Include & Exclude menus

[Willy2]

I think I'll get a lot of criticism from Augeas and/or JDPower by posting my thoughts but that won't stop me. A discussion always stimulates the braincells. The letters (A, B, C, .... ) refer to the picture in the attachment. See below.

 

I think Piriform can improve the ""Include"" and ""Exclude"" menus in CC v2.30.

 

1. In v2.30 the user has to choose between ""Drive or Folder"" (A) and ""File"" (B ). This is - IMO - ridiculous. I think, the user MUST be forced to select a drive and/or a folder FIRST anyway, independent of which files are to be deleted. I think, the user even shouldn't be permitted to have access to all the other options in the menu when no drive and/or folder (A) is selected. Because CC at least must know which folders to include and exclude. So, selecting a drive/folder first must be mandatory.

 

2. I think the options (B ), (C ) and (D) should be grouped together, placed in the same rectangle, with an appropriate title e.g. ""File selection options"". The user should select one of these three rounded boxes.

Suggestions 1 & 2 combined would eliminate a lot of confusion and would improve the logic of the menus.

 

Of course, then the online manual has to be rewritten as well.

 

3. Perhaps options C and D can be combined into one option ???

 

4. When an user has selected a drive and/or folder (A) and an user wants to select a file (B ) then CC can use the information provided in (A) and automatically direct the user to/open that particular folder when an user clicks on ""Browse"" (E).

Edited April 2, 2010 by Willy2

[Augeas]

I'm sure nobody will criticise you Willy. I could do with a few braincells being stimulated.

 

The two Include options (select Folder or File) are not dependant, if you select either one then anything selected in the other is removed. Maybe it was done this way so that there was no confusion with the File Types and Options boxes, which only apply to folders and are deselected if File is chosen. I can't see any confusion as it is, choose either a folder or a file. As Aleksandr Orlov would say, seeemple!

[Willy2]

Augeas,

 

I have read your thoughts but I am simply not convinced. Even if Piriform won't include the suggestion made in post #1 then I think the options in the Include & Exclude menus should/could be rearranged.

 

The menu item B should - IMO - be placed above the menu items A, C, D and F. So that menu items that belong together are grouped together.

See the picture in the attachment. I updated/modified the picture from post #1 in this thread.

 

As I have said before: A discussion always stimulates the braincells. We'll have to wait and see whether the CC folks are willing to include my suggestions.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Willy2

[Willy2]

I still don't like the ""Include"" (""Options"", ""Include"", ""Add"") menu in CC. It didn't improve at all. I still stick to my suggestions/thoughts as stated in post #1 of this thread. I still think CC should incorporate those suggestions in a future version. More over, I think, the situation has gotten worse, the confusion has grown in both v2.30 and v2.31. The confusion consists of ""Options"" (C + D ) containing two separate types of data, i.e. folders and files. The letters (A, B, C, ..... ) refer to the picture in the attachment.

 

Here's - IMO - how to eliminate that increased confusion.

 

A. Get rid of ""Options"" (C + D ) in the current situation.

 

B. Add two more (square) boxes to the menu which can be ticked or unticked independently.

1. ""Including subfolders"".

Ticking this box would force CC to search all subfolders of the specified folder (A ) as well for files (B, E or F ) to be wiped.

2. ""Delete (sub)folder(s) when empty"".

This would allow CC to wipe the current selected folder (A ) to be deleted when empty. It would allow CC to delete every empty subfolder of the specified folder (A ) as well, when the user has selected the option ""All files"" (E ).

 

I DO think incorporating suggestions from both this post and post #1 would improve the ""Include"" menu dramatically.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Willy2

[Alan_B]

I have a gripe about INCLUDE and EXCLUDE.

 

For more than a year I have used INCLUDE to stipulate "things to go",

and have also checked the Advanced option "Custom Files and Folders".

 

Recently I sorely needed a couple of "Windows Log Files" that were long gone,

so for future occasions I added them to the EXCLUDE.

 

It is obvious to me that INCLUDE and EXCLUDE do the opposite things for the items they target,

and these facilities are adjacent in the Options section,

therefore if INCLUDE is only effective with "Custom Files and Folders",

the same is obviously true for EXCLUDE.

 

I was about to do a less aggressive cleanse with "Custom Files and Folders" cancelled,

then I realised my 2 log files would go, so I also unchecked the whole "Windows Log Files".

 

I have now tested and found that EXCLUDE protects my two log files regardless of "Custom Files and Folders".

I am guessing that folders and registry items are also protected regardless of "Custom Files and Folders".

 

It is good that EXCLUDE protection is not dependant upon "Custom Files and Folders",

but it was not self evident that it would be so.

 

The INCLUDE list should display a note that it depends upon "Custom Files and Folders",

(also because often new users do not realise until they are so told in this forum),

and the EXCLUDE list should display a note that it protects regardless (I hope.)

 

Regards

Alan

[Willy2]

Alan,

 

I agree, CC is a VERY powerful tool. And one should use every CC option with the utmost care and that includes the ""Include"" section as well. That's an additional reason why it's so important for CC to carefully manage its settings. See my thoughts\suggestions in other posts on this forum on the topic ""Settings"".

[Willy2]

Here's another suggestion to improve the ""Include"" section. This is another way of eliminating the existing confusion in this section. See also my suggestions above. CC v2.32 lists in this section which additional, user defined folders/files, are to be wiped. But CC doesn't indicate whether a line will wipe the folder itself or files in any subfolder.

 

I think that in the next version of CC the Piriform folks could add one or two columns in the window in front of each user defined line.

1. one column in which e.g. the character "S" appears when an entry/line will be applied to any subfolder as well.

2. a second column in which a special symbol (e.g. ""X"") shows up when a folder itself, as mentioned in the list, will be wiped too.

Perhaps one extra column would suffice. Then it could display that ""X"" or ""S"" in the appropriate situation.

 

Another suggestion is to move the ""Add"", ""Edit"" and ""Remove"" buttons from the right hand side to the bottom of the section screen. It would provide CC more space to display the lines and the two columns, as described above under (1 and (2.