The "Other" tab contains various Data Recovery operations that are not contained in the other available tabs. The actual options that appear on this screen may vary based on whether freeware Discus or Discus Pro is in use, and whether or not the MySQL database is turned on. All of the options are described here, along with some situations under which they may be useful. Depending on your version and database setup, some of these options may not appear.

Reset Posting (and Reading) Permissions

Availability: All Discus installations (reading permissions only in Discus Pro).

What it does: Resets all of the posting (and reading) privileges on all topics to "public," overwriting any permissions that may have already been set up.

When to use it: You want to destroy all of your previous access privilege settings and start over from a wide-open configuration.

Caveats: You lose all of your previous access settings on all topics.

Clean & Repair Posting Logs

Availability: All Discus installations

What it does: Examines posting logs, comparing to data stored on the message pages. Removes any entries for posts that don't correspond to messages on pages. Adds skeleton entries for posts on pages that aren't in the log.

When to use it: When directed by DiscusWare support, or you otherwise have a strong suspicion that your posting logs are incorrect, and reindexing (Data Recovery - Tree) and rebuilding mini-logs (below) have not helped.

Caveats: None. Any entries recovered through this utility will not have IP address or author information.

Maintain "Mini-logs"

Availability: Freeware Discus, or Discus Pro with MySQL database off

What it does: Rebuilds "mini-logs," which are selected recent entries from the posting logs. Storing these files separately allows "Last Day" and "Last Week" searches to be rendered more quickly.

When to use it: When directed by DiscusWare support, or your Last Day and Last Week searches do not appear to be working properly. (Also try reindexing through Data Recovery - Tree.)

Caveats: None.

Regenerate Thumbnails

Availability: Discus Pro, profile thumbnails enabled

What it does: Goes through all user profile pictures and builds "thumbnail" images based on whatever settings you have configured.

When to use it: The first time you upgrade to Discus Pro 4.0 and turn on thumbnails, or whenever you change your thumbnail settings in Options Manager.

Caveats: None.

Recalculate Posts and Statuses

Availability: Discus Pro

What it does: Goes through all posting logs and reassigns user statuses.

When to use it: The first time you upgrade to Discus Pro 4.0 (note: this is automatically done by the upgrade procedure), or if you want to change the "thresholds" to advance to new levels.

Caveats: If you have "Recalculate number of posts from logs" checked, post counts of users may go down to account for messages that were deleted.

Clean Enhanced Profiles

Availability: Discus Pro with database off

What it does: Removes duplicate entries in "enhanced" user profile files.

When to use it: When directed by DiscusWare support, or upon receiving an Internal Server Error upon attempting to import into a database.

Caveats: None.