FARR slow searching/pauses - tips

[highend01]

Hi mouser,

I use FARR to scan only three directories:
1.) C:\TBOS\%COMPUTERNAME% (search depth = 1 | file extension = exe)
2.) D:\Tools\.Shortcuts (search depth = 0 | file extension = lnk)
3.) D:\Users\%USERNAME%\Tools\.Shortcuts (search depth = 0 | file extension = lnk)

The first one contains one subfolder with two subfolders underneath which have 2 .exe files.
2. and 3. contain only .lnk files which point to .exe files that are placed in a parent folder structure like
D:\Tools\VLC\vlc.exe
or
D:\Users\%USERNAME%\Tools\XYplorer\XYplorer.exe

Overall there are about 160 .lnk files.

On my system (Win 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 German | Samsung 830 SSD) everything is fine, search results in FARR appear instantly.

I have two other systems with the same operating system and the same ssd (but slower prozessors and less ram) which
behave absolutely different.

Search results need up to 10 seconds before they appear (and FARR is not responding when you click e.g. on the title bar in that time) but the status lines always says that the number of results was returned in 0 (instead of the real amount) of seconds.

These machines use exactly the same FARR setup (like my main machine) and the number of .lnk files are much less (about 40).

I think it must be some problem of icon caching that makes FARR so slow but none of the 3 machines uses a tweak or special (registry) setting that influences the Windows icon cache... Deleting the icon cache and rebuilding it by opening these folders with windows explorer doesn't help and I've changed all settings inside FARR (Incremental search on each keypress, Delay search start based on..., Resolve shortcuts when searching..., Resolve shortcuts when adding..., etc.) that could be related but the problem persists.

Any hints on how to find out what hampers FARR's performance so much on the two other machines?

Regards,
Highend

[mouser]

Can you try two things:

1. Tell me if the search is always slow, or is fast if you run it twice in a row.
2. Try the new experimental tweak option on Display Options tab, labeled "Speed up display by avoiding lookup of some icons"; disabled by default.  Enabled if some search results cause a pause in your FARR when displaying them.

[highend01]

1. It's fast when I run the same search a second time
2. I don't have this setting ;(

I'm running v2.107.01
and an image of the display options setting screen is attached.

Regards,
Highend

[mouser]

highend, can you do a test for me, and tell me if it solves the problem:

1. Redownload the beta and install it.

2. Make sure these options are set as follows:




In addition, these two options are good candidates for causing slowdown:

[highend01]

Hi mouser,

Redownloaded again, now I have the "Speed up display..." option

I've thought about if there are any major differences between those 3 machines and the most important one is:
The main doesn't use any virus scanner, the other two have Microsoft Security Essentials installed...

So after adding the FARR executable to the process exclusion list... FARR's search results are instant now,
regardless if I change any settings from one of your screenshots

This should have come to my mind earlier, sorry mouser!

Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

Highend

[mouser]

the other two have Microsoft Security Essentials installed...

Second item in help file:

It has been confirmed that Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus can slow down FARR searching (and result in delays/pauses during searching).
The fix is to exclude FARR's process from MSE scans.
For more info and instructions see:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=29756.0

Big thanks to DC member Armando who was the first to discover and document this.

[mouser]

I wonder if I can check for MSE on install and warn user.

[wut?!]

Seems to be the case with Defender as well.

I was having FARR become unresponsive for 8-15 seconds at a time on both of my home desktops. It would be very obvious because the actual Windows window decoration would show up around it during this time. This would only ever happen the first time I brought FARR up, I think. Both are i7 boxes with plenty of ram and SSDs.

But, it hasn't happened since I excluded FARR in Defender. Thanks, mouser! 

[mouser]

Thanks for the report, wut!

[IainB]

I had not been experiencing any annoying slow-downs in FARR, but after reading this, it reminded me to go and add FARR (and a couple of other applications) to the Exclusions list in Windows Defender, just to see if it made a difference.
Though it didn't seem to make any noticeable difference at all to FARR, I reckon it is probably a good idea to experiment with this in Defender to find out what applications might be being hampered by Windows Defender.
The other applications I experimentally added to the exclusions list were CHS and InfoSelect. I don't know the cause, but CHS is always annoyingly "laggy" when scrolling the list of clips, and InfoSelect has become often painfully slow to refresh its pane display and usually gets stuck waiting to refresh the display.
Adding them to the exclusions list in Defender didn't seem to make any difference at all, which at least eliminates one potential cause.

[rogierg]

FARR runnning on my Windows 7 laptop with SSD always hangs on "Searching C:\Program Files (x86)\Findandrunrobot\scripts" for several seconds.

- I'm not running any scripts
- Removed and reinstalled FARR (deleted all configuration files)
- Tried the beta with the "speed up by avoiding looking up icons" setting

Still the problem remains. Any ideas?

[mouser]

I just uploaded a new beta yesterday to fix a slowdown hang, can you try it:

• https://www.donation...AndRunRobotSetup.exe
• or https://www.donation...RunRobotPortable.zip

And let me know if it solves your issue?

[IainB]

@mouser: I have just installed FARR v2.226.01 Beta.
Do you you recall that I reported some time back that FARR had a relatively frequent and annoying habit of not properly coming to the foreground when it was invoked? This would repeat.

Well, it might be a coincidence, but this latest version seems to come very promptly to the foreground when invoked. Touch wood maybe you have inadvertently fixed that problem. I'll let you know if/when the problem ever returns.

[jcnassoc]

Hi all. Posting on this thread as I didn't find one specific to my question, and the behavior I am seeing fits some of the reports here.

Basically I see a delay in FARR that I've determined is due to an external USB drive I have that needs time to spin up after a period of inactivity. I only use that drive for backup purposes and was hoping to find an FARR option to exclude it from searches; alas I didn't find such an option.

Are there any workarounds for this?

TIA.

________________
_____/ Regards,   
____/ al     

[anandcoral]

Hi jcnassoc,

FARR only searches for file in 'search folders' given in options. Check it if the usb drive is listed there.

Regards,

Anand

[jcnassoc]

Hello Anand, and thanks for the quick reply.

I don't see anything in that option that is related to the USB drive (see attached). Is that a new option? Perhaps I should download the beta?

FARR slow searching/pauses - tips

Thanks!

[anandcoral]

Hi jcnassoc,

Then you may have to disable it from Microsoft Security Essentials, see https://www.donation....msg300599#msg300599

Regards,

Anand

[AJolly]

I realize that far makes a lot of directory queries when it's searching for something to launch, is it possible for it  to look up directly the MFT, how search everything does? https://www.voidtools.com/