted the index, closed Outlook, and recreated the index. Elapsed time? 6:23. This is a lot slower than dtSearch, but it works. I've deleted the index reliant on the OLE method (it was 12% updated after 17 minutes) and will simply rebuild the index with Outlook shutdown from now on...

Still loving dtSearch, but heeding Curt's advice!

Just to respond to Chris, who posted as I typed the above, Archivarius allows you to set up different indices as well, which is how I've got my installation set up. Agree about the price but am not so sure about the GUI - but I run XP in Classic mode, like Total Commander's GUI, and don't mind Archivarius text based previews...

2952

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 10, 2008, 03:43 PM »

Odd. I can't make this work, Armando - in either dtSearch or Archivarius.

Update to dtSearch trial: I updated my database, including Outlook files, and it did so in about 5 minutes flat. Very nice.

2953

Living Room / Re: Timeline Software

« Last post by Darwin on March 10, 2008, 03:20 PM »

Great - now I HAVE to get a secondary, widescreen monitor! Cool! Thanks for the heads up via PM, tinjaw 

2954

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by Darwin on March 10, 2008, 03:11 PM »

I tried to post this yesterday but the server kept freezing on me...

Here's Curt's 1600th post - a philisophical note:

2955

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 10, 2008, 08:42 AM »

<Sigh> I believe I should uinstall dtSearch. Immediately. I'm a software junkie and I'm mainlingin dtSearch right now. It is SWEET. As I learn how to use it effectively, I appreciate its power... and, despite Armando's experience, it's small footprint.

However, I can ill afford the asking price AND Archivarius does not yield much to dtSearch (nothing, really, if you factor in the way I tend to use Desktop Search applications). And yet I hesitate. Give me strength...

2956

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AnVir Task Manager 5.0.4 at GOTD

« Last post by Darwin on March 10, 2008, 08:40 AM »

Hmm... interesting. Carl, I was under the impression that you needed to pay a yearly subscription key to keep receiving upgrades and virus database updates beyond one year. However, the blurb on the order page certainly does seem to indicate that it comes with lifetime upgrades. Very nice 

2957

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AnVir Task Manager 5.0.4 at GOTD

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 10:56 PM »

Yeah... I bought it, too (Bits du Jour's deal amounted to a 58% discount or so) after playing with it for a few hours. It's the only TM replacement/extender that I've ever tried that consumes 0-1% CPU when minimized to tray and 10MB RAM. I also like the fact that it seems to be under constant development. I have current licences for both WinTasks Pro (glacial) and TaskPatrol Pro (also glacial) and they're good apps, but consume 30% or more CPU and 30MB or more RAM - all the time. No regrets about the purchase, thus far. $15 is less than a night at the movies, and I never get out to the movies, so I can swallow this!

2958

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 10:47 PM »

Yippee! I tried the alternative method (New Index - E-mail - Custom Mailboxes)



 to index my PST files and Archivarus indexed both my archive.pst and my outlook.pst files in less than 15 minutes (no idea how long because I left the room and have just returned). AFAICT the information gleaned is identical to using the OLE menthod, the only difference is that Outlook can't be running while the indexing is being done. I can live with that!

I'll keep playing with dtSearch, but I'm happy with Archivarius 

EDIT: added screenshot

2959

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 10:29 PM »

I reconfigured Archivarius to *look* more like dtSearch (stupid stuff I hadn't thought to try before, like placing the viewing pane at the bottom of the screen) and re-indexed my Outlook files. Took a hair over 2 hours  All I want for Christmas is an Archivarius COM add-in for Outlook. I'll never ask for anything else, ever. Promise!

Thanks for your insights on dtSearch. With 2GB RAM on my system, I didn't notice it being particularly memory intensive and, as mentioned, it indexed everything in two hours flat. I'll try updating the index in a day or two and see how it does. However, I'm already blanching at the prospect of paying $200 for it... Archivarius does everything that I need it to. I'm going to try indexing Outlook as "other e-mail" and see where that gets me. For now, I intend to continue with WDS and Outlook and Archivarius for everything else. Will keep you posted on my experience with dtSearch.

2960

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 05:38 PM »

Ahem (Darwin clears throat nervously): anyone here (other than Babis and Armando) every try dtSearch? It just indexed 30GB of my harddrive in under two hours, while I was using my computer, and handled Outlook flawlessly. It's awesome, but comes with an awesome price. I'm going to run the 30 day trial and see how I get on with it... I might be in trouble if I fall in love with it, though - $199! Hopefully there are discount codes floating around on the web or academic pricing options (though if there are I haven't found them yet).

Armando - what didn't you like about dtSearch (other than the price!)?

2961

General Software Discussion / Re: Ideamason on special

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 02:26 PM »

Thanks for the observations/experiences, Armando. I've had SQLNotes installed in the past but never really *did* anything with it and uninstalled it, intending to re-install at a later date. I'm following to SQLNotes thread and will re-install when MS Word integration is added... That should prove to be a KILLER app 

Hope your hypothesis is correct (assume you meant "combining MS Word and SQLNotes...") - it's the conclusion I leapt to when I read your post and if it proves to be the case, using SQLNotes will be a no-brainer for me. Now. Must. Work.On.PhD. 

2962

General Software Discussion / Re: Ideamason on special

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 02:07 PM »

Hmm... I've actually got OneNote 2007 installed but haven't really tried it out much... keep meaning to but have been focused on other apps that I've been trying out. I'll give it a shot! I know Zaine loves it. Incidentally, I have two copies of it (got a standalone version in the fall but wound up getting Office 2007 Enterprise through work). If anyone is interested in the standalone copy, PM me.

2963

General Software Discussion / Re: Ideamason on special

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 01:17 PM »

Heh, heh - just noticed that Bits du Jour will be featuring Liquid Story Binder on Tuesda (March 11) for $15.95 

EDIT: that's a 66% discount. Here's the link to the story: http://www.bitsdujou...liquid-story-binder/

2964

General Software Discussion / Re: Ideamason on special

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 01:15 PM »

PS one thing that infuriates me about IM is that the Endnote import facility isn't "smart" - you pretty much have to wipe your citations out and re-export/re-import them again. Takes a long time when you've got 5000+ citations! It's a minor point, but minor points are cumulative...

Curt, Liquid Story looks nice, but I'm not going near it with a barge pole (see note above...)!

2965

General Software Discussion / Re: Ideamason on special

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 01:02 PM »

I'm minutes away from giving up on IdeaMason. As noted by others in this thread, it's quite inflexible and, as far as formatting features go, it's very limited. I am going back to my roots - Word and Endnote and done with it! This obsession with software driven "solutions" to everything is costing me my PhD! Time to rein the obsession in and re-focus my energies. If I am doing things "right" my participation here will be curtailed as well...

2966

General Software Discussion / Re: Xobni beta - Outlook Mail indexer and organizer

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 12:40 AM »

There is - either use SoundTaxi or similar to convert them to MP3 or burn them to CD and then import them to a proper music player.

-Carol Haynes (March 08, 2008, 07:55 PM)

Oh yes, I've done this for most, if not all of them (I use Noteburner). However, I'd like to be able to play iTunes format files (mp4? or whatever it is) without the bother of conversion! Not a big deal, I suppose...

I absolutely agree about the lack of options on install on both QuickTime and iTunes. It's ridiculous and is partially what drove me to banish them both in their entirety from my computer (another factor was the number of services and add-ins that they kept installing and not giving me any option to disable. Example: the iPod service. I don't own an iPod and after three years with iTunes I never will!).

2967

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 09, 2008, 12:35 AM »

Bummed. My PST was initially indexed - from scratch - in about 2 hours (virus scan kicked in and slowed everything down). This compares favourably with my experience ten months ago when I first installed Archivarius and it took 34 hours to index my PST! That index was then updated in about 17 mintues. I decided to test this with version 4 and gave up at 26% indexed and 40 minutes of elapsed time 

2968

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 08, 2008, 07:51 PM »

Oh, another thing... re: WDS - I've reverted to having it index Outlook only. It works on other folders/drives only if the Properties - Advanced setting: "For fast searching, allow Indexing Service to &index this folder" is enabled. I'd rather use Archivarius... Incidentally, I managed to crash Outlook while indexing it with Archivarius (see above) and am redoing it now. So far, 9% of the PST has been indexed (15000 documents total) and 4:45 minutes have elapsed. It *looks* like OLE might be quick enough to make this worthwhile. If it will update the index in under 20 minutes without barfing out error messages (as it did in the past) I might even be moved to uninstall WDS.

EDIT: the crash was not Archivarius' fault - I was messing about with COM add-ins in Outlook. See this posting for the whys and the wherefores! Note that I did this WHILE having Archivarius index the PST. Not a bright thing to do...

2969

General Software Discussion / Re: Xobni beta - Outlook Mail indexer and organizer

« Last post by Darwin on March 08, 2008, 07:44 PM »

PS Thanks for the pointer, though, Carol. I took a look at the add-ins loading themselves into Outlook and was able to disable ( ) four that I never use. Hopefully, this will have a positive effect on things...

2970

General Software Discussion / Re: Xobni beta - Outlook Mail indexer and organizer

« Last post by Darwin on March 08, 2008, 07:37 PM »

Note - scour your harddrive for and Apple installers folder (I'm pretty sure it's under Documents and User Settings somewhere) and delete whatever you find... That should solve iTunes re-installing add-ins? I've been iTunes free for the last six months or so and love it, so I can't be sure that this will work anymore, but it's worth a shot. I really wish there were some other way to play iTunes files (ie without using iTunes).

2971

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 08, 2008, 07:26 PM »

Hmph. I'm indexing Outlook with Archivarius for the first time in a long time but without a lot of optimism - it's still done using the OLE method, which is s-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-w. Still, it's supposed to have been improved, so I'll reserve judgement. If it proves to be too slow, I'm going to try this:

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)

The author made that note to me a long time ago and I've never explored that as an alternative. Truth be told, I'd never really picked up on its significance!

2972

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on March 08, 2008, 07:01 PM »

Hooray! I'll be looking into this immediately - thank you for bringining it to our attention, johnk. I"m hoping this means that the author has changed the way in which PST files are handled... if it does, it will DRAMATICALLY (and that is truly an understatement) improve the speed with which PST files are indexed...

Right. Off to check this out now.

2973

General Software Discussion / Re: Wacom Tablet - Bundled Software Question

« Last post by Darwin on March 08, 2008, 10:30 AM »

datzme - the serial numbers are affixed to the CD case...

2974

Living Room / Re: Comic Strip Generator (and March Caption Contest Announcement!)

« Last post by Darwin on March 07, 2008, 06:53 PM »

TaeKwonDo is Korean... karate is a Japanese derivative of Kung Fu... Watch it, Deozaan, you'll be ruffling some feathers (heh, heh - pun accidental) 

2975

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Scanahand RC1 Released

« Last post by Darwin on March 07, 2008, 08:43 AM »

Mine too! I've done three versions of my handwriting as a font... but I need to standardize the placement of the letters in the squares as I keep varying it too much and the result is not natural. Need some pointers from Nosh and Deozaan, I guess