Alternative YDS FAQ (user's point of view)

[w0qj]

Re: Alternative YDS FAQ (user's point of view)

Here are the commonly asked questions regarding YDS, which is now a discontinued product:


1. The last public version of YDS:
Yahoo! Desktop Search 1.2
Build 1852je
yds1852je.exe
Release date: around Dec'2005

For now, you can still download this from secondary download sites such as:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Ya ... 05420067/1


2. Differences YDS vs. XEC:

Features that YDS have but XEC does not have:
==>YDS can index for Yahoo Instant Messenger messages


Features that XEC have but YDS does not have:
==>Windows Vista support
==>MS Office'2007 support
==>XEC has a convenient Deskbar
==>network indexing with the X1 Enterprise Client Deployment Manager
==>indexes emails for Thunderbird/Netscape/Eudora email programs
==>Real Time Indexing of Files and MS Outlook email
==>Drag-and-Drop search results into email as a file attachment.
==>This is as of v5.6.2 and XEC constantly has new features added, as well as bug fixes...

(get the idea?)

[peteshea]

Thanks for providing a link to YDS still. I made the mistake of upgrading to XEC without saving an install file for YDS. Huge mistake! YDS has been wonderful to me fo some time. XEC is apparently still bug-ridden.

In only 24 hours it:

1) Locked up my Outlook so badly I had to reboot.
2) Says it indexes my email, but only shows emails up to 2 days ago. Where the heck are the more recent items? They're all in the same pst and mailbox.
3) Says it indexes my several thousand calendar items, but only shows 8.

Since it won't index email or calendar items correctly, I have no faith that it's indexing anything else correctly.

I tried removing indices and rebuilding from scratch. I tried disabling and re-enabling cached exchange mode. I tried rebooting. I tried exiting and restarting both outlook and X1. No good. It just doesn't work!

PLEASE don't get rid of YDS until X1 works as well!!!!

The new features sound great, but I DON'T CARE if the basics don't even work!

[Kenward]

The basics work for most people. As there are few reports of similar behaviour, you might want to investigate why your installation of X1 is misbehaving.

You have provided too little information for anyone to be able to help diagnose your problems.

Given the age of the Yahoo! version, if you don't need some of its special features, with a little patience, not to mention information, you would be better off sorting out what is wrong with your PC.

[peteshea]

Understood, but I'm not sure I'd have the faintest idea how to start debugging XEC. If anyone has pointers, I might be willing to look into it again, but it's hard to find the time. Possible confusion factors: size of pst file? Multiple pst files open at once? I can't imagine why the Options shows the right number of items in an area (Calendar, contacts, email) but it only shows a few in its list after indexing. I suspect turning off the real-time email indexing would fix any outlook conflicts, but it would also get rid of a key difference between YDS and XEC. I don't need network searching, so that leaves calendar search and index as the only remaining difference and I couldn't get that to work. (Interestingly, the calendar option window had a notice or warning about exchange cache, but the email one did not. Not sure what's up there.)

Thanks.

[Kenward]

Are you saying that you use Outlook through Exchange? This seems to be the first time that you have mentioned it.

If you can't be bothered to provide the information needed to debug, fine. Go back to YDS. But don't be surprised if it gradually becomes less useful as the rest of the world moves on.

[peteshea]

I didn't intend to say that at all. I think I said I didn't know what information to provide or where to start.

Yes, Outlook gets email via Exchange, but strictly in cached mode so it is all stored locally. I at least implied that in my original post as I mentioned that I had tried disabling and re-enabling cached mode, per one suggestion in the FAQ. I did take a stab (a few hours worth actually) at trying to figure out what was wrong.

Whether or not I can be bothered would depend on the degree of impact and the prognosis. Your involvement is appreciated, although I do seem to have unintentionally put you on the defensive.

I have gone back to YDS, but that is entirely because I need the capability and could not get XEC to work. If the problems I've had can be resolved, so much the better. I doubt I'll be left any further behind than I desire though as this is a field rife with competition. I'd not have pursued it this far if I didn't think XEC had the potential to be worth the effort.