FileAtlas 1.4.4 Release Description
FileAtlas 1.4.4 is a synchronization and reliability release on top of the 1.4.x FileAtlas foundation. It keeps the Windows 95-style native desktop experience, while tightening the two-way flow between FileAtlas Base and FAFS and making Analytics useful even while the daemon is still waking up.
Download
Installer:
FileAtlasSetup-1.4.4.exe
SHA-256:
74a298362c4dec23aa11d48753106cffe9ac942189a3f3f18a73d59a5a25612e
What Changed Since 1.0.0
1.4.4 Highlights
- FileAtlas Base now treats FAFS catalog data as the fast first answer, then performs a background catch-up scan when the catalog view is partial or shallow.
- Base scan results are submitted back into FAFS, with a retry if the daemon is still starting.
- FAFS clears its knowledge and Analytics summary caches when Base teaches it new scan data, so mapped-file counts do not stay stale.
- Base live refresh now handles FAFS service restarts where the event sequence resets, and it refreshes affected views directly after relevant FAFS events instead of suppressing updates behind a shallow signature check.
- Base retries FAFS startup status a few times before warning, so slower daemon startup no longer immediately looks like failure.
- FAFS launch checks now ignore stale dead-process status/PID markers instead of trusting old
status.jsonfiles. - FileAtlas Analytics merges live status with a direct local
.faidxcatalog snapshot, so mapped files, explored records, bytes, hash coverage, and parity coverage do not show as zero just because/statusis slow. - Analytics has a direct local history fallback for 1-hour, 24-hour, custom, and longer user-activity summaries while the daemon endpoint is starting.
- Dark, light, and native theme selection is now shared across Base, Analytics, and Dev through the same local FileAtlas settings file.
- Analytics FAFS Settings can change the shared theme, and Dev includes a shared theme selector for local debugging.
- The packaged FAFS executable remains a separate lightweight entrypoint; the public app version is 1.4.4 while the internal FAFS file-format version remains stable to avoid needless data retrofits.
1.4.3 Highlights
- FileAtlas Base now tells FAFS which folder the user opened, so visible/interactive folders jump ahead of background catalog work.
- Drive tiles regained classic raised 3D edges while keeping solid FileAtlas drive colors and no free-space gray split.
- FileAtlas Dev now uses the shared FileAtlas ICO and a smaller in-window FileAtlas mark.
- FileAtlas Analytics keeps the header as
FileAtlas FileSystem - FAFSand refreshes metrics in place instead of repeatedly showing startup/on messages. - FAFS health checks are lightweight; heavier knowledge, parity, settings, and filetype totals are reserved for the detailed status endpoint used by Analytics.
- FAFS now streams large catalog and analytics reads in batches rather than materializing very large result sets in memory.
- FAFS accepts existing catalog data at startup and defers retrofit, snapshot, reconcile, and deep catalog jobs so an existing catalog does not make startup slower over time.
- Duplicate FAFS launches and locked-catalog startup races back off quietly instead of surfacing Windows script errors.
FileAtlas Base
- Refresh now preserves the current search/filter text.
- Mouse-wheel zoom enlarges and shrinks treemap boxes without entering or leaving folders.
- Middle-click goes back to the previous folder.
- Delete key moves the current cleanup queue to the Recycle Bin.
- Added cleanup queue support for reviewing and deleting multiple selected items together.
- Added size filters for finding very large or very small items.
- Improved zoom/pan behavior for tiny treemap boxes.
- Added dark, light, and native theme modes.
- Added settings and help surfaces.
- Added duplicate-file marking.
- Added stronger delete protections for drive roots, Windows folders, FileAtlas data, and high-risk Program Files areas.
- Base now uses FAFS catalog data when available and sends newly scanned information back to FAFS so known areas do not need to be rediscovered forever.
FAFS
- Added FileAtlas FileSystem, the local FAFS daemon.
- FAFS starts automatically with FileAtlas Base and supports FileAtlas Analytics.
- Split FAFS into its own packaged executable so it no longer carries the heavier Base UI bundle.
- Added local filesystem event tracking for creates, deletes, renames, moves, and Recycle Bin activity.
- Added startup reconciliation so changes that happened while FileAtlas was closed are recorded at the next session start.
- Added event classification into user, system, noise, and unknown-style activity streams.
- Added event coalescing so repeated background writes are grouped instead of flooding Analytics.
- Added local
.falogtimestamped event segments. - Added local
.fasnapcatalog snapshots. - Added a SQL-compatible
.faidxFileAtlas catalog index and moved the live catalog under FAFS internal storage. - Added
.faconfig,.farm,.fapar,.fasec, and.fachkinternal files so settings, recovery metadata, parity metadata, safety policy, and checkpoints are readable by newer FileAtlas tools. - Added startup migration and cleanup so older local SQLite history/catalog/recovery records are copied into FileAtlas internal storage and old visible catalog files are removed when possible.
- Added lazy erasure/parity metadata generation for future recovery tools. FAFS does not recover files by itself.
- Added priority-folder recovery policy so users can keep recovery/parity work focused on chosen directories while normal history remains available.
- Added local catalog learning APIs so Base, Analytics, Dev, and future FileAtlas tools can share the same machine memory.
- Added test/debug controls so development checks can run without accidentally launching the full user-facing stack.
- Added performance policy settings so FAFS can throttle heavy catalog, hash, and parity work around CPU/disk targets and idle behavior.
- Hardened daemon startup with a raw Windows lock file and safer status writes so duplicate FAFS launches exit quietly instead of showing database-lock popups.
FileAtlas Analytics
- Added FileAtlas Analytics as a tray/dashboard app.
- Added 1-hour, 24-hour, 7-day, 30-day, 1-year, and custom date/time range views.
- Analytics now displays storage added, cleaned up, net change, change counts, Recycle Bin activity, drive/folder drill-downs, and recent activity.
- Fixed history calculations so longer windows are timestamp-based rather than only showing the newest events.
- Analytics refreshes storage history in the background so the dashboard stays responsive while FAFS is cataloging.
- Added FAFS Settings inside Analytics with General, Performance, Protection, Priorities, Storage, and Advanced pages.
- Added priority-folder entry, priority-only recovery mode, cache compaction, memory-cache clearing, snapshot clearing, and recovery-metadata cleanup controls.
- Analytics now reads indexed FAFS history columns with a short summary cache instead of parsing every event payload on each refresh.
- Analytics now reads cached FAFS storage/filetype totals instead of walking internal folders from the UI thread.
- Analytics opens from the existing tray instance instead of creating duplicate tray copies.
- Analytics uses the FileAtlas icon and shared FileAtlas app identity.
FileAtlas Dev
- Added FileAtlas Dev as an optional password-protected local diagnostic tool.
- Dev can inspect FAFS health, process usage, database counts, internal files, recent history checks, and debug reports.
- Dev can open and inspect FAFS filetypes including
.faidx,.falog,.fasnap,.farm,.fapar,.faconfig,.fasec,.fachk, and.fadev. - Dev can save local
.fadevdebug reports. - Dev requires the developer password during installation and requires the same password again when the app is opened.
- Fixed the Dev startup crash caused by an invalid Tk padding value.
- Dev now uses the shared FileAtlas icon and includes a larger FileAtlas brand mark in the window.
- Dev now reports FileAtlas filetype counts and the latest retrofit status.
Installer And Packaging
- Installer version is now 1.4.4.
- The installer ships FileAtlas Base, FileAtlasFAFS, and FileAtlas Analytics by default.
- FileAtlas Dev is an optional installer checkbox and is only installed when the developer password is entered.
- Reinstalling over an existing FileAtlas install stops old FileAtlas processes before replacing files.
- The installer includes Start Menu entries for Base, Analytics, Uninstall, and the project website. The Dev shortcut is added only when Dev is installed.
- When desktop shortcuts are selected, Analytics gets a desktop shortcut and Dev gets one only if Dev is installed.
- The post-install launch target was tested so FileAtlas Base stays open and starts FAFS.
- FAFS startup now uses a launch guard, raw daemon lock, and unique retrying status-file writes to avoid duplicate-start races on Windows.
- FileAtlas shortcuts share the same Windows app identity so FileAtlas windows group together more cleanly.
- The All Drives view uses solid classic blue drive tiles without free-space gray splits.
- The All Drives background now follows the light/native surface instead of turning black.
- Drive tiles keep solid FileAtlas colors and now use classic raised edges so the drive rectangles feel clickable again.
Notes
FileAtlas remains local-only. It does not upload files, filenames, scan results, analytics, hashes, or debug reports.
Unsigned installers may show a Windows SmartScreen warning. FileAtlas is not code-signed yet because code-signing certificates are expensive.
Use FileAtlas responsibly. Delete actions use the Windows Recycle Bin when possible, but files can still become unrecoverable if the Recycle Bin is emptied later.