(This is an Update/Addendum to my Review of May 23,1995. There were some features which I missed and new information I obtained from Space Hound's programmer (Al Meadows) after the review was posted.) Specifications and Requirements ------------------------------- Software Title: Space Hound Utility Program Version 1.67 Author or Company: FineWare Systems P.O. Box 75776 Oklahoma City, OK 73147 TEL: (800) 544-1740 (Orders Only) FAX: (405) 942-7819 E-Mail: VB AL@aol.com 70650.2022@compuserve.com Prodigy: BBTK05A Registration Fee: $37.95 ($74.95 for the NetWare Version) Location: Windows Forum Software Library (AOL) Filename: SPACEHND.ZIP Filesize (ZIPped): 888,631 bytes Filesize (unZIPped): 2,080,820 bytes Keywords: Meadows, Fineware Systems, Space Hound, Duplicate, ASP, VB, Win 3.1 Requirements: 386 or better, Windows 3.1, 4 Megs of Ram (8+ Megs recommended) Misc. Information: Site Licenses are available. They also have United Kingdom, Netherlands and Belgium addresses and will soon be adding Germany. Rating (1-10): 9 Date of Review: 5/23/95 (Updated 6/7/95) Installation ------------ Installation Rating: (Manual Installation) Description of Installation Process: You will need to create a new permanent directory to extract the ZIPped program files into. Once this is done, add the program's icon to an existing Program Manager group (or create a new group for it) and the program is ready to run. No other files need to go into any other directory (unless one of the files used by Space Hound already exists in the "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM" subdirectory and is older than Space Hound's version and is in use when Space Hound is running. You would then need to replace that file (in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory) with the newer one that came with Space Hound). (NOTE:The registered version of Space Hound (Space Hound Pro) comes with an excellent Installation program.) Features -------- Listing/Description of Features: Space Hound creates Directory Lists, File Lists, File Counts/Sizes Lists and File Extension Lists all of which can be saved to disk for future referral. These lists show the total number of bytes and files that are in each directory and subdirectory and information for individual files. These lists can be sorted in ascending or descending order. All reports can also be printed out with a single mouse click. You can change the Directory Tree's display to show any depth of subdirectories desired. Also, all screen displays can be changed from vertical to horizontal orientation (printed displays can be changed from portrait to landscape orientation as well). Field sizes can be displayed in bytes or in allocation units. The display/print fonts and the program's display colors are also configurable. You can search all your disk drives for duplicate files. Space Hound lets you either find files with the exact same name (but may be different in size or content), files which are the same in name and size/content, or files which are identical in content (but may have different file dates and times). You can launch a file or program from the File Listing (or Directory map) with a couple of mouse clicks. You can also launch a file by double-clicking on the icon associated with it which appears near the bottom of Space Hound's display. Space Hound can move, copy or delete files and/or directories (without having to launch File Manager) and it keeps a detailed log of all file activity (moves, copies and deletes) performed when using Space Hound. You can also call up a summary of the number of files and the total number of bytes that have been deleted using Space Hound. It has a ToolBar with buttons for: Create File List, Create Directory Map, Show File Counts & Sizes by File Extension, Locate Duplicate Files, Sort Files in Ascending/Descending Order, Delete File(s)/Directories, Compare Files, Print File List or Directory Report, View Highlighted Files (registered version only), Change Split Screen Orientation to Vertical/Horizontal, Decrease/Increase Directory Tree Display Depth, Close All Open Windows, Move/Copy Highlighted Files, Show Number & Size of Files Deleted by Space Hound (so far), Display Activity Log, Set Misc. Options, Display Drive Info (Total Space, Free Space, Sector Size, Sectors per Cluster, Cluster Size, and the number of Sectors and Clusters for any drive), and Exit Space Hound. Space Hound also has a Resource Monitor that can be displayed in the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. This monitor reports the percentages of free GDI, User and System Resources as well as the amount of free memory available. Its File Menu has options for: Open, Save, Print, Display Font, Directory Map Font, Printer Font, Print Setup, Misc. Options, Default Disk Drives (lets you set which drives will be read in a scan), and Exit Space Hound. Its Reports Menu has options for: Files List Display, Directory Map Display, Duplicate File Names Display, Extensions Display, Drive Info, Activity Log (displays actions taken on files while using Space Hound), and Deletion Statistics. Space Hound's Window Menu lets you Arrange, Cascade, and Tile Windows. It also has the options for turning on/off the Toolbar and/or Status Bar. The Help Menu has options for: Novice Mode (on/off), Contents, Keyboard, Glossary, Search for Help On, How to Use Help, Netware Edition Info, and the About box. Help/Documentation Rating: 9 Space Hound's online Help menu has options for Help Contents, a Keyboard Shortcut List, a Glossary of Terms, Search capabilities and How to use Help. It also has a switchable Novice Mode onscreen hint/help feature that is VERY beneficial the first few times you use Space Hound. Once you get the idea of how to use the program this feature can be switched off. Summary ------- Space Hound is a File Utility program for Windows which lets you perform many tasks Windows File Manager just doesn't have the capabilties of doing. It also can perform other tasks File Manager is able to do but, Space Hound does them without having to launch File Manager (saving time and Windows resources). The main purpose of Space Hound is to help you locate files which may just be taking up room on your hard drive. It does this quite well. It lets you perform file listings by extension, search for duplicate files, compare files, move, copy, and delete files and/or directories with just a couple of mouse clicks AND it keeps a log of this activity (this is one of its finest features). This log keeps records of when you perform any of the above functions (on any file) while you are using Space Hound. This is really helpful in keeping track of your drive's maintainence (especially if you accidently kill the wrong file!). Although snooping out reclaimable storage is Space Hound's main purpose it can very easily be used for most of your basic file management functions. Although I did have a few problems running Space Hound on my 4 Meg 486 DX2-50 (as I will describe in the Problems and Suggestions section), I had no problems whatsoever running it on an 8 Meg 486 DX2-50. This utility will make an excellent addition to any computer users hard drive. I very much recommend Space Hound. It is one of my all-time favorite shareware programs. Problems and Suggestions ------------------------ List of Problems found: CONFLICT: A conflict occurs between Plannet Crafters "Plug-In for Windows" and Space Hound when you try to create a file list, but this is easily corrected. All that is required is to exclude Plug-In's Title Bar messages from being displayed in Space Hound. Go to "Configure Plug-In" and select the "Title Bar" button. Next, select "General" and then "Exclude". Click on "New" and then on "Browse" to open the browse box. Find the directory Space Hound is in and click on it then click on SPACEHND.EXE to exclude it. Plug-In will not display its Title Bar reports when you are running Space Hound. (If you have questions refer to Plug-In's Help Menu) (NOTE: The conflict between Plug-In and Space Hound is being addressed by its programmer (Al Meadows of Fineware) and should be solved in an upcoming version). INSUFFICENT MEMORY: I use a 486DX2-50 with 4 Megs of Ram. Space Hound was not able to perform the Duplicate Files, File List, or File Count/Size by Extension reports on all of my 540 Meg Hard Drive (that has 9,854 files on it). The program reported that I did not have enough memory and recommended increasing the size of my swap file. I did increase the size of the swap file but, this did not solve the problem in my case. I can use these features for selected directories on the drive (which is still worth it for me), but not for the whole volume. I then tried using the program on a 8 Meg 486 DX2-50. Here it worked just fine! No problems were encountered in running any of the file lists Space Hound offers. I recommend having 8 Megs of RAM (if you have a large number of files on a 500 Meg+ hard drive) in order to be able to use the features to scan your entire drive. (NOTE: After my evaluation of the program I tried installing Space Hound on another 486 DX2-50, 4 Meg computer with a 420 Meg drive (that has 9,423 files on it) and after increasing the size of the swap file by just 2 Megs (to a total size of 12 Megs) the program was able to read the entire volume with no problems.) PRINTER PROBLEM: When I attempted to print out a report in Space Hound I was told no font had been selected for the printer (I use a Hewlett Packard DeskJet 500). I selected a printer font in the Options menu of the program and it printed. However, once I exited the program and tried to print something in my word processor I was told there was no printer selected. I went into Control Panel and the printer was listed but when I selected SetUp the incorrect options screens came up. These were the screens for the DeskJet 550C Color printer. I had to reinstall my printer driver from the original disk in order to get my printer back online. I gave Space Hound the benefit of the doubt and tried to print again but, the same thing occured. This problem is one the programmer is aware of and is currently in the process of correcting. It effects PostScript Printers and some of Hewlett Packard Drivers. At present you can eliminate the problem by setting a switch in the Miscellaneous Options section but, it does force you to use the current default settings of the printer for orientation. At least it eliminates the problem of losing your printer drivers until this bug can be vanquished (see NOTE below). Suggestions For Improvements: 1). Correction of the PostScript/Hewlett Packard printer/printing problems mentioned above. (NOTE: This problem is being addressed and should be corrected in a future version of Space Hound.) 2). The addition of an option allowing the user to set whether of not Space Hound shows hidden files/directories in its listings. At present it displays ALL files and directories and there is no way of setting it to NOT show hidden ones. (NOTE: This feature will be added in a future version of Space Hound.) Technical Support ----------------- Technical Support Rating: 10 Description: As I mentioned above, I had a couple of problems using Space Hound on my 4 Meg computer. I made E-Mail inquiries to Space Hound's programmer in reference to these difficulties and was answered in less than twelve hours! His answers and suggestions were intelligent and helpful (and this for an unregistered evaluation!!) I am very impressed with their technical support. Also, prior to the completion of this review, FineWare Systems added an 800 number for placing phone orders. The number for this service is 1-800-544-1740. They will have this line fully peopled after June 1st, 1995. This is a really nice service that not many shareware companies are offering! What do you get when you register? ---------------------------------- You receive the newest version of Space Hound with a built in version of the company's other winning program called "Peeper" (which is one of the best file viewers I have seen). This lets you view a file with a simple mouse click. The combination of Space Hounds features, Peepers viewing ability and FineWares excellent technical support makes this program well worth registering. (DISCLAIMER: This review is provided for information/entertainment purposes only. The author will not be held responsible or liable for any problems which may occur in the use of any of the reviewed software. The author will also not be held responsible if the program reviewed does not operate, in the way stated. With there being so many system configurations possible confilcts/problems can arise which may prevent the reviewed software from operating in the way indicated. This is not the responsibility of the reviewer.)