JimsList Craigslist Searcher

Pros

You can save multiple searches in different areas and criteria.

Cons

When closing it says it needs a plug in. This plug in is already installed. Does not seem to affect the program. It does seem to hang up occasionally and sometimes requires a system restart to close. Doesn't happen too often.

Pros

Allows saving of searches

Cons

Rec'd some funky message it was trying to change my default browser to IE and search engine to Bing. But, in the end it didn't live up to the message.

Summary

Tried Criagslist reader and the free version wouldn't allow you to save searches. This one does.

I would like this software to SAVE the individual posting if it could. They expire after X days on craigslist. They're nice to save for comparison if you have the time to shop the market. Dump that saved posting (w/ pix) into a folder. Make it free for me and I'll be there...

Pros

- Lets you pick specific areas (including outside US), sections of Craigslist, and price ranges
- Has option to save searches (didn't try it, though)
- Has option to send notifications via email or SMS (didn't try it, though)

Cons

- Tedious to set up if you're searching the entire US; you have to manually choose every single area (and does it have all the areas?)
- Very, very slow

Summary

Installed quickly and easily. I decided to test it with a spam search - for a car I suspected was advertised all over the US - so I had to choose every location. That was a pain and I'm not sure it has all the areas - after I was finished and made sure I'd checked every box it still said I'd chosen 242 areas, which is a lot less than the online search tool I usually use has (>400).

When I started the search I got a window saying it would be slow because of all the areas I'd picked; that was fine with me so I clicked "OK." But then the window just sat there, partially gone and partially there. Fortunately it wasn't maximized so I clicked back on the browser window to go on to something else. I went back to it about 10 minutes later; nothing was showing yet so I figured it must not put the results up until it was finished. This time I tried clicking the "minimize" button in the upper right corner - but when I did it disappeared. I was expecting to see it in a tab in the bottom bar of the screen but it wasn't there so I though it had somehow closed. No; apparently it just doesn't show there. I finally noticed a different little icon over on the right side next to the clock; that's where it was. Once I found that icon I had to right-click and choose "Restore" to get it back; a left click didn't work even though I tried it several times.

I gave it some more time and then went back to it. It found many results (no surprise), laid out in columns which I was able to sort by clicking on the column header. But I never got a chance to open them. There was a small menu at the top; I tried clicking on "File" to save the search but couldn't get it to open; the whole program just stopped and the columns emptied as if it was running the search all over again, even though I hadn't clicked the "Search" button. By that time I was about out of patience so I tried just shutting it down ("X" in the upper right corner). No response; I ended up shutting it down manually with Task Manager - thereby losing my search.

I'm not sure this is going to be useful to me if it keeps having problems like this, but I suggest that anyone who does decide to use it save the search before running it (if that's possible). That way if you have to shut the thing down manually your search should still be there.

FYI, this computer is running Windows XP SP3 with 4 gigs of RAM and a >2 gHz processor. Maybe this program would be faster on a different machine or OS.

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Pros

Being able to search more then one area, even city at once!

Cons

Still trying to find something I don't like.