Encase Forensic software can be an amazingly powerful tool.  When I use it I feel like a magician - I am able to see and understand so much about the content of a computer drive.

Since I use it a lot I have a lot of strong feelings about it, both positive and negative.  The part of it that drives me the craziest is the reporting function.  A forensic analysis requires the preparation of a professional report.  It needs to be something that can be submitted in court.  If attorneys had to use software for preparing their briefs as convoluted as Encase is for preparing reports, they'd probably go back to writing their briefs by hand or on typewriters.

What drives me nuts about the reporting function is that it is dynamic - which is one of those things that is a feature that feels like a bug.  If I find an item of interest, bookmark it, and add it to the report, the information may or may not stay in the report depending upon what else I do in the software.  For example if I open a zip file container so that I can analyze it and add it as a logical file then create a bookmark - I can put it in the report.  If I then close the logical file to free up memory, the bookmark will disappear from the report.  It's also very difficult to format the report so that it looks professional, and the notes function is very limited.  There is a workaround for the notes function which is to create a text document and paste the text into the note. 

 There is also a workaround for the constant changes in the report.  When I have an issue documented and I've found all the supporting evidence in the file, I have learned to stop my analysis and export the report at that point to a rich text file.  I have then memorialized my findings in hard copy and if the report continues to change internally in Encase, it is still documented.  Similarly, the final report goes into an rtf file and is reformatted in Word.  This works, but it adds time.  There are other report generating tools an other forensic software has better reporting.  I wish that Guidance Software would work a little on the reporting feature.