what does ffastun.* do?

Hello, I've got a question ... what do the hidden ffastun.* files in my root directory do?

I was cleaning up my HD and wondered what they'd do ...

I've searched a bit on the net and I was surpurised ... hear is what I found ...

<SNIP>
If you hadn't heard already, Microsoft has a new feature in Office 97 and possibly IE 3.02 as well.

These .dll's inventory your harddrive and pass the info on to Microsoft anytime you connect to Microsoft.com (possibly other times as well). This info not only contains your hard drive contents, but also a full dump of all your cookies, so MS knows where you surf.

For those among you who are skeptical, be aware that MS tried this same stunt as WIN95 was being beta'd. I read a magazine article in PC World about this little "FEATURE". Due to some negative press, MS decided to pull that "feature", but it appears that it has made it back in, quietly this time.

The following .dll's have NO purpose except to spy on you and your business. Deleting them has no impact on the functioning of your pc whatsoever. If you're paranoid, just rename them to someting else.

ffastun.ffa
ffastun.ffl
ffastun
ffastun.ffx
<SNIP>

Does anyone know whether this is true, or another use for this files ???

Is there a program that displays the files sent from your computer

Thx in advance

That is a pile of horse crap. Those files are the indexes made by Microsoft Find Fast, a component of MS Office that is supposed to help you quickly find your Office documents. I never use it, I take it out of the startup group and delete the ffast*.* files out of the root.

Yeah, those files are made by fast find, a feature of Office 97, which they appear to have removed in Office 2000.

That article sounds like a Microsoft conspiracy theory to me, which is absolutely fulla crap, if you delete those files, they will just come back again anyway. The only way to get rid of them permanantly is unininstall fast find or not install it in the first place.

BurnFEST

This just demonstrates the two extremes of the net doesnt it - helpful and absolute crap...

OK, thx a lot dudes

[QUOTE]Originally posted by [WD]BurnFEST:
[B]Yeah, those files are made by fast find, a feature of Office 97, which they appear to have removed in Office 2000.

Just a little input, they are still a part of office 2000 and they can be a real pain in the *** if not uninstalled properly.
:D

I just delete them and take findfast out of the startup group but the 'proper' way it to go to control panel, run the findfast applet, turn off findfast, and then delete the ff*** files in the root directory.

so are you saying find fast is cr*p..?? :confused:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Andy Wright:
so are you saying find fast is cr*p..?? :confused:

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Yes - Find Fast is cr*p. It bogs down the computer and causes problems with memory. If you will look at old threads, a large portion of problems are responded to with "ctrl-alt-dlt - do you have find fast in the memory. End Task and remove from Office".
I always remove it from the install group.

FAst find will attempt to index network drive letters and UNC drives if your user uses their home directory on a network share. This is where its really slows the pc down and more often than not freezes win95 with a timeout related error.

Check the control panel/fastfind for indexes and delete the, then select close and stop.

I looked, but couldn't even find that file in my OS. Where do people come up with this stuff??? Everyone is soooo paranoid that other people want to steal information from them. I've got news for all these types of people,... NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR INFO!!!

Ooops, I replied to quickly. Anyway, I've always unchecked "Find Fast" as part of a routine Office 97 install. It just slows down the PC too much...

Regarding FindFast:

If you run across a PC whose HD starts chattering away for no apparent, see if Office97 is installed and FindFast is activated. Delete the index/disable FF and voila! no more drive chatter.

What's happening is FindFast is rebuilding its index of your Office files.

There is NO POSSIBLE NEED for FF to be running. Ever. So there. Nnyahh!

FindFast is a default option when installing Office97.. and it did speed up indexed searches for files on older systems (pre-p200). However... as documented BY MICROSOFT the files cause problems in most newer machines... and one of the first things I do to any system experiencing fishy BSOD's or other freaky/locky-uppies is remove the files. AGAIN... a search of Microsoft's knowledgebases will recommend the same.