Q – Koi Yin Lo A Find Fast integrates with the Find Fast Control Panel in Windows 95 to create an index of all the Office documents on your hard drive, so that you can find them quickly when you need them. You can search the Find Fast index file for specific words, phrases, or document properties by choosing File–Open in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access, or by choosing Tools–Find Items in Outlook. When Find Fast is installed, it automatically starts indexing every Office document it can find on your hard disk. If your entire disk is scanned and indexed, Find Fast places all its index files in the root directory. All Find Fast index files usually begin with "ffastun" and have various extensions according to the file’s function. Unless you frequently work with many long documents, these files won’t use up too much disk space. They generally occupy space equivalent to 7 per cent of the text component of each indexed document, or approximately 1–3 per cent of a document’s total size. Find Fast also generates several other files with names similar to: ___ofidx.ffa, ___ofidx.ffl, and ___ofidx.0. File Extension File Description .ffx Index file .ffl Document list .ffa Status file .ffo Cache of document properties such as Author or Title It’s a good idea to avoid working directly with Find Fast’s files, but you can safely delete them if you aren’t currently using, or don’t intend to use, Find Fast. The best way to do this is through the Find Fast Control Panel. Choose Start–Settings–Control Panel and double–click Find Fast. In the Find Fast window, click on your hard drive, then choose Delete Index from the Index menu. Reboot Windows and you’re done. – Belinda Taylor
Find Fast "debris"
Category: word processing
Issue: May 1998
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