jv16 PowerTools 2005 update development BLOG

jv16

File Organizer 99% done.

Software Manager tool's development started.

Fixed a huge memory leak of the AI search (used e.g. in the Reg Finder).

Fixed many smaller memory leaks.

Thanks for detection of these leaks belongs entirely to Beaumont Barnabe.

Also, following windows are now resizable: Reg Cleaner, Reg Finder, Reg Find & Replace, File Finder. Others will follow soon.

jv16

File Cleaner and Duplicate Finder's windows are also now resizable. That means only the Settings window is still a fixed size window of the main tools. I don't think there's any point in making e.g. the Start Menu Fixer's window resizable.

The File Organizer and Software Manager are now added to the main GUI, the GFX for them was received yesterday from Dreamsign.

The basic GUI of the Software Manager and its Custom Software Remove are now done.

jv16

Installed Software list removed from the Registry Manager.

I'm currently working on the cool new Software Manager, it can currently produce the same list as the Installed Software list of the Registry Manager could but I'm improving it a lot to show additional information (such as Software's Installation date and path).

The tool's software listing feature should be working tomorrow, the implementation of the Custom Remove feature (as known from the PT 1.4.1) shouldn't take more than an hour.

jv16

I'm still working on the Software Manager's software listing feature. It's not at all as simple as it has been ever since RegCleaner (i.e only listing the software's name and author).

Implementing the new listing feature is a nice intellectual challenge for me and a very useful feature to users, I believe.

At the moment the tool can list the normal software's name and author data from all the installed software and the additional information from about 10-20% of the found software. That number isn't even near to what I want so I'm working on to improve it. I doubt the tool can reach the 100% but we'll see how high it can go.

jv16

Here's a few screenshots to give you a better idea what I'm talking about.

The new Main Window containing the two new tools:

http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/blogpics/1/mainwindow.jpg

A very early stage image of the new Software Manager:

http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/blogpics/1/softmanager.jpg

jv16

The performance of the Software Manager's data extraction features has developed the following way during this morning:

15,26%

28,21%

27,27%

49,53%

And this is how it now looks:

http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/blogpics/1/softmanager2.jpg

I'm not sure if I can get the performance much more higher without making the entire process too slow, but I'll try to improve it still.

I think I should also improve the GUI since the columns contain a bit too much information for easy browsing.

jv16

Still working on the Software Manager, the information extractor's efficiency is at the moment 42.59% on my computer, I don't know if it gets much higher that that.

The per cent decreased from the 49% because of additional safety checks (i.e. the 49% contained also some false hits).

jv16

There's still some room for improvement in the listing feature but I'll leave that for later.

This is how the tool now looks:

http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/blogpics/1/softmanager3.jpg

I'll start with the coding of the tool's Custom Remove method tomorrow. If everything goes smoothly, I should have the Software Manager tool pretty much done tomorrow.

jv16

As a reference to http://www.macecraft.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=199 I installed ZoneAlarm this morning to have a little test run with it.

After installation and the reboot all my computer could do was to reboot while loading Windows. Well, I guess that's the ultimate state of security - if it ain't running it ain't vulnerable.

I decided that after all, I don't need such an extreme level of safety on my work computer. So, I just booted to Windows safe mode and uninstalled ZoneAlarm. Before that, I took a few samples of those MailSafe entries and I'm now working on to make our products to ignore them.

Shouldn't take long.

jv16

I moved the MailSafe issue to later today and continued on other things.

The Search window is also now resizable. Applied BlackDex's good suggestions to the Software Manager GUI. This way it takes much less time to generate the list of installed software.

I started working on registry path abbreviation to the Registry Cleaner. In next version, you can define whether you want to see full registry paths or short.

In other words, for example:

HKEY_CURRENT_UESR\Software\Microsoft\Windows vs. HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows vs.

HKCU\Soft\MSoft\Win

I'll continue from this after lunch.

jv16

The registry path abbreviation of the Registry Cleaner is now done, that was a piece of cake.

I'll continue now with the Software Manager. It still needs about one or two days of work and before it's fully working.

jv16

Just came online to give you the latest info about today's work.

Here's a screenshot of the Software Manager and its Custom Remove feature in action.

http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/blogpics/1/softman+custremove.jpg

Notice the GUI updates on the Software Manager.

Also, the Custom Remove isn't just a 1 copy from PT 1.4.1, far from it. I used the PT 1.4.1's good ol' code as a base for the feature but after all the improvements there aren't many lines left from the original. The performance (i.e. how many software related registry keys it finds) of the Custom Remove is now in a whole new scale compared to the old version.

I might code a line or a few on the weekend too, we'll see.

jv16

I sat with my computer a short time on sunday, drank some nice black tea and really put my mind on to the Software Manager and the Custom Remove Software.

I didn't code much, I mainly thought how I could improve them. A sort of like intellectual challenge of a sunday evening. Others solve a crossword puzzle, I think about how I could make something to work better.

After a few cups of tea and a lot of RegEdit surfin', I made some very important improvements.

Today, I tested the new code in action and it seems to be working perfectly. I tested the Custom Software Remove with some of the hardest software out there (i.e. software that create a lot of registry entries all around the registry), these software included WinZip, RealPlayer and Adobe Acrobat Reader.

I, of course, verified all the entries the product found by hand using the RegEdit, to my please, the product was able to find 90%-100% of entries these products had created. It found 0 false positives (i.e. entries it thought was created by these software but in reality it wasn't).

The Software Manager and the Custom Remove Software features should be pretty much finished today.

jv16

The Software Manager and the Custom Remove Software features are now more or less fully working, I will finish them later.

As a last task of today I added "Remove files" option to the automation tool. You could remove files also in the old version usin the "Remove files with the File Cleaner" but this is much more simple, just write down what files you wish to be removed e.g. at every system startup.

jv16

I will spend most of today in working with other things, I will continue the work with the jv16 PowerTools 2005 update most likely tomorrow.

jv16

I think I will be spending about 50% of today's time to work with the new PowerTools version.

So far today I have been finishing off the Remove Files feature to the Automation Tool, I fixed one bug from the save feature (File > Save) and small things like that.

The third major new feature is already on its way, my colleague is working on that. The feature is an improvement to the Duplicate Finder that allows you to search also for files that are almost identical, for example 90% identical or 80%.

This feature should come in handy when searching for music, picture or movie file duplicates that might not be 100% identical but almost.

At the time, this will most likely to be the last major new feature to the new version.

jv16

I also added "remove files from directories including their subdirs" feature to the automation tool.

Very simple but very handy.

This is what it looks like:

http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/blogpics/1/autotool.jpg

The Create new automation task window is also now resizable. I don't know what went on on my mind when I made the windows in fixed size and so small for the first version, these things happen when you are in too hurry to release the product.

I'm glad I have absolutely no hurry this time. I don't like to just create a feature or something and then just forget it. I always want to make it a little bit faster and always improve it further.

Well, I'll continue from here after lunch.

jv16

I didn't have that much time to work on the PowerTools update but I'll have more time for it tomorrow.

In any case, the new version should be ready for beta testing before the end of this month.

jv16

The improvements of the Automation Tool are now done and tested to work. I must say I like the new Remove Files features, thanks Daryl for suggesting this to me.

I will have to add an option to edit old automation tasks and then the new Auto Tool should be finished for now.

jv16

Fixed a bug from the File Tool: http://www.macecraft.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=933

When searching for that but I found a performance issue from the File Tool. It extracted the required information (e.g. the file dates or checksums) all over again for the same files, now it only extracts the required information once per file. This issue could have caused problems only if you were working with very large files.