Google Desktop Does NOT Index All Files - Junk this product??

[DavidRobert]

Google Desktop Does NOT Index All Files - Junk this product??

I am ready to junk Google Desktop (GDS) because of incomplete indexing - GDS does not appear to index all files. But before I junk the product, let me present my problem and perhaps someone can help.

OS: Windows XP Professional, version 2002, service pack 2
Browser used: Firefox 2.0.0.11
Google desktop versions I tried:
5.7.801.1629
4.2006.1008

I had been using GDS for several months. Then I moved a large number of folders on my laptop and saw on the web that GDS does not recognize and re-index moved files. So I decided to reinstall GDS so that the index would be properly recreated. I did the following:

- shut down GDS
- used add/remove programs to remove GDS
- rebooted
- deleted the GDS index folders
- rebooted
- installed GDS
- paused the indexing for one hour
- configured GDS for the folders I do not want to index
- resumed indexing

I then let the indexing process run overnight. The next morning I checked the index status. The "Desktop Status" reported the following:

Total searchable items 96,761
Emails 2,365
Web history 92,548
Files 2,824

Actual File Count On My Laptop
*.txt 250
*.doc 2,500
*.xls 1,400
*.ppt 750
*.pdf 4,500
TOTAL 9,400

The quantity of files indexed by GDS is wrong - it did NOT index approximately 6,500 files!!!! And there is no indication on the index status screen that GDS has not finished the indexing process. Why is this happening? Why the discrepancy? Note that I even tried both GDS versions listed above - no difference!!

I also double checked in the GDS preferences the list of folders that GDS should not index - no errors there. Note that I only have one fixed drive on the laptop - "C".

I also noticed that if I let my laptop sit idle for a bit of time, the number of files does increase but ONLY by a very small amount (by 2's and 3's). At this rate it would be weeks and weeks before all of the files are indexed.
Can anyone please help? Is there a step I missed in this process? Am I misunderstanding the indexing process? Is it possible that GDS is NOT finished with the indexing process, and the index status page does not indicate that indexing is incomplete? If so, how do I know when the indexing process is complete?

If I cannot solve this problem, I will junk GDS.

Thank you.

[fjpoblam]

...so I just eliminated the search stuff (for efficiency's sake) and kept the gadgets around (because I like the stuff on the sidebar...).

(Call me a gadget junky.)

[DavidIvv]

Problem solved. Google Desktop took over 60 hours to index the files on my fixed drive!!! And there was no direct way to know when GDS was finished indexing. I had to leave the computer on over night for 3 days. I was able to tell that indexing was complete when two days in a row, the number of files indexed was the about the same.

Google Desktop should be improved to provide much better feedback. I will post a message to Desktop developers and mayber this will be changed.

[rolls]

There needs to be a way to force it to index whilst the computer is not idle, I don't care if it causes dramatic slowdown for a few hours, as long as it actually indexes them all.