The files and indexes used for the file catalog are very efficient and can be updated almost instantaneously.

After a file has changed, FileTracer waits approximately three seconds before updating the file catalog. This means that any disk accesses required to update the file catalog usually take place after the disk activity involved in changing the file has completed, so contention for accessing the hard disk is reduced to a minimum.

The FileTracer file catalog is indexed and optimized for finding files on your local hard disk(s).

Files on your computer's hard disk are normally always accessible, while files on removable media are only available while a particular diskette, CD-ROM or ZIP disk is present in the respective drive.

Adding the ability to find files on removable or network drives would mean either slowing down searching dramatically or updating the file catalog each time a particular diskette or CD-ROM is inserted or removed.

No, FileTracer does not interfere with your hard disk in any way.

FileTracer does not change how the file system or your the hard disk works in any way. FileTracer only "listens" for changes to files and folders and uses this information to update its own file catalog. The file catalog is kept in a set of ordinary data files.

If the file catalog is out of date, FileTracer may show files which no longer exist, or fail to find files which do exist. Also the file sizes and dates displayed may be inaccurate. This is because FileTracer only gets the file information from the file catalog.

To make sure the file catalog is up to date, you can go to the Tools menu. and choose Update File Catalog.

Note that although FileTracer will display inaccurate search results, this will not normally lead it to crash. 

If you boot DOS (or another operating system), FileTracer will not be able to monitor changes to files on your hard disk and update the file catalog accordingly.

FileTracer has no way of detecting that you ran the PC under DOS (or another OS), so you will need to update the file catalog manually.

To make a new updated file catalog, go to the Tools menu and choose the command Update File Catalog.

Updating the file catalog may not be absolutely necessary, if, for example, you only used DOS briefly to run a game, which does not involve changing many files.

When a file is changed, FileTracer always waits 2 to 3 seconds before updating the file catalog. This is usually enough to allow other applications to finish writing to the disk, and allows the file catalog to be updated more efficiently.

The FileTracer window is updated when the file catalog is updated. So if a displayed file is changed there is a short delay before the window is updated with the new information.