X1 has fallen behind Windows 7 search?

[tsmith35]

First off, don't get me wrong: I've used X1 with Windows XP and was perfectly happy with it. I could search for anything, anywhere, and X1 would find it. Perfect performance.

But then I upgraded to Windows 7 x64. I installed X1 (v6.7.3) and the results were horrible. I have 1.5 tb of junk I've collected over the years. Most of it is backups of various older or nonexistent computers. Some of it is active content, used on a reasonably regular basis. X1 can't handle it. It chokes and dies on file searches. Crash after crash occurs while attempting to search for items (usually after I type the first few letters of what I'm searching for), and finally I give up and use Windows Search. Results appear, and they're correct.

So I tried the new "social" beta (v7 Pro beta, which I called "social" because of the addition of social site information). Big mistake. Besides the incredible slowness, which I attributed to the "beta" status, the "social" beta was everything I didn't need. Yes, it was slow (might as well pull my nails out with pliers while waiting). Yes, it crashed. And it provided pointless, useless results. I really don't care what my friends in Rhode Island are doing this week. I don't need to track down details on a Mafia Wars family member. I want to find MY information in MY documents right now. And X1 fails spectacularly at that apparently simple task.

I am at the point where I regret paying money for X1. Windows 7 Search, while useless for detailed searching, blows X1 away for finding files quickly. I was counting on X1 to help me move from Windows XP x86 to Windows 7 x64 with minimal effort. X1 let me down. I am tremendously disappointed in X1's performance under Windows 7. It's good for finding emails, and that's about it. I'm glad the X1 folks have discovered social media, but it doesn't help me one smidgeon when I want to find the words "maytag dishwasher pump seal" in my 1.5 tb of files. It doesn't do a thing if I want to search for "drip sprinkler pressure". It falls over and dies when I search my files for "south carolina hospital". Useless.

I have decided to use X1 for email searches only. I will leave the file searching to Windows 7. It's a tremendous shame that X1 has fallen so far, but it happened. X1 no longer provides me with the ability to find information in my files. It has failed at (what I believe was) its primary task.

I'm certain to receive a thorough ripping at the hands of X1 fans, but that's fine and expected. My opinion is the result of a couple months of fighting X1 under Windows 7 x64, and I can't find a reason to like it for anything other than searching emails. FWIW, I have an i7-2600 processor, 8gb of ram, and run two SSDs for primary storage (Windows "C" partition and application "D" partition). I have a Windows Experience Index of 7.8. Computer speed is not an issue. X1 is slow and crashes, and X1 "social" beta is slower. I don't have this issue with any other software.

[Kenward]

X1 Social was a short-lived product that never did see light of day. If you are still using that, problems are pretty well guaranteed. For the past few months the focus has turned to beta testing of X1 Pro. Maybe that is what you meant.

I don't have quite as much data as you have, about 1.5 million items indexed, but I use the same operating system and similar hardware, albeit no SSD. After the long indexing process is completed – it could take days with that much data – speed isn't an issue here. Even with a Windows Experience Index, a highly dubious benchmark, of 4.6 thanks to horrid "Aero" graphics.

Whether or not X1 is 100% accurate in finding content, I wouldn't know. I have not made a detailed analysis.

I doubt if it would be 100% accurate here, partly because I have a lot of scanned documents, where the accuracy of the optical character recognition may not be great.

I have found that I can go some way toward tracking down "broken" files by adding an "Indexing Status" column for searches.

If you are serious about sorting out the problems you see, there are people here much better equipped than I am to offer help with specific issues. For example, they can help to sort out networked indexing, which might well be your scenario given that you have so much data.

Then again, a lot of people also swear by Windows Search. You should also be able to use that to find content in your files. Maybe you do that already, it isn't clear from your message.

[tjh]

I can't say I have the same problems you're experiencing, tmsith35.

X1 Pro 7 can be slow to start up, but once it's up and running I find its speed on par with older X1 versions. I actually find the built-in previewer of X1 Pro 7 to be lightyears ahead of v6.2.3

Also, X1 Pro 7 lets you remove all the Social Media accounts if you don't want them.

As Kenward's asked, are you using X1 Pro 7, or the older X1 Social (which morphed into X1 Pro 7)?

Tim

[tsmith35]

I last tried X1 Pro 7. I went back to 6.7.3 for the time being. When I last installed v7 beta, I stored the index files in a separate directory from v6.7.3. While the v6 directory had a total size of something like 12gb, the v7 directory stayed much smaller, though I can't recall the exact size. I also disabled all social media sources and double-checked indexing options. It was like v7 just ran into some kind of limit when it was indexing -- it wouldn't index everything, even some test text files that I created solely to test it (full of made-up words).

[Kenward]

When I last installed v7 beta, I stored the index files in a separate directory from v6.7.3. While the v6 directory had a total size of something like 12gb, the v7 directory stayed much smaller, though I can't recall the exact size.

Odd. I suspect a strange configuration or incomplete indexing.

My X1 index, with much less data than your system (see above), 1,517,009 items indexed, is just under 10GB.

PS Excuse me for responding, I would not want to be considered one of the "X1 fans" – not that I have seen many here – just an inquiring mind that wants to understand these things.

[tjh]

I last tried X1 Pro 7. I went back to 6.7.3 for the time being. When I last installed v7 beta, I stored the index files in a separate directory from v6.7.3. While the v6 directory had a total size of something like 12gb, the v7 directory stayed much smaller, though I can't recall the exact size. I also disabled all social media sources and double-checked indexing options. It was like v7 just ran into some kind of limit when it was indexing -- it wouldn't index everything, even some test text files that I created solely to test it (full of made-up words).

I guess this is the point of a beta, to find these sorts of bugs. Would you be able to reinstall the Beta then and report feedback to X1? I'm sure they'd appreciate it and anything you do find/they find will help to create a better product when it is released.

Also, I don't think anyone's so much of an X1 fan they'd not going to take a bug report seriously! That's not being a fan, that's being an idiot.

[Kenward]

That's not being a fan, that's being an idiot.

That's an unkind jibe at the expense of the millions of people who pray at the shrine of St Jobs.

[tsmith35]

When I last installed v7 beta, I stored the index files in a separate directory from v6.7.3. While the v6 directory had a total size of something like 12gb, the v7 directory stayed much smaller, though I can't recall the exact size.

Odd. I suspect a strange configuration or incomplete indexing.

My X1 index, with much less data than your system (see above), 1,517,009 items indexed, is just under 10GB.

PS Excuse me for responding, I would not want to be considered one of the "X1 fans" – not that I have seen many here – just an inquiring mind that wants to understand these things.

Nah, you're fine. I sometimes post messages about problems with various software or hardware in a company's home forum and am set upon by the biggest fans of the software or hardware. I've been called stupid, incompetent, and other things for pointing out problems with various products. Some forums are devoid of such attackers, while other forums are full of them. I've not posted here before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I have 2,582,405 items indexed. Plus or minus. Current index size is 12.4gb.

@tjh: I'd be glad to try the beta again. Last time, I left the original v6.7.3 installed, but disabled. Should I uninstall 6.7.3 (saving the indexes), or leave it like last time? X1 is much less invasive with a multi-core processor and most of my apps on SSD, so I don't mind it indexing constantly.

[tsmith35]

Well, I take that back... the X1 Pro 7 beta download is gone. Was it removed in preparation for release?

[Kenward]

Should I uninstall 6.7.3 (saving the indexes), or leave it like last time?

In theory the two can coexist.

[Kenward]

Well, I take that back... the X1 Pro 7 beta download is gone. Was it removed in preparation for release?

Do you still have an earlier version?

If so, somewhere on your PC you may find the file X1ProSetup.exe

If you can find it, try the command:

X1ProSetup.exe FORCEBUILD=4320jz

The download is really no more than a "stub" that goes and gets the full package.

[tsmith35]

Well, I take that back... the X1 Pro 7 beta download is gone. Was it removed in preparation for release?

Do you still have an earlier version?

If so, somewhere on your PC you may find the file X1ProSetup.exe

If you can find it, try the command:

X1ProSetup.exe FORCEBUILD=4320jz

The download is really no more than a "stub" that goes and gets the full package.

I found the installer on my laptop and installed it like you said. Index is 1.26gb and still working. It'll probably take a while to get it all.

[tsmith35]

After leaving X1 Pro 7 beta running for a few days, I see that 2,239,157 items are indexed. 6.72 gb total index size. I'm running into problems, though: I keep getting an error saying, "Connection with the X1 Service has been lost. A restart may fix this problem. Would you like to restart X1?"

Of course, I click "Restart", at which point X1 tells me, "X1 is performing an initial scan" and explains that my computer will be busy until it's done. I click on the X1 window and receive the same "X1 Service has been lost" error immediately. This happens over and over. The service is running, and it doesn't stop, so I'm not sure where the disconnect occurs. I have rebooted, uninstalled and reinstalled X1 Pro 7 beta, and still get the same error. I'm not sure what I can do to fix it.

The other problem is when X1 Pro 7 beta freezes while searching. I was searching for "lawnmower warranty" (without quotes) and typed in "lawn mower", at which point I realized that I had accidentally inserted a space. I tried to correct the search phrase, but X1 wouldn't respond. It froze. I tried a couple of times to get a response, but nothing moved. So I minimized the X1 window to leave it to think. A while later, I restored the X1 window and found that it was still frozen. Ugh. I restarted the computer and was greeted with X1 telling me it was performing an initial scan (again).

So... I'm stuck trying to figure out what to do next. I can't get the new X1 Pro 7 beta to work properly, and the latest (release) version of X1 seems to crash whenever I use it for searching. Perhaps I'm just doing something wrong, but none of the other software I run on my computer has any such issues. Frankly, I'm amazed that Windows 7 x64 is able to effortlessly deal with the huge variety of programs that I use. Everything except X1. I have grown to depend on X1 for finding information among the clutter. How can I get X1 working reliably again?

[Kenward]

The lost connection thing has hit most people at some stage during these beta tests. At one time they were much more common. But they clearly haven't killed that one completely.

I see it much less often than before and it usually goes away after the first incident.

The message "X1 is performing an initial scan" is misleading, as I pointed earlier.

It is only performing an initial scan this time around. It is not starting from scratch.

[tsmith35]

The lost connection thing has hit most people at some stage during these beta tests. At one time they were much more common. But they clearly haven't killed that one completely.

I see it much less often than before and it usually goes away after the first incident.

I think I've seen it probably 20+ times in the past couple days now. Maybe I just have too much data to search.

The message "X1 is performing an initial scan" is misleading, as I pointed earlier.

It is only performing an initial scan this time around. It is not starting from scratch.

Thankfully, that appears to be the case. I'll leave it installed and see how much data it can collect, but I'll probably have to revert to the last released version and work with that some more to see if I can stabilize it.

Hopefully the X1 guys will find a way to improve W7x64 compatibility. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for your help.

[SdB]

Hi

I had this same problem after I had deselected the option Ignore accents in characters.
So check if this is enabled: menu > options > General, make sure the option: Ignore accents in characters is enabled.

[Aimon]

Hi

I had this same problem after I tried the bathmate and had deselected the option Ignore accents in characters.
So check if this is enabled: menu > options > General, make sure the option: Ignore accents in characters is enabled.

Whenever I select this option it keeps reverting back to disabled.