Free Traffic Tips – Identifying Unknown Files Sounded Good at the Time

The news ==> “According to the company, the new search engine, dubbed ‘Bit9 FileAdvisor’ draws from the web, physical media, and technology partnerships to create an enormous database with more than 4 terabytes of data and 250 million file records. The tool offers accurate file identification, source information, and other useful data on the otherwise unknown files on a computer. ”

“Bit9 FileAdvisor is available for free at: http://fileadvisor.bit9.com, as a downloadable utility.” There’s also a downloadable version available at the site.

Thoughts ==> This seemed like such a good idea that I couldn’t wait until I had time to review it. I was sadly disappointed by the site. Not because it won’t be a great tool. It just doesn’t seem done yet.

Here’s my theory. If I have to go to a search engine to look up what a file type is, I’m either a newbie, or if I am familiar with computers, that’s not one of the areas I’m most familiar with.

So I went to the search engine and typed in a file name. First thing that was a problem on the page was that there were three search options that were all confusing. THe first two? Only a vague recollection of what they meant. The third option I had to read the help directions to understand.

Normally I would have said “screw it” and gone back to Google to try and figure it out. But since this was for a review, I kept going.

I selected the third option, to search by file name, and typed in ccapp.exe. This is the page I got.

Notice something?

It still isn’t telling me what the file is, just that there are “17 variants”. If I want to find out more, I have to log in.

Again, if I’m operating in the capacity of a regular person, I’m done. I’m closing the tab in my Firefox browser and moseying right on. Please.

So I go through the login process. There are two options, short or long registration. I pick short because I’m running out of patience. I get my confirmation email, click the link, finally log in. And of course, it hasn’t saved my place – it’s taking me back to the home page.

So I do my search again. It takes me to a page with all the variants available, with the MD5 Hash hyperlinked (this was the point at which I remembered what a MD5 hash is.)

When I click on one, it tells me what company makes it (Symantec, of course). Clicking on Symantec takes me to more information about the file.

So if you’re one of those people wondering what all that stuff is in your Windows Task Manager, you could type the program name in and find out what all those things are. Don’t expect to know, from other than the program or company name, whether or not it might be safe to disable, though.

If someone sends you a strange attachment, it might be helpful as well. But the problem is this: they’re not doing anything that Google doesn’t already do without registering or logging in. So perhaps “search engine” is a misnomer.

There just isn’t enough of a relationshiop built, or an urgency felt, for someone to have to log in to use it. Not to mention that I can often type my file searches into Google and find more information, though it’s not as convenient.

So, good tool, great that it’s free, but harder to use than it should be. Not to mention that a person who is saavy enough to use their site could probably use Google instead.