The Sleuthhound! Professional
 

What's It Do?

Searches through email messages in OutlookExpress mailboxes, Adobe Acrobat PDF files, ZIP files, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect documents, etc. Displays list of located documents in one second in its Results Browser and displays keywords highlighted. Supports Word, Text, and HTML documents.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1. Yes, but there are warts.

Reviewer 2. Yes, though getting it to do everything they say it will may require spending money above the cost of SleuthHound Pro.

Reviewer 3. The idea of this program appeals to me greatly, as I use my computer extensively in two completely different fields. Both require a multiplicity of documentation in a large number of formats. Sleuthhound seems to be ideal to help me find files that get buried deep down in multiple levels of folders within folders.

Reviewer 4. After an initial period of indexing your system, it will display your search results in seconds. It is very fast, performs very well, and does what it promises.

Reviewer 5. Yes, it does with respect to functionality, but it overstates its search speed.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1. Very easy and it finished by launching the search zone wizard.

Reviewer 2. Yes, no problems were encountered during the installation.

Reviewer 3. No, I ran into a couple of snags in the installation process. However, the support people answered me quickly, so I was able to get it up and running properly.

Reviewer 4. Very easy, just follow the prompts.

Reviewer 5. Yes, very straightforward, except that it had one glitch: both v4.4 and v4.5 produced the error during installation "Self-Registration Error: Following files wouldn't self-reg or unreg: C:\Program Files\SleuthHound Shared\SHEMail.dll . The specified procedure could not be found". This error apparently had no ill effects on the operation.


Good points.

Reviewer1. Once the program is ready, it is very fast in finding the files I looked for.

Reviewer 2. Easy to set up: create a Search Zone easily by picking the drive(s) you want searched and the types of files to search for, all simple and easy. Saveable searches: Searches can be saved easily for use in the future. For someone who moves a lot of documents on and off a drive, this can be very useful. Updates can be scheduled: Like many search engines, this one creates indexes which speed the search time. For these searches to bbe effective, the indexes need to be updated frequently. Windows gives the ability to index drives to speed searches also, but it always seems to happen at the least appropriate times, impacting overall performance. SleuthHound allows you to schedule the updates at off-peak hours, which to me is a big plus. HTML view format: Results are presented in an informative, easy-to-use HTML format. There is an option to preview documents found in the search without opening a native application. You can save and print results from the Results Browser pages.

Reviewer 3. Once upon a time, there was AltaVista Personal - a Web Search Engine for your own PC. Sadly, it is no longer available, and if it were, it would probably not function on a post-98SE operating system.. This program carries on where AltaVista left off. Of course, you first need to build your indices, here called "Search Zones". You can index whatever set of folders you wish, and create multiple search zones. When you are looking for a word or a phrase, you type it into the Search Box, select your Zone, then go. And it does work fast. Almost immediately, your results are there as if you were using any other Search Engine. You can use simple search features, or you can open a window with advanced search features that allow you to be precise in the instructions you will give the hound to sleuth out for you. The idea of displaying the results in the Search Engine format is an excellent feature. It is both attractively and functionally designed with several interesting features. The "search words" are highlighted in red, and displayed in three lines of text. You can then click on a magnifying glass to get a more preview of the text. And/or you can open the file with its associated programme. So not only can you find it, but you can start working on it immediately with no further ado. There are additional features that allow you to save or to print your search results. The hound also keeps a "History List" which is available in a drop-down menu. And the little doggie on your desktop is cute.

Reviewer 4. You can set up specific folders to monitor, called Search Zones. The program will search these zones for your keywords or wild cards, but you are not limited to Search Zones, you can also use the advanced search to look through your entire systems. You can use operators for searching, such as "and", "or", and "not". The program not only searches for the names, it also searches within the files themselves.

Reviewer 5. Clean, simple, straightforward user interface and set-up options. Runs fast (after initial indexing) and gets effective results presented usefully. Free upgrade within six months of purchase is a very good marketing plan. Good, thorough Help file documentation, but a pain in the neck that one cannot print it out but one section/topic at a time, nor on front and back (reverse) of pages.


Weak points.

Reviewer 1. It is quite limited in what types of files it can search without the extensive array of pricey plug-ins. As these were not provided for the review, I was unable to verify them.

Reviewer 2. The need to purchase additional plug-ins or an expanded version of the program to do certain types of searches is a weak point. For instance, Outlook Express mail searches are supported in SleuthHoundPro, but to search Outlook email you need to buy a plug-in. The same applies for MP3 music tags. In defense of SleuthHound though, they do allow you to buy just the plug-ins you need at a cost of $15 US; therefore, you don't have to buy a bloated package full of items you don't really need.

Reviewer 3. When I first used the program, I found that I was getting far too many items in my Results Browser. For example, I needed a file with the name 'Matt' in it. I got a huge list of files with the word 'matter' - none of them the desired one. I tried typing "Matt" with quotes around it, hoping that this would tell the hound to leave out anything except that precise word. It made no difference. The Sleuthhound's Support was able to help me out. But it required that I go into the program folder and empty a file called wordend.wrd. This file contains a long list of common word endings (like "er"). Once that file had been emptied and I had re-run the Search Zone Manager, I was able to get exact-word results. But it seems to me that this is a bit of a drastic remedy for the occasions in which I might want a very specific word-find - only to lose the possibility of a fuzzy word-find on another occasion.

Reviewer 4. The only weak point is the initial indexing, but after that it is very quick.

Reviewer 5. Price of $35 is too high. I think $20-$25 is much closer to the mark, and pricing the additional add-ins (principally Adobe Acrobat, ZIP files, PowerPoint, and WordPerfect) at $96 is off the wall! Maybe $49 total for the Power Pack, although FILEhand does almost all of that for $39. Indexing should be defaulted to no greater than an "overnight" period. The search mechanism should be executed in real-time "as typing", not at "Go". FILEhand v 1.2 takes care of housekeeping chores much more under-the-cover, a significant benefit to the user.


Other comments.

Reviewer 1. Again, as most of the data I would normally be looking for are in formats covered only by the pricey plug-ins, this software is too limited to be of much value on its own. It updates the Search Zones whenever I use it, so I have to wait for several minutes before doing a viable search. When I'm looking for files, I just want to look for them, I don't want to have to cater to my search tools. This is extremely intrusive and makes the tool virtually useless. I can use the Find Files tool that comes with Windows quicker than this. On the other hand, I could just leave it running all the time for quick use when I need it, but not on Windows 98. It just hogs resources that I could be using for productivity. I suppose I could reduce the refresh rate by making several smaller Search Zones, but then I'd have to know where the files are before searching for them. If I knew that, I wouldn't have to search for them.

Reviewer 2. Overall, a simple and effective program to use.

Reviewer 3. There are three versions available on the Web site: the Basic, the Pro and the Power Pack Pro. You can download the Basic to try the program. The others, you have to buy without a trial period. The basic version is certainly that - basic. For my purposes, being limited to .doc, .txt and html formats makes it very difficult for me to evaluate it thoroughly. Having access to my email documents would be fun, but I don't use OE, so I can forget that. In order to expand the possible formats, I have to go for the more expensive "Pro" version - nearly $50.00 in my money. Even with the extra formats available here, there are a half-dozen or so that I use often that I still cannot access, unless I start purchasing the "plug-ins", or jumping straight into the very pricey Power Pack. By the time that I have the set I would need, I would find myself embarked on a pretty expensive venture. When compared to the price of most of the other tools and utilities that I use regularly, I would regretfully, but surely, give this one a pass. And it would be a regretful pass. As reviewers, we had access to the "Pro" version. It was fun, but far less interesting than a more complete package. Each of the plug-ins costs $15 US (more than $20 in my land). There is a plug-in bundle, but it includes many formats that I do not happen to need. If they want to go that route, they should consider offering custom bundles, which would allow a client to build the set of formats that would suit his particular needs.

Reviewer 4. This is one of the easier search applications available for a personal computer. I have a tendency to forget what the document name was for a project I work on, and with this software I type in a keyword and it instantly finds all related documents.

Reviewer 5. None.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1. Not without the plug-ins and at the price they command, I doubt that I would purchase them, having no third-party information as to their functionality.

Reviewer 2. Yes.

Reviewer 3. Probably, but not more than once-in-a-while. The additional formats that I need to make it really useful are far too expensive.

Reviewer 4. Yes, I will definitely continue to use it.

Reviewer 5. Yes, but only because I already have it installed.

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