AB123231  I posted this mini-review to an Ars Technica forum (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=8300945231&m=392003234931&r=831007434931#831007434931) but thought others might be interested so I'll copy it here. I didn't give it a rating only because it's Beta.

---

I've been using this since it first came out (i.e., for a few days) and it's been working just fine.

I followed the "Quick Start" instructions and it worked fine. Kind of cool the way it verified my exchange account setup and determined my account's folders. Gives me some confidence.

I only have a few hundred contacts (now) combined so it's not a huge test. It took a couple of minutes to do the initial sync. I then changed an item via OWA and did a manual sync then changed one via Address Book and did a manual sync then changed one in both and did a manual sync then changed the same entry in both and did a manual sync (checking the results each time, of course). Everything worked, including asking me to indicate which one I wanted when I changed the same one at both ends. I see that it even gave me the option to worry about resolving that issue later, but I didn't try it ... nice.

I had initially used the menu to open the engine log so I could watch it work. After the initial sync I kept it open for a day or so. Just to see it work, I originally had it set to sync every 30 minutes but have since changed it to every hour. I don't change contact info very much and figure I can do a manual sync if I need to.

I also did a simple test where I cut off the network access to see what would happen when it tried to sync. In the error thing, it indicated a normal error status. When I selected the error-status menu entry, it brought up its error viewer. The error message indicated that the connection had failed and that the sync would be cancelled ... again, nice.

I liked the idea that it didn't pop up an error just because the network wasn't available. They seem to have thought this all out. The error detail's advice could be improved since it wasn't really a problem as the advice might lead you to believe, but they did categorize it correctly (according to their documentation on the categories and their meaning ... oh yeah, I did read the doc, eventually). I also checked the engine log and noticed that it logged the same failure and referred me to the error viewer.

At this point, it's just running and I hardly ever notice it any more. I'm interested to see where this goes, but "so far so good."  
(Version 0.9)

CURIOUS GEORGE  This program is great! I've wanted something like this for quite a while but couldn't find anything that was easy to use. Tried TripWire, but that was a nightmare.

I found that this program was easy to use right off. I just dropped a few folders onto the Folders to Analyze window, clicked the Analyze button and ... everything was reported as new, of course. I checked out the date filters and name search and they seemed to work properly (and quickly) so I updated the history and did some messing around.

A little later, I did an install then did another analyze. Sure enough, I could see the changed files I'd worked on (including one I'd deleted), the one's added by the installation and many other files such as preferences and some files that mean nothing to me but that had gotten changed.

Using the inspector feature shows what changed (date/time, size, etc.) and double-clicking on an entry in the list opened its enclosing folder in the Finder and selected it. Cool!

After I bought a license and licensed it, I baselined my whole disk so I could check on changes as I did more installs/updates. I have over 400,000 files on my disk and my system's only a mid-range PowerMac G4, but I was surprised to find that it didn't take all that long.

Although it didn't seem to load down my system too much when it was running, I found that you could actually open the preferences and adjust the throttle preference to reduce the load on the system ... and it all worked interactively while FileControl was running! Slick.

Since I've been installing some updates required by 10.4 (don't ya know it!), I've had a chance to play with this puppy quite a bit throughout the day. I'm pleased to say that, so far, it just works ... no furniture chewing and no messing on the rug (sticking with the puppy analogy). I like it.

Finally I can see what that installer *really* installed and what running that application really changed. I hope someone finds this mini-review useful (I hate writing but thought it was time to "give back" to the community).  
(Version 1.0)