Search and delete

[tactictoe]

It took me a bit of time but here it is.

Search and delete is now V2.0.1.0 due to major updates inside the code. Nearly rewrite the lot,

Webfork wish is done: can this program search multiple computers and replace files on each?
Answer is: YES

Check this screenshot:

Functionality is the same; you can search for file with mask in one single folder, or a list of folder from various source (included network path).
The software will check for duplicated folder (Target folder) and duplicate file (Search result). And at key point if the folder/files still exist.
Please note: each search overwrite the previous one. So, save your search if needed.

Warning: this software can delete files on your demand. So? Backup or archive the target file first, just in case of mistake. After all we are all human and can be tired.
I did not test if file send to the recycle bin on a network works properly.
SO IF YOU USE IT IN SUCH SITUATION ARCHIVE OR BACKUP FIRST.
I BELIEVE IT WILL BE PERMANENTLY DELETED AS USUAL SO BE CAREFUL.
If someone test this last part, I will really appreciate the result.

The license is in the about box.

Here is the link to vote for this software: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2767
Home page of the software: http://www.geocities.ws/tactictoe/SearchAndReplace.html

Please, feel free to report any bugs, suggestion and vote if you like it.
Any suggestion that make it will be posted here.
Help file? There will be one, just don't know when I will have some spare time to do it for now.

I would not mind a good soul to edit the description and mistake I eventually done (Private/vote page). I am a developer not a writer. Thanks in advance to the good soul.

[tactictoe]

Confirmed, the attempt procedure to send to the recycle bin deletion of Networked file with option send to bin IS NOT WORKING , files are deleted.
Geez. I am not sure how to implement that one into the software, I will study that.
Any suggestion about it welcome.
Would you like something like upload file into the application folder and archived?
What do you think?

Apparently there is a solution here:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Fo ... nservergen

I am pretty sure this solution is not bullet proof neither. If someone have an idea on how to solve this problem, I am here to listen.

[tactictoe]

Okay for the moment, I update the interface with a direct warning.

SARWarn.png (11.48 KiB) Viewed 21734 times

Should not pose any problem to Network admin, ours deletes file with backup automatically everyday. But for the rest of us I guess this warning is more than important.

[Billo255]

Just noticed this app and will try it out. Had previously used IndexYourFiles as a "cleanup" tool to search for files across multiple local and mapped drives and then deleted, moved, or copied files, depending on my mood. One downside was having to reindex in between actions in order to have the file list refreshed. Since this app is processing in realtime that eliminates some time.

As far as I understand, Windows (at least going back to XP) has never had a way of deleting mapped or network files to a local Recyle bin. Found that out the hard way but was able to recover some deleted files using recovery software.

But, for those using NAS drives, which many are based on some Linux variant, anything deleted there may not be recoverable. Recuva (as an example) won't even recognize my NAS mapped drives. I'd accidently erased some files from a different NAS about 5 years and discovered there were no PC based recovery tools that would recover them. I think there might have been an option at the time to send the drive to an outside lab at a cost that was higher than what I paid for the NAS. But that was 5 years ago and there might be some tools available now. Probably a Linux guru would know what's available.

So I agree that a warning or two is probably a wise thing to have. Let the "Deleter Beware".

Thanks to tactictoe for developing what appears to be a useful utility that will save some time (regardless of what it's eventual name might be.)


Bill

[tactictoe]

Just noticed this app and will try it out. Had previously used IndexYourFiles as a "cleanup" tool to search for files across multiple local and mapped drives and then deleted, moved, or copied files, depending on my mood. One downside was having to reindex in between actions in order to have the file list refreshed. Since this app is processing in realtime that eliminates some time.

As far as I understand, Windows (at least going back to XP) has never had a way of deleting mapped or network files to a local Recyle bin. Found that out the hard way but was able to recover some deleted files using recovery software.

But, for those using NAS drives, which many are based on some Linux variant, anything deleted there may not be recoverable. Recuva (as an example) won't even recognize my NAS mapped drives. I'd accidently erased some files from a different NAS about 5 years and discovered there were no PC based recovery tools that would recover them. I think there might have been an option at the time to send the drive to an outside lab at a cost that was higher than what I paid for the NAS. But that was 5 years ago and there might be some tools available now. Probably a Linux guru would know what's available.

So I agree that a warning or two is probably a wise thing to have. Let the "Deleter Beware".

Thanks to tactictoe for developing what appears to be a useful utility that will save some time (regardless of what it's eventual name might be.)


Bill

Actually the software is deleting permanently every thing that is networked file and is unable to send these files to the recycle bin. I just chit-chat with an expert on this matter and they are NO WAY to proceed that way if the file is not local under a windows system but reinventing a missing wheel here. Will ask other expert on this subject.I feel I will need to find a work around different than targeting the local recycle bin of a networked PC. May be move to instead of delete. But then again, performance will suffer. So, what could be the compromised solution? I have no idea. I am still trying thought. I did not think about other media resources not part of windows ... Thanks to pointing it out. Anyway to access theses resources means they are networked therefor the same rule apply.

Thanks for trying the software, I can't wait to hear your results.

For file recovery I use various tools. Recuva is a weak advanced 'undelete' and not so efficient IMHO. I use EaseUS Data recovery and it works fine for me. It's not perfect but for what I use it for, it is more than okay. Here is where you can get EaseUS Data recovery: http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizar ... ftware.htm Please note the free version can recover a maximum of 2GB only per session. There are also commercial tools I like. Here is a list of some that come to mind at time of this writing:
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery, R-Studio, Pro Soft Data rescue 3 PC, Ontrack EasyRecovery.

[tactictoe]

Pff... Feel like an exercise of law but I had to do it.
The first time any deletion operation is executed this warning shows BEFORE it proceed to deletion. I have no choice but to warn people severely about potential consequences of deletion of files.

It will nag the user in a way but that is the only way to be sure people understand what they are doing.
Answer explained:
(a) YES: Proceed with the deletion of file(s), the warning does NOT reappear.
(b) NO: Deletion of file is aborted and this message will reappear.
(c) Closing the dialog windows is CANCEL: Deletion of file is aborted and this message will reappear.

I hope it does not ruin the appeals of this software. But potential users are now aware. I would appreciate if somebody can help me to reformulate this warning message in a more friendly legal way. Thanks.

Have all a nice day.

[Billo255]

Actually the software is deleting permanently every thing that is networked file and is unable to send these files to the recycle bin.

Yes, and that's an operation of the OS and is what I'd meant when I'd said "As far as I understand, Windows (at least going back to XP) has never had a way of deleting mapped or network files to a local Recyle bin."

Pff... Feel like an exercise of law but I had to do it.
The first time any deletion operation is executed this warning shows BEFORE it proceed to deletion. I have no choice but to warn people severely about potential consequences of deletion of files.

In my opinion, and I'm not criticising, I think you may be over thinking the warning message. Users delete files all the time and should already understand that deleting certain files (even if they don't think of it as a "network" file) can be permenant. If not, then a short reminder message in a popup dialog that says "Warning - Network files are always permenantly deleted and will not be sent to the Recyle Bin. Continue? Yes No" should be sufficient. It could popup each time the user presses the Delete Selected button. I'd even suggest adding a checkbox on the popup dialog asking the user if they *don't* want to see the message in the future.

If you wanted to provide them with more information about why network files aren't saved to the local Recycle Bin you could point them to a help file that explains the issue in more detail.

Just thinking out loud here...

May be move to instead of delete. But then again, performance will suffer.

Giving the user an option to archive deleted files to a folder could be one option. Performance may be slower but most users should be able to understand that. Since there will be lots of duplicate file names I'd suggest adding a sequential number to the end of each file name. Ideally zip the files into batches to save space with the date and time attached to the zip file name in order to make it easier for the user to locate a particular batch.

Bill

[tactictoe]

In my opinion, and I'm not criticising, I think you may be over thinking the warning message. Users delete files all the time and should already understand that deleting certain files (even if they don't think of it as a "network" file) can be permenant. If not, then a short reminder message in a popup dialog that says "Warning - Network files are always permenantly deleted and will not be sent to the Recyle Bin. Continue? Yes No" should be sufficient. It could popup each time the user presses the Delete Selected button. I'd even suggest adding a checkbox on the popup dialog asking the user if they *don't* want to see the message in the future.

I think I overreacted so the Ugly warning message is gone. Now the warning is included into previous warning when executing one of the options of the execute menu and only if warning before execution is ticked.

I think this warning is sufficient it solves all problems.

Thanks to help me here Bill.

[webfork]

In my opinion, and I'm not criticising, I think you may be over thinking the warning message.

Agreed. Also you should expect that no user will will read all that. You have maybe two sentences to say what you want and then people are just going to click whatever based on those two sentences. I recommend something like:

Warning: networked files are usually deleted permanently and not sent to the recycle bin, making them difficult to recover. Please consider moving/renaming files rather than deleting.

Also I've tried to update the entry a little bit: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2767 I'll try to do more soon.

[tactictoe]

In my opinion, and I'm not criticising, I think you may be over thinking the warning message.

Agreed. Also you should expect that no user will will read all that. You have maybe two sentences to say what you want and then people are just going to click whatever based on those two sentences. I recommend something like:

Warning: networked files are usually deleted permanently and not sent to the recycle bin, making them difficult to recover. Please consider moving/renaming files rather than deleting.

Also I've tried to update the entry a little bit: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2767 I'll try to do more soon.

Thank you for editing the entry.

So here is what I did it, better some pictures to explain the lot:

Note the option 'Delete to recycle bin' has changed for 'Delete to recycle bin local file'.

Pretty self explained.

This is the the dialog window I talked about.

to continue next post as you cannot place inline, to my knowledge, more than 3 attachments...

[tactictoe]

... the post continue here...

I also shorted the 2 messages as suggested for delete option in the execute menu. Fair enough no one is going to read what was used in the past as warning message (Disabled by unticking 'warn me before execution' options). I must Admit I lost myself in LOTS of shuffles, the answer was so obvious and in a way so Australian: KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)... Oh well, I forgot simple thing is sometime the best solution. And here it is the case.
Australian saying: 'If all fails, read the manual otherwise run'. I don't know if this is valid for the rest of the world; sure was the start of I like to lose myself in the shuffles, NOT. Anyway.

Here it is, one of them:

I guess it solves all legal problems and warn enough the end user without nagging him/her.

I also add to the credit (Readable via its about box): 'Webfork', 'Bill256' for your help in this matter. I wish to thank you both here personally for your appreciated valued help. I will probably still struggle here if it was not for your help and advice. So: THANK YOU.

Have all a nice day.

[TP109]

This app appears to be something that is useful since I often update files located across multiple directories. I usually use something like CopytoTabs, n2copy, or jMultiFilesAndDirsCopy to copy and/or replace the files. Each of the preceding apps work a little differently from each other and they are not very user-friendly. This is a much easier to use program compared to those mentioned. In addition, being able to rename the extension or just delete the files is handy.

I haven't actually replaced any files with this yet since I don't need it at the moment, but I did run a few scans to see if it would find some files of interest. I'm using XP and my screen size is 1280 by 800. The first thing I noticed was the huge vertical size of the UI. I couldn't resize it so that it wouldn't take all of the screen's vertical space. Possibly adding a vertical scroll bar to the starting directory window so it can be reduced further and reducing the vertical size of the results window a little, maybe by 25%, would help. In my opinion, the positions of the "file to find" and "file to replace with" should be swapped. Also, when selecting files in the results window with the select all/deselect buttons, not all the files display as selected/deselected until vertical scroll-bar is moved up or down. Seems to be a refresh issue.

Even as it is, I think this app is useable and if the above issues are addressed, it would be better.

[tactictoe]

V2.2.1.0 is up

What's new?
Some 'cosmetic bug' due to my distraction fixed.
Now possibility to change the file attributes of one or more file via selection.

New look for the Main GUI, note the position of some buttons are changed.

And the File attribute dialog windows to change file attributes of one or more file.

Please vote if you like: http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2767.
(entry and screenshot modified on its private page)

@TP109 I will do that next update for you if possible. Please note: it is not supposed to work under XP.
A similar version for this OS and earlier are on it's way. But for now I give priority to this version.

For the moment the Min size of the interface is set in pixels to:
* MinWidth := 857;
* MinHeight := 782;


I will reduce the Min Height. Or use a trick: collapsing panel on demand.

[tactictoe]

V2.3.1.0 is up

What's new in this version:
Accept folder and file drag&drop separately or combined into the main program windows.
* Folder goes to the Starting Directory (Multiple) list,
* File goes to the Search result list.
It permits you to add file to the list without the need of searching for files.
MinHeight of the software main windows set to 760 pixels. (TP109 needs)

@TP109

Also, when selecting files in the results window with the select all/deselect buttons, not all the files display as selected/deselected until vertical scroll-bar is moved up or down

Cannot reproduce this behavior; it works fines on 27 different machines with various OS from Vista to win10 (I tested it at work).

In my opinion, the positions of the "file to find" and "file to replace with" should be swapped

Why? All the target paths are on the left and the tools to target these paths on the right. The 'file to find' is a targeting tool and it make sense to me to put it close the search button. The search button is under its options too. Without explanation, I cannot grant this request.

Please vote if you like:http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2767.
(Version entry and screenshot modified on its private page)

[tactictoe]

Search and delete is now V2.4.1.0

What is new in this update:

Possibility to collapse/un-collapse the Target Settings panel: to reduce the size of the main windows on small resolution. State of this panel and main windows can be saved via save preferences button. This is the final solution on TP109 wishes.

The revisited GUI, please note the white triangle to collapse the Target Settings panel.

The same GUI but the Target Settings panel is collapsed. Note once again the white triangle to un-collapse the Target Settings panel.

The Search result is rich of a context menu (right-click), it reveals action that can be performed on this list instead of use of the buttons under the same list. This is done for comfort but it brings also shortcut to all the context menu possible actions.

Please vote if you like:http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2767.
(Version entry and screenshot modified on its private page)