DiskMax 2.2

[KJohn]

version 2.1 is out, please check the first post for change log and other details....

Download from: http://koshyjohnuk.googlepages.com/DiskMax.exe

I never intended to bring this out but when I randomly checked up to see how many ppl downloaded this program over the last couple of months, I thought I'd update it.

Those of you who are using it at the moment can wait up to 30 days from now before DiskMax automatically recoginises the update and informs you (if you'd like to take the slow route ).

[KJohn]

no comments?

isn't there anyone running Vista here?

[KJohn]

Sooo long and no comments?

Over 900 people downloaded this program and about 20 continue to do so every day even now.

On the other hand only 135 ppl have downloaded neoSearch but the interest in it is way way more...

Do you need a shadow mode so that the program runs without doing anything but tells you what it would do in a regular run??

Please don't be wary because of an isolated incident in a previous version of this program a long time back. It was due to a bug in AutoIt which was rectified. I use this program every single day on Vista and I've never encountered any problems.

[powaking]

Sooo long and no comments?

Over 900 people downloaded this program and about 20 continue to do so every day even now.

On the other hand only 135 ppl have downloaded neoSearch but the interest in it is way way more...

Do you need a shadow mode so that the program runs without doing anything but tells you what it would do in a regular run??

Please don't be wary because of an isolated incident in a previous version of this program a long time back. It was due to a bug in AutoIt which was rectified. I use this program every single day on Vista and I've never encountered any problems.

Ran it and cleared up about 1.3gigs of 'crap'. And my shortcuts didn't go hiding either

Anyway to make a config screen so that we can pick and choose what steps are being performed? Or maybe keep an ini file and we just can populate the functions with either 1's for enabled or 0 for disabled.

[dNino]

As you recommed me, I used DiskMax.

But You're getting msgboxes while running, so you have to be at youre computer.

And how are you defragmenting? not the standard windows way, because it don't say it is defragmenting.

Edited July 25, 2007 by dNino

[xPi]

Deleted my .log files without asking me.

Is there any way to stop it from doing that, or choose which folders to leave alone?

Edited July 28, 2007 by xPi

[xPi]

update: got some files back

[erebus]

This program is just crap: DO NOT RUN IT IN ANY WAY ON YOUR SYSTEM.

1) It doesn't ask me EXACTLY what to do. Even when it does, it does it wrong (or I can't explain how it emptied my Recycle Bin while I clearly answered NO when it asked me to do so).

2) It DELETED my precious log files from the mIRC folder, that I kept in there for years, without asking me to do so!

3) It tried to delete some GID files (which just happened to have the same extension with what YOU think of being a GID file) -- thank god it found them locked and they were not deleted.

4) There is NO WAY to STOP IT! After it starts, it deletes whatever IT wants, without having a simple cancel button.

5) There is NO WAY to scroll back to see the messages that appear on the screen. It just gives a log file in the end, when it is too late to do anything.

If you want to be serious in making such a program while NOT giving the source to us to examine, follow these two simple advices:

a. Do not consider that YOUR perspective is the IDEAL for ANY OTHER USER ON THIS PLANET.

b. ...therefore DO NOT FORCE THEM to make such changes on their systems UNLESS they agree to do so.

So PLEASE if you want to continue on this project and make the rest NOT TO LOSE PRECIOUS DATA, write a damn function so as when your script ends to INFORM what changes are going to be performed BEFORE they do so. If you can add ticks to allow some of them only, would be just great. Even better consider a backup functionality WHICH ALL SERIOUS CLEANERS HAVE.

There are excellent programs on the market like CCleaner and Privacy Eraser that perform professionally. Your logic just sucks.

P.S. Sorry for the caps but I am very angry at this moment.

Edited July 29, 2007 by erebus

[AutoItKing]

I agree 100% with erebus. It deletes random log files in pretty much any place they can be found. Empties recycle bin, doesn't ask to do so. Doesn't ask to do anything at all, just does it. Compared to CCleaner, this is mediocre. And not giving the source is stupid. Especially on a forum inhabited by IT dudes.

P.S. I think it's a good endeavor, it just needs some work, that's all!

Edited July 29, 2007 by AutoItKing

[BrettF]

If you want a program that does something similar but want to see the source, check out valuator's XP Clean ( http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=27603 )

You know which one I'm using....

[KJohn]

I agree 100% with erebus. It deletes random log files in pretty much any place they can be found. Empties recycle bin, doesn't ask to do so. Doesn't ask to do anything at all, just does it. Compared to CCleaner, this is mediocre. And not giving the source is stupid. Especially on a forum inhabited by IT dudes.

If you've installed a previous version at any point of time and you answered, "Yes" when you were asked whether you wanted to empty the recycle bin, it would continue to do so in all subsequent versions. Not the brightest program, I agree. But a vast majority of the users have found it very useful (please note that I am not discounting your grievances).

I've not bothered to change anything coz very few people who installed it bothered to give feedback unless something they didn't expect happened.

[KJohn]

This program is just crap: DO NOT RUN IT IN ANY WAY ON YOUR SYSTEM.

1) It doesn't ask me EXACTLY what to do. Even when it does, it does it wrong (or I can't explain how it emptied my Recycle Bin while I clearly answered NO when it asked me to do so).

2) It DELETED my precious log files from the mIRC folder, that I kept in there for years, without asking me to do so!

3) It tried to delete some GID files (which just happened to have the same extension with what YOU think of being a GID file) -- thank god it found them locked and they were not deleted.

4) There is NO WAY to STOP IT! After it starts, it deletes whatever IT wants, without having a simple cancel button.

5) There is NO WAY to scroll back to see the messages that appear on the screen. It just gives a log file in the end, when it is too late to do anything.

If you want to be serious in making such a program while NOT giving the source to us to examine, follow these two simple advices:

a. Do not consider that YOUR perspective is the IDEAL for ANY OTHER USER ON THIS PLANET.

b. ...therefore DO NOT FORCE THEM to make such changes on their systems UNLESS they agree to do so.

So PLEASE if you want to continue on this project and make the rest NOT TO LOSE PRECIOUS DATA, write a damn function so as when your script ends to INFORM what changes are going to be performed BEFORE they do so. If you can add ticks to allow some of them only, would be just great. Even better consider a backup functionality WHICH ALL SERIOUS CLEANERS HAVE.

There are excellent programs on the market like CCleaner and Privacy Eraser that perform professionally. Your logic just sucks.

P.S. Sorry for the caps but I am very angry at this moment.

I'm sorry for the program's behavior. I created this program for a class of users who only need to get their system back to peak performance without having to know the details. You can possibly imagine how many users are around (not on this forum) who don't even know what defragging means and why it is necessary. The files the program deletes are STANDARD files that have been listed as safely deletable at various reputable sites including respected magazines like PC World.

*.log files are log files

*.gid files are temporary files generated by previous generation Help files

These two file extensions are marked for deletion by just about any class of disk cleaners available on the market. And 99% of the users don't need these files. And most of the 1% percent who need it, need it only if they have to perform troubleshooting. This is why I generalised it. I'm sorry it didn't suit you and I understand perfectly.

There is a way to stop it: Just press 'Esc'. This comes written on the screen when the program starts up. You probably missed it.

Your suggestions will be taken very seriously and incorporated in a different program altogether written from scratch.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you.

If it is of any help, please visit:

http://www.undelete-plus.com/

[KJohn]

And what makes me fairly confident that very very few people are unhappy with some details is this:

Week Dates Hits

This Week 07/22/07 - 07/28/07 54

Last Week 07/15/07 - 07/21/07 - 46

2 Weeks Ago 07/08/07 - 07/14/07 - 62

3 Weeks Ago 07/01/07 - 07/07/07 - 9

4 Weeks Ago 06/24/07 - 06/30/07 - 20

5 Weeks Ago 06/17/07 - 06/23/07 - 12

6 Weeks Ago 06/10/07 - 06/16/07 - 9

7 Weeks Ago 06/03/07 - 06/09/07 - 20

8 Weeks Ago 05/27/07 - 06/02/07 - 7

9 Weeks Ago 05/20/07 - 05/26/07 - 25

10 Weeks Ago 05/13/07 - 05/19/07 - 28

and so on......

Total installs: 946 to date

My contact details are prominently displayed on the GUI throughout the program run and not one person has contacted me with a problem.

[KJohn]

Ran it and cleared up about 1.3gigs of 'crap'. And my shortcuts didn't go hiding either

Anyway to make a config screen so that we can pick and choose what steps are being performed? Or maybe keep an ini file and we just can populate the functions with either 1's for enabled or 0 for disabled.

Thanks powaking! That can be done...

This is the response of most users who have used the program. Anyone who doesn't fall into this cateogry, please accept my apologies for now. I will strive to make this better.

[erebus]

Hello and thank you for the response.

Quick answers:

1) I haven't ever run your program in the past - either this or a previous version. Yesterday was my first and last kind attempt to give you feedback for your program. Since I hadn't run it before to know about my behaviour, it should consider my answer to its question about emptying the recycle bin as a NO (which didn't and I don't know why).

2) I agree that the average user should not know all the details about cleaning up a hard drive. However in here the majority of the users are not average; are in this way or another coders, technicians and IT professionals. So at least you should do the following: (a) Display a warning that you bear no responsibility about any data loss. ( Give more details about what is going to be performed. © Debug your script so as to behave normally (and not abnormally like the recycle bin thing). (d) Put a cancel button. (e) Add vertical scrollbars to your editbox. (f) Give the option for a user to do a system restore after the cleanup if needed. (g) Inform the users thoroughly before doing any change on their systems and let them decide if they want to continue. (h) Add a /silent switch for those who want full automation of your tasks.

3) The fact that a bunch of users use your script, doesn't mean anything. You know how many they use it everyday, you don't know if they are happy with it. Consider that many of those try it for the first time, that your program was not so well-known 10 weeks ago, so it is logical for this number to increase day by day. You don't really know if the same users continue to use it or if they delete it displeased allowing new users to increase your stats the next day out of curiosity.

4) Even if 90% of your users are happy and continue to use it, doesn't mean anything. To me, NOT to delete a precious .log file from one's hard disk is more important than deleting thousands of useless .log files from hundreds of people. Think of it. 1% is still considerable if you want to be perfect.

5) The fact that you identify a file's contents only because of its extension is at least not accurate (not to say stupid). However as I am coder too and I realize that this is a quick and dirty way to do the job, give at least the users the option not to run your program silently and control of its actions as I explained above in detail (see no2). Most of the programs that I, you and other mentioned that use the same generalized concept, have at least the option to allow the users to consent before performing system changes; most of them have also a backup/restore functionality. So do not hurry putting your effort at their level; you are far from it, either to mention them.

6) I understand that you publicize your personal details so as to contact you if we have a problem. However you cannot deal with all the problems that your script cause. I managed to undelete some files myself last night, but not all of it. What you can do for situations like this? Nothing but feeling sorry -- ok, thank you.

7) Of course and I missed about the ESC thing. It just disappeared out of my eyes withing msecs, as anything happened really fast. Yes, you wrote a fast script, however it was disastrous to me.

8) I accept your apologies and I am not mad at you because it was my fault to run an unknown program to my production laptop. However I would be pleased if you consider all these experiences from this thread to write a script that would suit anyone's need.

So far,

[KJohn]

Important notes: I has created this software with the end-user's best interests at heart but I have understood that experienced users will find the lack of control over some functions of the program a little disconcerting. For such users, the following information might be useful in deciding whether to run the program:

- Empties recycle bin (user can decide this on the first run) and deletes (*.xml,*.txt,*.sqm) from the root of every volume.

- Clears user's history, temporary files, temp internet files, cookies (on request), MRU list.

- Removes Microsoft windows updates' uninstall files (so make sure all your recent updates are going well before you run this)

- Clears some standard MRU locations.

- Under Windows Vista, it will clear out all your event logs (no useful for 99% of users; just lists things like what happened in Windows and when).

- All files with the following extensions (that are not in use) are deleted: LOG, OLD, PRV, CHK, SWP, BAK, GID, WBK, TMP.

- Defragments your volumes using Windows' built in defragmenter.

The above files are not directly recoverable. The behavior of the latest version of the program (a couple of months old) has never operated out specifications. But some experienced users on the forum have found my default specifications (now listed above for perusal in that light) not to their liking (read more about that in the subsequent posts).

The program can be stopped at any time during its run by pressing the 'Esc' key on your keyboard.

Would the inclusion of this text in the first post be sufficient for the users who found the default behavior of DiskMax disagreeable? I'm developing a newer version but it'll be a couple of months in the offing... Especially since I'm undecided as to how to implement the layout of the interface to incorporate a plethora of options...

[quake101]

I don't mean to digg up a thread from the past but.....

I'm impressed with this program, the GUI is very nice and it seems to run nice and smooth, while keeping the user informed of what it's doing. I plan on putting this on my USB drive and using it with other "tools" I have collected.

There is one feature I would like to see on this program, a simple "start/run" button would be nice, this would allow the user to set the options they want before running/starting the clean up.

Thanks for your hard work. I hope to see more updates to this program.

Note: The link to the source doesn't work. (Will you please update that as well?)

Edited October 22, 2008 by quake101

[thenewkid]

Dont run this app i fort it would be good till i ran it and after i when to play some music and there it was it app deleted all my music files with out asking me to do so

[Draygoes]

I dont understand. Where is its source code???

[Mojo]

I dont understand. Where is its source code???

As I understood it, the source was never released. Or if it was, the author didn't mention it anywhere.

After reading the comments in this thread, I don't think I'll give it a try, I rather use CCleaner, which I think does pretty

much the same things this does, EXCEPT CCleaner actually works 100% as it should, and you can select what to delete and what not, and it is very customizable.

IF indeed the author never released the source, I can even less understand why people would try this DiskMax program at all.

I mean, I could understand it if people want to have a scripted, customizable, open source Cleaning Software, but that doesn't seem to be the case.