Beta Testers required

[XcOM]

BETA TESTERS REQUIRED

Hi all, i am currently writing a program for a small project of mine, this has taken about 1 week to get to the beta stage, current version is 0.9.0.4

My application shreads your free space on a hard drive you select, and any folder you select gets shreaded 3 times to cover any deleted files, It also allows deleting of files and directorys all from one interface.

After beta testing it will be in 0.9.9, then the graphics need updating to bring it in line with the eye candy of other apps.

I am asking for you help in testing my application to ensure its stabilty over various platforms, it will only work on NTFS volumes on windows 2000, XP, 2003 and vista.

Any testers will be given credit upon the full release.

Known bugs:

About button dosen't work
Exit button dosen't work
Application looks to have crashed when working
Application is still running when closed with X, needs to be killed in task manager.


after that i need a graphics guru to help me redesign the graphics and layout of the application.

Anyone interested reply in here or PM me please.

Thank you all
XcOM :freakedout:

[si-skyline]

Hay fran, i would give it a shot on the xp pro side and when i get home and build my new rig il give it a shot on the ultimate one too.

[jbaldwinroberts]

Il run it on MS windows XP home if ya want?

[Chewy_Solo]

i could work on some interface designs, i know my way around photoshop a bit, and possibly beta test, its just that i dont need things shreded >.>

[si-skyline]

thought id post the issues what iv found so far just to let others know so the same issues isent posted agian..

--found issues with current version,
program does not show its self on the task bar
listbox does not update after a file has been updated
differance between shead and delete wernt clear from the start of the program. help file or caption would be good to add. i was reluctant to press anything incase my computer blew up.

other then the known issues its a great program. good luck on the finished product

[mtekk]

Beta testing, I'm in :D. I'm running Vista Home Basic, and have some XP and 2000 machines I can test on.

[Crazy Buddhist]

Fran

A suggestion ... shred the data ten times. Thats the standard the pentagon use to ensure all data traces are erased from hard disks and that data is completely unrecoverable.

Guys .... helping each other is way cool .... Just watch it doesn't shred your whole drive ! ... remember it's a "Beta test", things can go wrong ... so keep it away from data you love :). Install an old HD as a slave and set it to work on that would be my recommendation, whatever system you use.



However ... DO help fran. He's a http://vipassanaforum.net/forum/Themes/theme1/images/star.gif


:)

CrazyB

[Trace]

XcOM, what language? I'd be happy to help with the code and layout.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I am willing to help. I can pile tons of files onto my external HDD and then get rid of them. That's what it is for anyway. BTW I use Vista 64bit.

[XcOM]

cool, 64bit vista would be a good test,

The language is old crappy VB6, but it works,

I am sorry for the delay but i just found a bug that made my system hang, once i get rid of this bug i shall make a beta installer for you all to try.

And once again thank you, asfor you that have offered to help with the graphics expect a PM soon

[Chaos Theory]

i can try it on 32bit vista if you like

[XcOM]

thanks everyone for hanging on, i am working on it, just had no time this week, and won't have any over the weekend, got a wedding blessing to go to.

[The boy 4rm oz]

No worries buddy, whenever your ready. We aint going anywhere.

[J-Roc]

I'm going to mars tomorrow... Hurry the F&#% Up! ha ha, j/k.

I sent you a pm, i can make you some images for the program but i dont want to just make somthing out of thin air. Can i get a link to the program so i can better understand what's the whole "deal" with it?

Peaceski!

[XcOM]

ok, what i have sofar is this:

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2320/xcomshded3.jpg

Everything can move, but i need to have them buttons and the folder view setup, asin i need drive selection, folder selection and file selection, lets see what you wonder kids come up with.

[calumc]

For a start 'shread' is spelled shred ;)

[XcOM]

thank you, i shall ammend that next time

[The boy 4rm oz]

Looks to be a good utility buddy. Can't wait to try it out.

[Morgrimm]

I will Beta test for you, I am running Vista Ultimate x64 and XP pro

[crazybillybob]

I'm Running XP X64 on AMD Dual Core and Have a laptop with XPX32 on Intel that I'd love to give it a test on.

[haha49]

I have vista 64 bit as well as windows xp media center and windows xp profesional and another computer with ubuntu with nts drives in it i got 4 computers here to test it on if you want.. also does it work with usb drives?

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah it would be good to see how it goes with USB drives.

[the__dark]

Yeah it would be good to see how it goes with USB drives.

:D I'd be glad to try it too!

by the way, somebody mentioned that 10-pass deletion would render the data unrecoverable? Sorry to disappoint you buddy... not long ago a Data-Recovery Laboratory in my country (Chile) named Kepler, could recover material which served as evidence for a cyber-crime... the erasing method was 10-pass format, however I believe that's slightly different from shredding.. please correct me if I'm wrong ;)

best regards, and good luck with your program XCom, can't wait to lay my hands on it :P

[Morgrimm]

I can also test in on Server 2003 and Windows 2k

[XcOM]

ok, at version 0.9.6,

updates to 0.9.6
Program freezes when shreading : Added command line module to stop app freezing
Program dosen't shows in taskbar : Fixed
Program Dosent exit when close: Fixed (No longer needs to be killed in task manager)
Program dosen't have About : Added about box

making the installer tonight, should have it up before long.

[J-Roc]

Can i get a link to the download?

[The boy 4rm oz]

making the installer tonight, should have it up before long.

We have to wait until tonight lol.

[crazybillybob]

Any update on download???

[XcOM]

im on it, i can't find my ftp password, antboy want it, pm me your e-mail address and i can send it through email

[The boy 4rm oz]

Check your PM.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Mate. I just finished shredding my external HDD. It did 3 passes and gave an an extra GB of storage. A great utility you have made there. Check your email for my results.

[nevermind1534]

I got xp pro x64 edition, and I'm needing to permanently erase some files.

[XcOM]

once i have access ftp i will upload my installer for you all,

Sorry for the delay

[calumc]

why not just upload it to rapidshare or something like that? :/

[Crazy Buddhist]

Fran,

Email me the file(s) and I will host it for you. No problems.

Matthew

[nil8]

DOD spec for wiping is 16 pass, not 10.
Wiping a drive & shredding aren't the same.
If you want wiping, lookup DBAN.

Sounds like a very neat program XCom. I don't do enough home pc work anymore to help test. Still, very cool.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Hows this going?

[XcOM]

i do appoligise, i have been side tracked, and with having a system reinstall i havent really worked on it, but ui think i have all the major bugs fixed,

I will build a new release by the end of the week, i promise.

thanks for the patiance

[The boy 4rm oz]

No worries mate. I am looking forward to the new build.

[XcOM]

new build is version 0.8.9

Fixes include:
* Stopped the program from crashing while shreading free space.
* Added second module to help speed up the process
* Fixed the Delete Dir function

Bugs known about:
* Folder view dosen't return to parent folder when deleted
* You can try and delete the root of c:\
* You can delete c:\Windows (Won't get far but will do enough damage!) (To be fixed is next build)

I would still like someone to help me design the interface, any takers?

Download Here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/TBCS_Group/xcom/XcOM_Shreader.zip)
Please read and either agree or disagree with the licence agreement.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I will download this after school. I got a free HDD to shread.

[The boy 4rm oz]

AVG wont let me download the file because it contains a file that may be a threat :(.

[XcOM]

did it say what file? i scanned it myself using Mcafee 2008 with uptodate virus def's, i will scan it again on linux using avg linux edition

[XcOM]

sorr about that, linux avg picked it up too, it was cmdow, i used it in a previous build as a quick fix but after i found that some AV's didn't like it i recoded my app, but forgot to remove it from the build list.

Updated setup, should be ok now.

Download Here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/TBCS_Group/xcom/XcOM_Shreader.zip)

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah that's the one. Downloading now.

[XcOM]

any issues let me know via pm please

[The boy 4rm oz]

I haven't found any problems with it yet mate, a really solid program. Something I have found thought is when I delete a file it stays in the list but is deleted from the source.

[XcOM]

yea, i need to sort that bit, the other one i have noticed is if you delete a folder it gets deleted but remains in the view until you procede to another folder.

i still would like someone to design me some graphics tough.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I would help you out with the graphics but I am useless in that department.

[SXRguyinMA]

I'll be d/l it tonight after work and give it a shot, I've got a spare HDD that I can shred :up: BTW I'm running XP home 32-bit SP3 :D

[XcOM]

ahh good, havent tested it on sp3 yet,

I got to find my backups as i had a problem and lost my Documents drive, im hoping i kept a backup of it somewhere.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I still use it every now and then on a few stubborn files I get when uninstalling or just corrupt data. I have never had a problem with it, a must for everyone.

[XcOM]

i just need to redesign the gui, and a few bugs that i have noticed

[theshoeshineman]

Let me know the dimenisons and file formats and I can design some appropriate graphics.

I'll assume you'll either want some sort of logo that will also work as an icon and then icons for the various buttons (delete, shred etc.).

I've designed my fair share of VB apps but havn't done any programming for over 4 years.

[Drum Thumper]

AVG 8 (free edition) tagged my copy as a trojan.

Scratch that, I see what it tagged (a file I knowingly downloaded from technibble)

[Spidermeld]

My Exit button doesn't seem to work.

[XcOM]

yea, thats one of my pproblems, the exit button should makesure the cipher isn't running anymore before it exits to ensure it dosen't sit thre hammering your hdd when it shouldn't be

[Collinstheclown]

I just downloaded and gave it a try. Heres the problems I've run into. I'm running Windows XP SP3 on a single core AMD processor. I'm running the latest Avast! Home edition anti-virus and had no issues.

I noticed that when I scroll with the wheel it looks like it scrolls the whole list then goes to where it's supposed to be scrolled to. This is in the left box, with the directories and stuff.

Shred is still spelled wrong. lol

Also it doesn't show up on the taskbar or in the system tray. Which is kinda annoying. It also doesn't show up when alt+tabbing. However, the confirmation boxes do come up on the taskbar, and in the alt+tab menu.

I got an error while trying to delete a dir. file.

Run-time error '75':
Path/File access error
Then the program closes. Windows let me delete it with no problem. I created a new folder and tried to delete that but I got the same error.

Anymore and I'll let you know!




-CollinstheClown

[XcOM]

thanks mate, i've looked into it, and it appears that SP3 has altered some settings in XP that has caused some issues with my program.

I am working on it, thanks for letting me know

[XcOM]

this project has been shelved until further notice,

Microsoft in there infinete wisdom has made changes to the NTFS driver which controls access to the drives read/write.

And as such its causing meny errors with my program, some times it works, other times it trashes the drive.

As such i recommend you DON'T use my program until i have solved the issues, I have been talking to some staff from M$ via there techNET and sofar it appears it because im using VB6 to write the program and there are some security problems with VB so the only option is to either find a work round or convert the application to .NET which i don't know how to code in.

Oh well, Thanks for the support guys and im really sorry to have to announce this.

XcOM

[The boy 4rm oz]

That's a shame mate. Thanks for the heads up anyway, this is a really great program.

[BuzzKillington]

I typically love betas but unfortunately I'm a little shy of a beta intended to delete files haha. I didn't know we had any programmers here. I had a great idea for an app the other day that in my head could make some money but now I can't remember what I was thinking of.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I had a great idea for an app the other day that in my head could make some money but now I can't remember what I was thinking of.

I blame the beer ;) LOL!