The Test Version 8 was yesterday released to a small group of people and this morning I have gone through the initial reports. A lot of bugs and issues detected, I have seven issues already fixed and maybe around dozen more to go.

tullik wrote

It seems Registry Finder is not comfortable yet with an X64 registry ...

If you don't mind, I would prefer to focus on the most basic problems first, and tackle the more specific issues, like x64 compatibility, later.


There are still numerous bugs in the PT 2010's first test versions that occur on every computer and are easy to fix because they can be easily reproduced. Let me get those fixed first.

jv16 wrote
tullik wrote

It seems Registry Finder is not comfortable yet with an X64 registry ...

If you don't mind, I would prefer to focus on the most basic problems first, and tackle the more specific issues, like x64 compatibility, later.


There are still numerous bugs in the PT 2010's first test versions that occur on every computer and are easy to fix because they can be easily reproduced. Let me get those fixed first.

I agree that is the top priority.


Here are the screenshots you requested in PM:

09-22-2009_09-55-58.jpg

09-22-2009_10-02-02.jpg

This morning I had to waste on trying to get a HP printer to work with an off-the-self HP desktop computer. They are both brand new, but they are not compatible I guess, of course not.


Now I'm back focusing on fixing problems with PT 2010, and the small group of people who tried the Test Version 8 have reported a bunch of issues. It will take me at least a few days to fix them all. At this point it looks like the program is not ready for public beta testing in next week.

The following changes have been made since the "release" of Test Version 8:


Bugs fixed:

1. Settings tool: the content under many tabs belongs to a different tab.

2. File Finder / File Tool: right click-->Explore goes to the folder containing jv16PT.exe, not to the file's folder.

3. File Finder / File Tool: Most More Function features result in error message "Failed to access".

4. Directory Finder: the Options button is always marked (with the "i" icon) even when nothing in it is checked.

5. Duplicate File Finder: file size is a good category for this tool. However, it is not sufficient alone. The tool currently groups files of the same size, which are not duplicates.

6. Registry Finder: is not clearing its memory when restarted with a different preference. The list is not reset. The finds from the first scan stay on the list and are joined by the finds from the second scan. And so on …

7. File Cleaner (Temp dirs): there is no Cancel button in the tool window.

8. Right-Click menu of the Registry Finder's result window was all messed up, wrong text captions was shown for each item. For example, the feature "Open In RegEdit" was actually "Remove from list" and thus trying to open a key in RegEdit caused the line to be removed from to tool.

9. Many typos fixed.


Improvements:

1. Added Global Ignore List to the Quick Tutorial, so you can for example exclude certain hard disk drives from the "initial setup" feature.

2. The Quick Tutorial will now checks whether the program has a full system access and if any resident anti-virus programs are running. These were before checked in the main window but this is too late for the Initial Setup. Just using a resident anti-virus program can make the Initial Setup to last for ages, therefore the user is now warned about that beforehand and not afterwards.

3. Added a new tab called "Grouping" to File Finder, File Cleaner, Directory Finder and Registry Finder to allow user to select the desired way the results are grouped. For example, with the Registry Finder you can group the results by the registry root hive, the registry key or by the used search words. Or, not to have the results grouped at all, in which case the result list looks almost identical to the list of PowerTools 2009. This is a very good feature, courtesy of Tullik.


There are still many bugs to fix, and I'll be fixing them before the release of the next test version.

jv16 wrote
... Improvements:

1. Added Global Ignore List to the Quick Tutorial, so you can for example exclude certain hard disk drives from the "initial setup" feature. ...

I want certain drives not to be used when the file cache is built, but to be accessible to the file tools.


So I can put those drives in the global list during the initial setup, and take them out afterward.


Two questions . . .


(1) When the file cache is rebuilt later, after a flush cache for example, will ...\Settings\FileCache.dat still be honored, or will I have to edit the global list again (twice)?


(2) Also, I would like to exclude certain drives from examination by the Software Uninstaller. Will strings like the following manually inserted in ...\Settings\SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat still be supported for that exclusion purpose?

  • d:\

    k:\

tullik wrote

I want certain drives not to be used when the file cache is built, but to be accessible to the file tools.


So I can put those drives in the global list during the initial setup, and take them out afterward.

This is possible.

tullik wrote

(1) When the file cache is rebuilt later, after a flush cache for example, will ...\Settings\FileCache.dat still be honored, or will I have to edit the global list again (twice)?

\Settings\FileCache.dat is always honored. If boht \Settings\FileCache.dat and Global Ignore List are used, Global Ignore List always overrides any other setting. In other words, if FileCache.dat defines that C:\ is cached but Global Ignore List contains "C:\" the drive will not be even touched.

tullik wrote

(2) Also, I would like to exclude certain drives from examination by the Software Uninstaller. Will strings like the following manually inserted in ...\Settings\SuperSoftwareIgnoreList.dat still be supported for that exclusion purpose?

Yes, of course.

Thank you for the explanation. I just wanted to be sure about the expected exclusion situation in PT2010.

Still working on fixing bugs and improving the program before the public beta testing can begin.

More bugs fixed today:


11. Settings Tool: unchecking the "Home" feature has no effect to the main window.

12. Automation Tool: column headings incorrect (due to a missing column)

13. Start Menu Tool: lists offline network shortcuts as broken; for example, file reference = \\NB-2\C on NB-2

14. Startup Manager: the list does not reset when you work the radio buttons

15a. Registry Cleaner: when you do just the "MRU/History data scan," nothing is listed, but History Cleaner shows there are many entries of this type

15b. The History Cleaner didn't list as much data as the one in PT 2009.

jv16 wrote
tullik wrote

I want certain drives not to be used when the file cache is built, but to be accessible to the file tools.


So I can put those drives in the global list during the initial setup, and take them out afterward.

This is possible. ...

I'll probably prime the target folder with an edited copy of ...\Settings\FileCache.dat to see if that avoids the two edits.

Phew, another day of bug fixing done. I will probably be working also during the weekend and my goal is to have the second private beta version ready and out on Monday.

Mondays are always good for releases. ;)

A new private test version released to a selected group of about 10 people. It's still not anywhere close of being as good as I would wanted it be, but at least it's better than the previous private test version. If you are among the 10 people you have just received a Private Message via the forum.



Next I will be evaluating how much work would be needed to release an updated version of PowerTools 2009.

That is great news. Hope you put out a upadated 2009 version.

jv16 wrote

....

........

Next I will be evaluating how much work would be needed to release an updated version of PowerTools 2009.

Hi Jv16,


I think it is VERY desirable to have a new fixed build of PT2009 released.....


Btw, we have now been informed that the Ignore entries do NOT prevent this Critical bug occurring in Many cases....


Thank You,

Best regards,


Roberta

roberta wrote

I think it is VERY desirable to have a new fixed build of PT2009 released.....


Btw, we have now been informed that the Ignore entries do NOT prevent this Critical bug occurring in Many cases....

That is exactly the reason for the change of mind.


We'll need to a small scale beta testing for the new version of PowerTools 2009 before the release, because it's such a mess mixing the old components and the new ones. But getting some of the new components of PowerTools 2010 in is a good thing in a way that fixes some other minor bugs as well, and makes the scan faster too.

Looks like I pieced together a version of the Registry Cleaner Engine with parts of the PowerTools 2009 engine and some new stuff from PowerTools 2010. If you want to participate in the testing, the new version is available for download at: http://www.macecraft.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3949

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Yesterday was a good day, new private test version of PowerTools 2010 and a public beta version of new PowerTools 2009 released.


And today I have continued to improve a few core algorithms of the PowerTools 2010's Registry Cleaner Engine. There is a rather complex and difficult problem that causes some file references to be incorrectly analysed. Of course, thanks to the numerous safety nets and design structures that the problem manifests in a way valid registry errors are being ignored instead of false positives being reported. I feel fixing the problem is impossible without compromising safety, but there is some room for improvement and that's what I have been working with.


I also got out a private test build for siliconman01, with this version we are working with a similar Registry Cleaner Engine issue relating to 64 bit Windows systems. Since these two issues are rather similar in nature, I'm hoping to hit two birds with one stone.


In addition, I have already fixed 4 bugs from the just-released PowerTools 2010 Test Version 9.