Sunday, April 25, 2004

Version 2.3 BETA now available

A BETA build of the new BulletProof FolderSizes version 2.3 is now available to the general public. This version contains quite an array of improvements for a minor release. If no serious bugs are found, this will likely be released at the end of the week. Please remember to report defects as soon as you find them.

Download version 2.3 here. The release notes follow:

  • Improvement: Added "owner" field to the XML export. This field is available only on Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 platforms, and designates the owner (either a user or group) of the specified file or folder.
  • Improvement: Increased the flexibility of the "Oldest Files" report considerably by adding two new options:
       - The ability to indicate which file date/time stamp should be used for comparisons (modified, created, or accessed)
       - The ability to include only files older than a specified time period (in years, months, or days)
  • Improvement: The time required to export large-scale FolderSizes reports in XML format has been reduced substantially (by 50% or more in most cases).
  • Improvement: Added a new progress window that appears during XML exports. Very large reports may take a minute or two to export in XML format at full depth, and the progress window helps to convey the busy state of the system.
  • Improvement: Added new totals to the top of HTML report exports. Now includes total files scanned, total folders scanned, and total scan size.
  • Improvement: Added a new option for controlling the depth of XML report exports. By default, the XML export depth is set to 0, which equates to full depth (all folders and subfolders are traversed). Set this value to 1, for example, to export only the top-level folders associated with the current file system scan point.
  • Improvement: Changed the information contained in the headers and footers of main detail view printouts. These areas are now populated with the report path (title), total files (left footer), total scan size (center footer), and total folders (right footer). This information is much more useful than what was provided previously. Note that you can *still* provide custom fields for these print areas (see "printing" in the options window) if you wish.
  • Improvement: Now when exporting file report details to HTML format, the scan path is indicated at the top of the page.
  • Improvement: The "owner" column of the main detail view (available on Windows NT/2k/XP/2003) is now populated even when scanning remote systems (via a mapped drive or UNC path). Previously, this column was only populated when scanning local drives or folders.
  • Improvement: Introduced comprehensive new application fault detection, capture, and reporting system. Program crashes are extremely rare with FolderSizes (even in beta builds), but this system allows for excellent post-mortem analysis when needed.
  • Improvement: Numerous performance improvements, particularly in the bar graph drawing code.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a minor problem in which an invalid export type error appeared when the user cancelled out of a file report export process.
  • Bug fix: Resolved an issue with the main graph windows not retaining the total size of all scanned file system objects in some cases.
  • Bug fix: Resolved a fairly rare bug in which sorting by the "owner" column (NT/2k/XP/2003) could cause an "out of memory" error.
  • Other minor improvements, documentation updates, and bug fixes.

  • Sunday, April 18, 2004

    New Reviews

    BulletProof FolderSizes receives the "Smart Award" from SmartDownloads.

    SoftCities awards BulletProof FolderSizes a five-star rating!

    FolderSizes gets five rockets from RocketDownload

    ProgramURL gives FolderSizes a five-star rating!

    Tuesday, April 06, 2004

    Highlight on SnapFiles

    BulletProof FolderSizes is currently the subject of a "Weekly Highlight" on SnapFiles (also known as WebAttack).

    We're also starting to build some real momentum in the enterprise business sector, with increasing sales to larger entities such as (more recently) GE's mortgage division. These organizations are using FolderSizes to trim the size of their scheduled backups, identify disk space utilization trends for capacity planning, and provide reports to users of network disk resources. I believe our deep commitment to product quality is a driving factor in this success.

    As always, please feel free to email me with any thoughts or feedback you might have.