Here is the very first beta version of jv16 PowerTools 2009:

http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/jv16pt_setup_2009_beta1.exe

(If the link doesn't work it means the testing for this version has already ended)


Do not install this beta version over any existing version but to a new directory. Also, do not uninstall any previous versions of jv16 PowerTools before the installation of this version - this version is a beta version. Beta version means the new product version is not yet finished and is only released for testing purposes in order to find the last remaining problems.


Do not start to translate this version to your language yet, there will be more changes to the language interface.


Release notes:

* The Registry Cleaner using the new GUI is currently available only in read-only mode. This means you cannot fix or delete anything, nor is Save, Print or Search features working.

* The new and improved Scan Report is not available yet.

* The Mouse Gestures do not yet work perfectly over lists.

* There are still a lot of rough edges and beta stage graphics, don't expect too much yet


As always, all beta testers who give us valuable feedback such as good quality bug reports or other feedback will be given a free personal license for the product when then final product version is released. To be clear, simply downloading the beta version and saying "it works fine" or "it doesn't work" doesn't entitle for a free license.


Please send all your comments and bug reports to this thread using the Post Reply button.

And here is what's new compared to PT 2008:


* Show starting system test messages less often (viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3396)

* Improved the speed of File Tool's Copy and Move file operations, especially under Windows Vista.

* Added ability to suppress error messages.

* Improved product's ability to handle a flood of error messages.

* Added ability to search for files based on their attributes with the File Finder. This allows you to list for example all hidden files.

* Fixed one problem that could cause error messages to flood to the screen. If an item cannot be removed, the program attempt to do it again. While PowerTools 2008 gave an error message on each attempt, PowerTools 2009 does it only once.

* Added more security checks to the product, if you attempt to delete or modify any system file or registry key, the program shows you a warning message and asks if you really know what you are doing. In PowerTools 2008 this was done only by the most common features of the product, with PowerTools 2009 the support for this additional safety mechanism is greatly improved to cover more tools.


* Fixed a problem from the Registry Information tool, if the analyzis was aborted, some of the given results were not correctly printed to screen (e.g. sums and averages).

* Changed the Window caption bars from custom non-standard to standard Windows caption bars for all windows of the product.

* Added ability to the File Tool to move items up and down in the results list, this feature becomes handy for example with the Merge feature which combines the files in the order as they appear in the list.

* Reduced the number of automatic column width adjustments. With PowerTools 2008 if you ran for example the File Finder and adjusted the columns of the result list they were usually reset many times during the scan undoing your adjustments. This annoyance has now fixed PT 2009.

* Changed the Tree View result list format of the Registry Cleaner to a grouped List View.

* Improved the speed of the Registry Cleaner, the speed gain is most visible with older computers.

* Improved the detection of system files and registry entries, if user attempts to remove or modify these items PowerTools asks for a confirmation to make sure the user knows what he/she is doing.

* Added a generic anti-flood feature to the product's messages, the feature will disable the product from showing you the same message (such as a warning) many times in a row for example during a big file operation with the File Tool.

* Improved the registry key abbreviation to support long HKEY_USER keys as well. PowerTools 2008 would abbreviate such key, for example, HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-377502413-1295073897-1907628226-1003\software\ as HKUS\S-1-5-21-377502413-1295073897-1907628226-1003\software\ while PowerTools 2009 now makes it much more neat: HKUS\S-1-5...1003\software\

* Improved the way the Data Stored in Registry gauge is drawn in Registry Information tool.

* Improved the Message Windows messaging system. With PowerTools 2008 every addition of new text (e.g. an error message or "Done!" message) caused the message window to become active and steal the focus from the main tool window, with PowerTools 2009 this annoyance no longer occurs. The message windows also now use standard Windows caption bars.

* Added ability to add the files of given directories to the File Tool, with or without including the files of the sub-directories.

* Improved the way large amounts of files are added to the File Tool, the addition now contains a progress bar and option to Abort.


* Added ability to search for files using the File Finder based on the contents of the files.

* Added ability to search for files using the File Finder based on the owner of the files. It's also possible to find orphaned files that do not have any valid owner information attached. (Only available under Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista)


* Added a new tool called Service Manager. The tool can do same things as Windows' own service manager tool but PowerTools' Service Manager can also delete unneeded services. The Service Manager also contain a handy Optimize feature that analyzes your computer and gives you a selection of services that should be safe to disable in order to make your computer start and work faster.

* Added ability to search for registry keys using the Registry Finder based on the owner of the data. It's also possible to find orphaned registry data that do not have any valid owner information attached. (Only available under Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista)

* Added ability to add a comment (when commenting is enabled) to all selected items of the list, and not only one item at the time.

* Added Deep Analyzis option to the Registry Cleaner. The Deep Analyzis is an additional pass of analyzing the scanned registry data, the final pass allows the engine improve both the quality and quantity of the found registry errors. However, the additional work also needs additional time and using the Deep Analyzis makes the registry scan a lot slower.


* Added ability to un-hide items you have once selected not to be shown again e.g. with the File Tool.


* Added new feature to improve the usability: Mouse Gestures! Just like in Firefox, simply press down the right mouse button and draw a line to anywhere inside PowerTools for quick access of the most frequently used features.


* Added a tool bar to File Tool, the tool bar shows all the main features of the tool in a very handy and easy-to-use manner.

* Greatly improved the Registry Cleaner. For example, it can now detect registry errors that are caused by incorrect registry key permissions.

* Improved program's responsiveness.

* Greatly improved the speed of all the registry relating features of the product, such as the Registry Cleaner, Registry Finder and Registry Find & Replace.

A few more known bugs:

* The Live Support graphic on the main window sometimes turns to a big white block.

* The mouse wheel support on the main window isn't yet working properly.


Both these issues will be fixed in the next released beta version.

Pt 2009 Beta 1


For Vista users, the jv16 PT 2009 Quick Launch icon needs to have the "Run as Administrator" set on installation. Otherwise, using this icon will not permit full access to the registry.

Is this feature included in the new beta1 release?

jv16 wrote
This feature will be included to PowerTools 2009, thank you again for such a good idea!...

I can't find it so far...

About the Health bars in PT2009 Beta1...


1) I have the impression those bars don't indicate quite clearly the health status: they aren't comprehensible enough, I mean they don't show the eaxct health status. What's the meaning of their colors really?


2) When you slide the mouse point over those bars, nothing happens: the exact health status as message isn't shown anymore like in the PT2008 version.


3) Though a Registry Cleaner scan doesn't find a single erroneous entry, the Registry Health indicates 88/100 (exact score found in \Settings\SysAnalysis.dat). That file had been cleared before and the Quikc System Analysis has been run again.

redseujac wrote
Is this feature included in the new beta1 release?

jv16 wroteThis feature will be included to PowerTools 2009, thank you again for such a good idea!...

I can't find it so far...

It's not visible in the GUI, but the Registry Cleaner will list registry keys with incorrect owner data as errors.

Yes, I had noticed that also...


The Registry Cleaner (after the "final analysis") found a couple of keys indicated as "with incorrect permissions or owner", but you can't do anything with them. Even right clicking seems to be impossible.


I wonder if that was the real aim of user 'CAOgdin' in this thread.


By the way the "Final analysis" pop up has an error: it should be "analysis" with an "s" instead of "analyzis" with a "z" :

redseujac wrote
Yes, I had noticed that also...


The Registry Cleaner (after the "final analysis") found a couple of keys indicated as "with incorrect permissions or owner", but you can't do anything with them. Even right clicking seems to be impossible.

This is only the limitation of the first beta, the Registry Cleaner in the first beta is available in read-only basically.


How it is supposed to work: the Registry Cleaner will detect and list keys with incorrect permissions and list these under the "Incorrect Permissions" group. If user attempts to delete these keys with the Delete button there will be a confirmation message to make sure the user knows what he/she is doing. The Fix button will fix the keys in a way that it sets up correct permissions for the keys and thus the keys won't show in Registry Cleaner any longer as errors.


Due to the limitations of the raw listing mode, these errors won't be listed if user has selected the raw listing mode.

Running Vista SP1 Business, jv16PT 2009 Beta1, Raw List on Registry Cleaner.


I get three keys whose error description is Internal Error 091. They are:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion\perflib\009\Counter

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion\perflib\009\Help

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion\perflib\009\{KEY}


The attached ZIP file shows what the values are in each of these keys. Do not get these in PT 2008.

siliconman01 wrote
Running Vista SP1 Business, jv16PT 2009 Beta1, Raw List on Registry Cleaner.


I get three keys whose error description is Internal Error 091. They are:

Oh yes, these keys are listed because of the new feature discussed above. For some reason the error description and/or group name is sometimes "internal error". This will be fixed in the next version.

Hello jv16


Have you read this post above about the health bars?


I wonder because there wasn't any reaction so far :

• Health Bars: Colors are opposite of what they should be – if a longer bar indicates better health, as it moves from left to right, it should change from red to green.

• Health Bars: Indicate the actual score either inside the bar or next to the bar title.

• Privacy Tools: Eye icon is ugly.

• Registry Compactor: Icon should include a vise instead of a wrench.

• Registry Cleaner: Make Reference Mode available only in Debug mode. Giving the average user access to this mode seems unnecessary and potentially dangerous.

• Registry Cleaner: On the Results Format tab, 'analysis' is misspelled in Deep Analysis section (you have it spelled as ‘analyzis’).

• Registry Cleaner: On the Results Format tab, in the Raw Format section, reference to Power Tools 2006 should be removed – it’s dated and will confuse new users.

• Registry Information: The ‘Data stored in the registry’ indicator bar is not helpful. What does it mean? What should the number be? This will confuse the average user.

• File Tool: Icon tool bar is useful, but why is it used only in this utility? Presents an inconsistent appearance across the package.

• File Tool: Message ‘Selection of at least one file to which the operation should be performed’ should read ‘Select at least one file to perform this operation on’. Need to review all messages and text to ensure first-person voice.

• Settings: On the Backup tab, the 3 selection boxes are unevenly spaced – looks unprofessional.

After running System Service Optimizer on my Visa SP1 Business system, I feel that the recommendations on which services can be safely disabled is highly questionable. In fact some of the services recommended for disabling can significantly compromise the system's security if they are disabled. Yes, I know there is a recommendation statement at the bottom that warns users to investigate. However, I foresee some users taking jv16 for the gospel and "damaging" their computers.


I recommend that jv16 at least go by the "SAFE" recommendations of BlackViper as per the link below.


http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

Can anyone reproduce this.

Run the Registry Cleaner module, after it is finished right click on an entry and move the mouse around.

My mouse pointer starts drawing red lines. See attachment.

It's normal and on purpose: it's called "Mouse Gestures".


Read this post about the "phenomenon".


Unfortunately those Mouse Gestures don't work as they should actually.


Furthermore the Registry Cleaner is currently in read only mode in this beta1 version.

jv16 wrote

Release notes:

* The Registry Cleaner using the new GUI is currently available only in read-only mode. This means you cannot fix or delete anything, nor is Save, Print or Search features working.

* The new and improved Scan Report is not available yet.

* The Mouse Gestures do not yet work perfectly over lists.

...

Maybe it is just me doing something wrong but on my vista laptop i can't get the duplicate file finder to work. I have copied a file to two locations, set jv powertools to search both locations but it doesn't find the file. in the search I even choose the file type .zip. Is is not working or am i doing something wrong?

Another issue is the software manager. you have to drag the columns wider to read what is in them, then when you go to remove an item it doesn't remember how you left the columns so you have to resize them again.

tlstevens wrote
Maybe it is just me doing something wrong but on my vista laptop i can't get the duplicate file finder to work. I have copied a file to two locations, set jv powertools to search both locations but it doesn't find the file. in the search I even choose the file type .zip. Is is not working or am i doing something wrong?

Please make sure you have everything unchecked under Duplicate File Finder's Options tab. Does this solve the problem?