Congradulations!! I have just downloaded and tried the Patch 2 for Powerdesk Pro 8 and so far it is looking good, with one minor exception.

It is correctly using the user's choice of File Editor.

It will now let you save a Layout in Layout Manager, although you do need to save your preferences in addition to the Save button in Layout Manager.

Previously, if you accessed a file and then tried to delete it, it would not delete. You had to exit Powerdesk, restart, go directly to the file to delete and then delete it. This has been fixed.

The only thing that I have found that still does not work, is the changing of a folder's icon color. You can change the color, but when you attempt to restore the color to default, it does not work. This is very minor and I am very happy with what you have done to the program.

So far so good for me.  I tested the folder color thing and restoring the default folder works fine for me on Win7 32bit.

One thing I had to do was reset the adobe pdf plugin.  It was turned on by default after the install, but it was using the built-in viewer instead.  I turned off the plugin and then turned it back on and all was well.

Another thing to note is that there are still a few of the options (use powerdesk instead of mycomputer, and the adobe pdf plugin, perhaps others I'm not sure) that require me to right click the icon and run as administrator in order to change.  Not a big deal and doesn't require all the other stuff we had to do before to save settings.

The PD8 recompile looks good, so far, for me as well.  Haven't tested extensively.  I did try to connect to a FTP (it didn't work, but if was not a PD8 problem, the server was down), and when I went back to my regular listing, the directory and file icons did not show up at first.  They did display correctly about 20 seconds later.

When I uninstalled the older PD8, I could not remove the directory - it still had some DLLs locked (I'm sure Safe Mode would have worked, but the files should be unlocked or all references removed; even if I did inadvertently leave Dialog Helper running when I uninstalled).

I did find a minor problems in PDWizard.

*Help is not active

Back in the day (Windows 98) I loved and used PDWizard a lot.  I've seen it in the directory with newer PD versions, but thought it was legacy stuff sticking around and quit using it.  I don't know if I will use it again, but I would like to - it does a few things I find VERY convenient.

Thanks Mark

PS View Panel displays my PDFs correctly now (I know this wasn't and issue, but apparently uninstalling and reinstalling corrected it for me).

PPS This post has been edited and erroneous entries (and or entries I cannot reproduce) have been removed.  I will not continue to edit this post, but I do not want you to have a longer list than is absolutely necessary.

When PD is installed, the following folder (with listed files) was created in the temp folder.  I've found that if this folder is deleted, the application cannot be modified, repaired or uninstalled.  Why so?  The temp folder is just that - for temp files not a permanent file structure.

{00C4ACD2-DFC9-4273-B91C-779942AE8484}

  _ISMSIDEL.INI

  0x0409.ini

  PowerDesk 8.msi

  Setup.INI

When I first selected Tools -> Hex Editor, the setup ran again to configure something.  Why?  What if the configure files had been deleted from temp?  The Hex Editor worked, but after a program restart Hex Editor is now grayed out.

When I expand C:\Windows, then select C:\Windows\system32, PD crashes.

I've had random PD crashes when Adobe Plug-In is enabled and PDF files are viewed.  Difficult to pin down what will cause it to crash - sometimes selecting another PDF file and sometimes clicking on a folder other than the current one.

If the viewer pain is resized, with Plug-In enabled, the image is not resized to fit the new window.  If I select another file, it is sized to fit the window.  But now, PDF files are not displayed in the viewer at all.  I click on the file, and the viewer pane is blank.  UGG.  Restart the program and PDF files are displayed in the viewer pane, but PD crashes again when selecting other PDF files to view. 

Enough for tonight.

More testing ...

Hex Editor - exists under Edit and Tools menus.  On my system, now grayed out and Ctrl+H does not open the editor.

Renaming files - it appears the rename logic has a difficult time if the leading characters of the file name are not alphanumeric especially in thumbnail mode.  i.e. a file name with a leading space cannot be renamed to simply remove the space.

Renaming files - when renaming a single file, the list repaints at least twice.  why?

Scrolling file lists is not smooth especially in thumbnail mode.

Library sort by column headings - I tested with Libraries\Documents does not appear to sort on Name, Ext or Size columns.  Date, Time and Attributes work.  (These are the only columns I list.)

Doc files in preview - mouse wheel scrolls horizontally instead of vertically when viewing a doc file.  Other file types seem to work correctly.  (Arrow keys and Page Up/Down work correctly.)

In my previous post, I commented on issues with PDF files.  These problems appear to exit in Patch 1.

I cannot comment or test most of the other issues as I do not use those particular features.

why won't spell check catch logic errors?? ;)

PDF - problems appear to EXIST in Patch 1.

Great...I went to install the new patch....everything went well until I went to start the program and it comes up saying

Powerdesk 8.3.1.7

It appears that the serial number XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX you selected when installing PowerDesk was already used or you have reached the maximum of installation allowed. Therefore, this software cannot run with this serial number. For more information, please contact the customer service service or click here.

Well I clicked on the link which goes nowhere... I install Powerdesk on the 2 computers I use...Now since this link goes nowhere, I will try to contact Avanquest tomorrow to see what they can do...I purchased this product, I don't distribute it around since it's registered to me...

PS...when I installed the new program, it changed the font style I was using in Powerdesk...

Hopefully this is a onetime thing and not a bug.

PS.. http://kb.avanquestusa.com/ and your email support 'css@avanquestusa.com.' both don't seem to be working at this time, I'll try later, maybe I'll even get on chat when your open, hopefully they won't waste my time, like the last couple of times I've used them.

Well, I finally got on Chat, and of course they Wasted my time, They basically said that I'm will be unable to install PD8 back on my 2 computers even though they were installled and working at the time of me using the patch to fix the program, and I that I will continue to get warning messages about the serial number already being in use even though it's my serial number and it's for the product I purchased....More BS from an already buggered program, it was working on both my computers until I was told to unistall the program to fix it.

Since I purchased the product and installed it on the 2 computers I use, why am I restricted, It's not like I'm sending it out on the internet as a pirated copy, I purchased this product on the belief that it would support Win7 and as an upgrade to PD7 and so far it has performed miserably up to now. This endless BS of non-support for this product is astounding and is getting very frustrating and ridiculous.

What I am to do now except go back to PD7 which worked fine with Win7, I don't think this is a step forward.

PS...where's my rebate since I can no longer use PD8 since it either won't start or it will only start with warning messages.

Is this really the way you want to treat loyal customers?

As a side note to my Rant it should be known that the program takes alot more time to start up then previous versions.

My problem with special characters in file names causing PD8 to open explorer on double-click instead of the associated file is fixed!  Thanks.

However, seems to be a new problem: can only open one PD8 window (I have PD8 pinned to the task bar and with the previous version shift-click would open a second copy ... no longer works).

Will continue testing a bit more, but I need multiple copies of PD open at one time so will revert to production version soon.

@Alan Whitley - I guess Avanquest had issues with pirated software as the reason they went to the draconian license activation procedure.  I like to rebuild my systems from time to time and I can count on losing use of System Suite, Partition Commander and PowerDesk.  The help desk is useless.  I end up buying another license - which is what I'm sure they want.  But I've found other products to replace Partition Commander and I'm looking for something to replace System Suite.  I'm about to give up on PowerDesk.  I have owned PowerDesk since the days of Mejinx.  Maybe the original software was poorly written (even though it worked very well) and Avanquest is having difficulty modifying it.  The only reason I hang on to PD is the file sync feature.  I use another file manager for day-to-day work.

I wrote software for years.  I would have been fired on the spot if I turned buggy software over to users.  Guess things are different these days.

I am working to resolve Alan's issue internally and I sent him private email on the topic.

Gary--yeah, software piracy is always a problem. Our primary competition - Directory Opus is just as draconian not to mention their software costs a lot more. That said I am working with marketing to have something more flexible in the future. 

I understand your point about releasing buggy software. I counter that PowerDesk has hundreds of features and supports multiple operating systems. It is also software that basically is a Windows helper utility application. It is this unique combination that can cause a number of issues as the platform beneath PowerDesk is constantly changing. This is not an accounting application it is a utility and like it or not there will always be issues as we try to stay in sync with all of the changes that are constantly happening with AV products causing trouble, 32/64 bit support, constant Windows changes.. etc. So have a bit of heart. If you worked on software before then you should know that to throw stones at code you have not seen or complexities you may not understand is not the way to show respect to a fellow developer. That doesn't mean that we should release crap (and I don't think we do) and it doesn't mean that your level of satisfaction is not warranted I just shudder a bit at how aggressive a stance you are taking after all that has been done since the release of PD 8 and this new team.

On your specific issue.. I am trying to understand the temp file you deleted that caused so much havoc. If you will send me your email address privately I will connect you with the product manager directly who wants to investigate. I will suggest to him to call you if are available to discuss.

Barry.. we will investigate your problem. 

- "You will need to uninstall your prior version of PD 8 before this one will install."

Ok, surprise us/me. There is a Avanquest update listed from Avanquest Software and a PowerDesk 8 listed from Avanquest North America Inc. Since I don't own any other Avanquest software nor installed any that I know of or remember installing, should we uninstall both that are listed in Windows 7 "Uninstall"?

PLEASE.... when communicating with with customers, don't treat us as idiots but think of us as idiots. Give complete and concise instructions.

When hiring programmers, PLEASE, ask them two things....... what is/was XTreeGold and who is Ontrack. If they have a bewildered look on their face, don't hire them!

Ah sorry.. yes.. please uninstall all PowerDesk products you see. When you download a patch via LiveUpdate it will make a 2nd entry within the Add/Remove programs control. This is so that you can unwind to before the patch.

Sorry--I missed that instruction for you guys.

I never think of customers as idiots.. :)

-mark=

One thing I noticed is there is still a problem with the "right click" context menu. In prior versions of PowerDesk if you "right clicked" on a file it gave you the options to scan with Zone Alarm or Malwarebytes. This version, with the fix does not. I had addressed this with tech support and was told to wait. I have also seen this problem discussed in this talk group, http://cafe.softcity.com/questions-answers/view/2MTM5IzN/powerdesk-8-context-menu prior to the patch. Is this somethi8ng you can fix?

Hi Mark,

probably related to the fact that shift-click on the taskbar PD8 doesn't open a second instance, none of the "Window - New..." entries on the PD menu work.  Nor does double-clicking on the PD exe itself cause a second instance to open. BTW - I'm on Win 7, 64-bit and use avast and comodo for security.

Barry.

Same here on the problem with Powerdesk will only run one instance.   Win7 32bit

The problems I had before (update not correctly identified / folder locked and not deletable / no refresh on deletions or renames) all appear to be fixed. The only item I have found [only because I've read the above messages :-) ] is the problem of only one instance of PD8 will run.

To all ... I want to publicly apologize to Mark for my harsh words regarding the PD updates.  Like many, I am frustrated with the issues that seem trivial to me, but obviously are not trivial from a coding standpoint.  I should not let my frustration get the better of me and take heart that Mark is heading the group to get the issues fixed.

Gary

P.S.  Mark, I sent you are private message regarding the install/uninstall issues.

Gary, First off thanks .. though it was not really necessary to apologize. I just think there are two sides of the equation and I let you have view into things from my point of view. I am equally sorry if I was too strong in my response. No worries. It's all good from my side. We all want the same thing.

The single instance issue I have investigated it and we are going to revert the change back. I should have a new build up sometime later today--sadly you will need to uninstall/reinstall again. The change was made by the product manager because he felt that running two instances was asking for trouble as it was not really designed to run this way. That said we checked through the bug database and did not see any specific issue that was reported by customers that seem to be related. We would rather add to PD9 the ability to have multiple windows within a single instance of the application with a new engine that supports it. We feel the multiple instances is a workaround solution. Honestly the product manager did not realize people used this. Glad we gave you a chance for feedback first before we went live.

On the contextual menu issue--I'll make sure it is on the list (it may be already) for Patch 3.

Gary.. the product manager Brian Doud will contact you via email to chase down what is going on with your situation. 

Thanks everyone for your feedback and support!

Mark,

I will continue to uninstall and reinstall all you want - as long as we are moving forward.  I would rather a rocky start to PD8 than having to use some other software.  I just wish I could paste in my serial number the way I used to be able to (minor inconvenience).

And, yes, multiple instances are a must.

I think using us as beta testers, per se, is working great.  I just wish I had more time, at present, to help test more.

Keep it coming...

Mark

Saw your response re: the context menu, thank you. Another thing I discovered, unless it's just me, was that I customized the tool bar yet it reverts back every time I close and re-open the program. I've tried several combinations of save now, save on exit, always the same.

Thanks Mike

I thought others reported that was working correctly now in this thread..?

We'll investigate.

We have posted a new build. The link below will go back to the original posting where we offered Patch 2. Just click on the download link in the article and download the new build. You will need to uninstall PowerDesk and patch 1 if you installed that.

Here is the new build

((I posted this on wrong place))

oh no!  same problem as before with the ZIP extraction process.  It erases everything on destination folders.

with V7, at home I compress the files I changed, I go to the office, extract on specific Drive... done! all my files are in sync with home.

with V8, at home I compress the files I changed, I go to the office, extract on specific Drive... catastrophe!  everything is gone except the few files I ZIP at home.

That's unacceptable.   

Also, when checking some ZIP files, it was working just fine until I select a file with only a TXT file (534,000 bytes) on it.... it crash.... I tried a couple of times more doing something different and it crash again.

:(

I love powerdesk V 7.0... V 8.0?  not so much

Fernando.. I caught this in the other thread.. we're looking into it.

UGGGG!  Hex Editor problem solved.  A file must be selected before Tools, Hex Editor is selected.  I was trying to open Hex Editor without first selecting a file.  False alarm.  My apology.

I am really confused.  I uninstalled Patch 2 from Control Panel, Programs and Features.  The PowerDesk 8 entry is removed from the list but PD is NOT uninstalled.  C:\Program Files\Avanquest\PowerDesk remains fully populated.  Is the uninstall process broken?

I installed the new build and it seems to have been installed successfully.

Gary - this is part of the problem I was talking about - the PD directory remains populated, which is OK but, I couldn't remove it because some of the files were still locked by the operating system (yes, I rebooted).  It's like PD8 locking files in the temp directory.

I hope this is all fixed with this newest build and I hope I have more time to run it through it's paces.

@Troy.  Here's the solution to that issue ...

Using regedit, go to the following entry:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

  On my system AppInit_DLLs contains only the value "C:\Windows\system32\FileMonitor32.dll".  Right click on AppInit_DLLs, select Modify and either clear the entry completely or insert a ; (semi-colon) as the first character which will make the entry a comment (I prefer to clear the entry).  Be careful if there are more entries in this registry key than what I'm showing here - in that case only remove the portion I've shown in quotes.

Click on Start, enter msconfig in the search box and click on msconfig.exe from the result list.  Click on the Startup tab and uncheck PDHookServer.

Reboot your system.  You can then delete all of the files in the program files folder.  One additional file to delete is C:\Windows\system32\FileMonitor32.dll.

I hope this helps.

@Troy. FYI, I am using 32-bit Win7.

Toolbar customizations are NOT remembered in latest patch.

Ah, Gary, TY.

But, I should have been more clear; it is only a problem from Avanquest's POV.  I can get it removed, but my point was that the program should completely cleanup after itself and, (I think it was you that said this too) it should only use the temp directory while it is running, not to store permanent items in.

Verified - Toolbar customization does not save it's changes for me either.

Mark,

Thanks for re-enabling multiple instances so quickly! Really appreciate that level of responsiveness.

I have long used multiple instances happily and without problem.  It is built into the menu system, so I don't understand why you consider it a workaround.  Personally, I like it just the way it is and with Win 7 taskbar shift-click access to it works just like other apps.  I'd vote against changing the way it is implemented in PD 9 ... if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it :-)

Barry.

Running on WinXP SP3

Patch v8.3.1.7 info:

- Uninstall was fairly clean. Only left the SKINS directory, the .stg settings file and kvthexts.ini file, all of which could be deleted with no problems. It left only the PowerDeskA directory in the Windows TEMP directory, but did delete the underlying AQOle.dll and AQShell32.dll. I also use Fix-It Utilities 11 and it places these same files in the root of the Windows TEMP directory. These files should really be placed in Program Files\Common Files\AvanQuest Shared directory so there is only one instance and all AvanQuest programs use the same set - also safer and less confusing. The registry only retained settings for the toolbar.

v8.3.1.8 notes: I don't see any unzip problem on my machine. I did this in several directories I knew I could restore, but all original files were retained, not deleted. I also am not having any problem with saving toolbar settings. I do have 3 more machines (2 XP and 1 Win7) still to test this on this weekend. I agree with Barry. If it works without problems the way it is (and people are used to using it this way - myself included), why change it?

Installed v8.3.1.8 on four machines (3 WinXP and 1 Win7). On one of the WinXP machines, it will not run. I've retained the windows debug information. Let me know if you want it (markquay@bellsouth.net). It never gets started up, just evenetually shows the "PowerDesk Pro has encountered a problem and needs to close" window. I reverted this machine back to v8.3.1.7 and it does the same thing. v8.2.1.9 runs, but with the existing problems of that version (file / folder locks -- no panes refresh -- slow to start copying files).

Event log entry:

Faulting application PDExplo.exe, version 8.3.1.8, faulting module PDExplo.exe, version 8.3.1.8, fault address 0x000ea4d9.

Thanks all for the comments..

On the uninstall issue--we are investigating. We think it was an original PD 8 installer issue that has been corrected with the latest release. Still investigating.

On the temp file issue--we are investigating this one.. 

On the zip file issue.. this is ongoing but we are having trouble reproducing it. It may be an issue working across disk volumes. If so, the issue will likely be moved to Patch 3 for resolution as this is already moving forward. That's the way it works -- engineers continue working on bugs until we find issues with what we are testing and then we make a decision to go after it again or move it to the next release. 

On Mark's issue--this is a new one. Mark I will ask the Product Manager to contact you.

The toolbar settings issue is eluding us. It would be great if we could get exact reproduce steps on that--as if you were telling a child.

Appreciate all the work everyone has done and the spirit of cooperation. I already believe that this test is proving to be a success for us all. I hope everyone agrees.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Mark, Re: the toolbar. First of all I am running Win 7 Pro, 64bit.

I customized the toolbar, by removing some items and adding new ones. I exited the program and later re-started and the toolbar was back to the same state as when I first installed the program.

I next customized the toolbar, as a test, by just deleting the last five items on the toolbar. I did this three (3) times, once re-starting the program, once "save settings now" and once "save setting on exit."

 Each time the toolbar reverted back to the same state it was in when the program installed, now of the changes remained.

Hope that helps, Mike

There are multiple tool bars.. is this issue present on all toolbars? Could you specify which toolbar you see this on?

-mark=

So sorry. The small toolbar that contains cut, copy, paste and so on.

Mark.  I'm running Win7 32-bit.  My user account is the administrator.  I only use the "Toolbar" (Ctrl+5).

I right click on the tool bar and select Customize Toolbar ...

I add an item to the tool bar list.

I close the dialogue box.  The added item appears on the tool bar.

I click Options, Save Settings Now.

I exit PD.

I restart PD.

The added item is no longer on the toolbar.

Gary

Mark,

Sorry, I've been busy today and didn't get a chance to test PD8 at all but, following the exact same steps as Gary, I get the same results - my toolbar changes do not remain through closing and reopening the application.

Some details:

Windows XP Pro, 32 bit - fully up to date

PD8 is NOT installed in the default installation directory, I always install it to C:\Program Files\Power Desk.

Changes work properly on the Launchbar when I choose Save Settings Now.

If you need further information, I am more than willing to supply it.

Hope this helps.

I only have one machine I can test the toolbar steps stated above and this system (WinXP SP3 up to date) works just fine. Try looking at the registry where this is saved.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Avanquest\PowerDesk\CurrentVersion\ExplorerPlus

There should be 3 entries here

(default)                          REG_SZ                   (value not set)

Toolbar Current Settings     REG_BINARY            [hex data]

Toolbar Default Settings     REG_BINARY             [hex data]

When I change or rearrange my toolbar and save the settings, the Toolbar Current Settings entry changes.

@Mark Quay ... thanks for the information.  I checked registry and those entries exist on my system.

Not sure if this makes a difference, but my toolbar configuration was set by importing settings from PD7 export settings.

Hi, I'm running W7 ultimate 64, done some changes to the toolbar, if saving on exit, when restarting, no changes saved. If save settings now, when restarting worked.

Enrique and Mark,

Mine works just the opposite - if I "Save Changes on Exit," toolbar changes ARE saved, if I choose "Save Settings Now," toolbar setting are NOT saved.  As with Gary, my settings were originally imported from PD 7 - but, it worked fine with the last update.

Mark,

I want to uninstall and reinstall PD8 8.3.1.8 and see if this corrects the toolbar problem, but, before I do, I want to make sure you want me to - I don't mind keeping it the way it is for awhile in case you have some questions about my setup.  Please let me know.

OK.  This is the situation with toolbar here.  I tried Troy's method and I found the results as he stated ...

"Save Settings Now" does not save toolbar settings.

"Save Changes on Exit" when checked will save toolbar settings.

I normally do not check "Save Changes on Exit".

Wow.. I come in and look at all of this effort. It is much appreciated. 

I'll talk to my product manager about this ... since we do have a workaround I may go for release of this patch and get this issue fixed in Patch 3. 

Just saw the issues that the team has been working on for patch 3.. you'll be pleased.. USB no longer being freed.. anyone? :)

Thanks all!

Hi Mark.  I'm looking forward to the patch.

What does "USB no longer being freed" mean?

err. Should have said "locked" :)

Meaning that we have fixed the bug where the USB stick would not allow you to dismount due to locks being placed on it by PowerDesk. Age old bug..

Hey Mark.  Thanks.  I have experienced that situation.  A reboot is required to release the lock.  Good to have that fixed.

Mark,

About the toolbar not saving issue Gary and I are having: Do you want me to try reinstalling; wait for the new patch; leave as is so you can ask questions?

Thanks for working with us and I am very glad I stayed with PD - it is a core program in my arsenal and I don't know what I would have done without it.

I will have our product manager look to see if he can reproduce the issue. You do not have to do anything... chances are we are going to production with this patch and will focus on the issue as part of Patch 3.

Along with the others, I am having the same issue with the Toolbar. A further note of observation, if you normally have "Save Settins Now" checked, you will have to check "Save Settings On Exit" and then "Save Setting Now" after changing the Toolbar.

There is a problem with changing folder colors. In Windows 7 and Vista the colors do not change at all. If you enter the Menu after changing the color of a folder, the changed color is checked, but the folder is still the default color. In XP SP3 it is even more wierd. You can change the color, but you cannot change it back unless you change the colo of another folder. It appears that a subsequent color change is actually linked to the previous color change. A color change will change the color of the last folder you altered.

For some reason in Vista, if I try to display the "C:\Windows\System32" folder, PowerDesk crashes. I can access the folder with Explorer and I don't have a problem with XP or Windows 7. I use the same Preferences on 4 computers and 3 different operating systems,  I have "User Account Control" turned off, and have checked anything else that I can think of that might cause the problem. Any thoughts?

Mark,

any estimation on when Patch 3 might be ready?

I'm also very happy with PD, just with v 7.0 but I'm sure everything will work out at the end. PD is so much better than Windows Explorer.

The intention will be to release by the end of February .. a lot depends on what QA finds and if development completes on time. 

Larry.. I'll let the product manager know about the issue regarding color.. and the crash.. though we're not hearing about a crash at all with XP regarding this.

Larry and Mark.  I am experiencing the same crash with Win7 32-bit, PD 8.3.1.8 when accessing C:\Windows\System32.  I sent screen caps to the product manager.  I have version 8.2.1.9 on my laptop and the crash does not occur.

I'm a satisfied user of PowerDesk for quite a few years. I downloaded this 8.3.1.8 release with hopes that it would fix the one issue I have been having since version 8 came out (or maybe since I upgraded to Windows 7). Unfortunately, this particular issue still is there. 

I have set up a number of 'network location' shortcuts on my WIndows 7 64 bit system.  Network Locations are basically just shortcuts to a specific folder located somewhere on the network. When I click into one of these locations, all the files/folders list as you would expect. But when I click into one of the sub folders, PD just crashes.  I can get to the same place using any other technique (such as assigning the folder a drive letter) and it works fine. PD just doesn't seem to like "Network Locations" shortcuts for some reason.

I reported this issue back in June 2010, so was hoping it would be addressed. Been working around it by trying hard to remember not to click into any of these 'network locations' in PD. It's just frustrating when I forget.

Other than this, I have had no issues with either the current release or this beta release.

Jeff,

This is odd.. I use PD for network use all the time and while not speedy at all.. It doesn't crash. 

Can you give us any specifics regarding your network, your operating system, etc. in the hopes we can reproduce this?

Forgive me if you have provided this data to us and it is already in our bug database--don't have access to it at the moment to look up the status.

I know this is probably low priority, but PDWizard is not working when using the taskbar option (sets up a toolbar in the taskbar).

I found out a long time ago that you can call other PDWizard configurations and basically setup a button type configuration system that is recursive.  I used to have my system (back in Windows 98) setup so that my wife or daughter could click a button at startup that would then setup a menu system for that person.  This has a different use than login names.  But, using this process, I can do things with menus that you can't normally do.

The taskbar option was working with version 8.3.1.7 (don't know if any changes were made, but it no longer works).  Any suggestions for this particular issue?

PowerDesk 8 (8318)

1. Layout Manager Icon is missing (same as 8317). Cannot change it, Edit is greyed-out.

2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Avanquest\PowerDesk for this version was not removed by the uninstaller. It was removed in build 8317 (it wasn't there when I checked at the time).

3. For "C:\ProgramData\Avanquest\PowerDesk" & "C:\Users\ [username]\AppData\Roaming\Avanquest\Powerdesk" I can't comment as I use RevoUninstaller Pro. PD8 build 8317 was installed as a 'Traced Program' and Revo may have deleted them from its' logged file. I had to manually remove them in the build prior to 8317.

4. C:\Program Files\Avanquest\PowerDesk had to be manually deleted after reboot.

5. This build (8318) appears very slow on refresh, tends to freeze for 2-3 seconds when opening a subfolder (waiting for all files & folders to display) and the 'Up' button (to exit said folder) on the toolbar freezes for the same time.

6. PD8 still crashes when attempting to access "C:\Windows\System32" (same as 8317).

Ian

Windows 7 32 bit.

PowerDesk v8.3.1.8 -- same problem as Jeff Rosen above. I've added some of the basics you requested and have saved the error dump file if needed.

On one of my WinXP Pro machines I am experiencing the same problem with network drive access. This is a simple home network with 2 XP Pro machines and 1 Win7 Pro (all 32-bit)  linked via wireless network. I have no problem accessing network drives from the other 2 machines. This worked on this machine with v8.2.1.9. Now, it shows the mapped drives, but if you either click or double-click a network drive, you just get a constant hour-glass and eventually a "PowerDesk has encountered a problem and must close" pop-up window.

Error basic report:

EventType : BEX     P1 : PDExplo.exe     P2 : 8.3.1.8         P3 : 4d2ec962    
P4 : PDExplo.exe   P5 : 8.3.1.8             P6 : 4d2ec962     P7 : 000ea4d9    
P8 : c0000409       P9 : 00000000    

Event viewer:

Faulting application PDExplo.exe, version 8.3.1.8, faulting module PDExplo.exe, version 8.3.1.8, fault address 0x000ea4d9.

Mark & Gary,

Some follow up information on the System32 issue. I am using PowerDesk Pro version 8, with Patch 8.3.1.8

Windows 7 64 bit Home - seems to be working OK.

XP SP3 32 bit Home - can also access the "System32" folder.

Vista SP2 32 bit Home - PowerDesk crashes when attempting to access the "System32" folder.

OK, I did some more tests with the ZIP file and I found a couple of options: one works, the other one will erase everything under the folder you are extracting against.

Be careful with this test. You have to extract on a different drive... every single time.

The one that works is right-clicking the zip file and extracting all the files.

The one that doesn't work is using CTRL-E or the icon from the Toolbar.

If CTRL-E doesn't work you might need to select the option "extract all of the files to one level" on the ZIP/UNZIP Tab.

PD 8.3.1.8 W7-64, not crashing when accessing System32, though the folder "etc", not showing as always. When attemping to extract a .rar into a folder sometimes PD crashes, but worst, when trying to extract it many times says "The file XXXX exists in the target folder, Do you want to overwrite it?" Of course the chosen foder was empty!!! and it can be seen how the folder or file is created.

PD 8.3.1.8 W7-64m just a little more reserch, it appears to happen the the file to be extracted contains another folder, not happening when the content are just files.

Here is an update...

1. The Save Toolbar issue we have a theory on.. and it has to do with having multiple instances of PowerDesk running. In a scenario like this--instance one has settings changed for the toolbar. Instance two has the default settings. You end instance one and your new settings are saved. Instance two when you exit has the default settings saved on top of your settings. :) We're experimenting with this and scenarios like this where the software stays resident after you exit (because there is another instance around). We probably will not have a resolution for this in Patch 2.

2. We have fixed the crash when messing around in the System32 folder. We will revise Patch 2 to fix this.

3. Troy we made no changes to PDWizard for this patch. Our PDM will contact you (if he hasn't already.. we will put the results of this investigation in to Patch 3)

4. We have made a fix for force refresh that did get broken in patch 2. We will have a revised patch 2 that addresses this.

Our intention is to post a new patch 2 (the final one) this week (perhaps tomorrow).

We will then proceed with patch 3 which is well underway.. details on that to follow. We will post a test build of Patch 3 a couple weeks after release of Patch 2. Right now I am planning that for next week. 

Patch 3 is our last planned patch for PD 8 unless something critical comes up as we are moving the team to major infrastructure changes to the core engines (the rewrite we have wanted to do that will be months to do) that will be a part of PowerDesk 9. I think you will like what we have planned and of course I will keep you informed as we progress. 

Good to hear from you Mark.  Look forward to the new patch.

I do not ever run multiple instances of PD and I have the toolbar issue.  The changes not being saved is not a random event - it happens every time.  Are you saying that your testers are NOT seeing this problem?

Mark.  The issue I reported above was confirmed by Michael S. in your support department in an email to me on July 15, 2010.  The case number is #353535-1613847#

I have 64 bit Windows 7 on a standard windows local area network.

I'm not sure if my problem is exactly the same as Mark Quay above. My issue only occurs when I am clicking through from a 'Network Location'.   I have no problem if I drill down by clicking  'Network' nor do I have any problem if a drill down using a mapped network drive (ie assigned to a drive letter).

Just to be sure my terminology is correct.  A "Network Location" is one I set up by clicking 'Computer' on the start menu then right clicking in the area where the various drives are listed and selecting "add a network location" from the context menu.

I

I've been a long time user of Powerdesk, since V4 or 5 I think, and now have version 8 (3 license) but can't use it on Windows 7. I've installed it several times on at least 2 different installs of Win 7 and for some reason it somehow locks up the Recycle Bin to a point it takes a very long time to empty with any amount of files in the bin. This is true for both the 8.2.1.9 version and the newest beta.

At first I thought it was a Perfectdisk 11 issue so I uninstalled Perfectdisk 11 but had the same problem. I then uninstalled Powerdesk 8 and the problem went away. I then did a clean install of Powerdesk beta and the problem returned. I then again uninstalled Powerdesk 8 and reinstalled Perfectdisk 11 and haven't had any issues since. So it is Powerdesk that is causing this. Not sure it is related but I disable PDHookserver.exe from starting up as I have no need to double click my desktop to bring up Powerdesk and I have heard that doesn't work anyway.

So I have moved on for the time being but would like this problem resolved.

Greetings all,

I have posted an update to Patch 2. You can pick it up here. This is the original article that I posted for the Test 2 patch. You will of course need to uninstall what you have for this to work.

This build corrects three issues:
- The crash when viewing the System32 folder on some operating systems.
- The issue with saving toolbars.
- The force refresh button should still now work all the time.

 Have fun.. looking forward to your feedback. If the issues above are indeed fixed and nothing vile shows up--we're going to release this patch. 

Happy updating!

Mark, yes I was contacted about PDWizard - TY.

As far as the double instance of PowerDesk causing the save custom toolbar changes problem, I must agree with Gary.  I keep VERY tight control over my running processes (I have 34 at the desktop with no programs running) and am positive (I also verified) this is not the problem.

Because Patch 1 didn't work owing to an alleged invalid registry entry I never bothered to try to update PD.

I hope the patch 2 / new version will not require patch 1 to be installed first.

with the updated patch today, powerdesk seems to be running more stable and I tried both a launchbar change and a toolbar change, clicking save settings now and shutting powerdesk after each change and the changes were saved, thanks!  the last beta patch seemed to have stability problems, I had several times that it would stop responding and I'd have to end task.  So far so good with today's version though I haven't spent much time with it yet.

Mark, I downloaded and installed Test 2 Patch ... 8.3.1.9

I can confirm the toolbar issue is fixed.

The program no longer crashes when opening C:\Windows\System32.  However, the response time before the file list is displayed is, ah, terrible.  I timed it ...

  Clicked on System32 in folder list - 16 seconds before file list is displayed.

  Clicked on winsxs in folder list - 49 seconds before file list is displayed.

  Clicked on inf in folder list - 8 seconds before file list is displayed.

Scrolling any file list with a lot of files (i.e. System32) is jerky and it is very easy to get the mouse wheel ahead or behind the scrolling and the wheel movements are buffered so it is easy to get the file list scrolling up, down, up, down and there is no way to stop it.

Click on C:\Windows folders 'Fonts' and 'assembly' shows no files in the file list.  Windows Explorer displays the files.  Windows Explorer does not exhibit the delays mentioned above.  Neither does XYplorer nor Directory Opus.

Mark, I really appreciate that you folks are working on the issues with PD, but it is my opinion that this patch is not ready for release. 

Mark,

The toolbar changes are also fixed on my system.  PDWizard still has the same issues, but I believe this is something on my end.  I will investigate and, like I told Doug, let you know what the problem was (eventually, this is low priority for me).

I will test PD 8 more rigorously as time allows.

About the slow response, not sure but run task manager to see if another program running in the background is hogging the CPU usage or page file usage. I have Fix-It Utilities and the anti-virus(SBAMSvc.exe) seems to bog things down every once in awhile. I have read in some newsgroups to uncheck "Check files when they are opened or copied" in settings on Active Defense tab. There may be a setting in other anti-virus programs that is similar to that one.

We are not seeing any performance issues like this Gary -- going through the same folders on my system (which may be more updated than yours) I get good speeds. Doing performance work is not in scope for this patch. That is engine oriented work which will be done for PowerDesk 9. We intend to rewrite the engine to be multithreaded which will do wonders for speed.

The goal of this patch is to fix issues that we planned to fix (which was the list posted) and make sure we didn't add any new troubles. With your help (and everyone else here) we were to shake this one out pretty good. 

I am going to watch this thread for a while longer.. to see what else comes up.

Patch 3 is now cooking and within a couple of weeks we will put that up for you guys to play with. I really appreciate the effort all of you have made. 

BTW.. The patch 2 that we posted is a FULL BUILD that includes all fixes for Patch 1. It is not a patch--so Andrew.. you should grab it.

Well, I guess there is something wrong with my system that I cannot put my finger on if no one else is having performance issues as I described.  Oh well.  I ran the tests with a completely quiet system - nothing else running.  CPU at 0% use when starting out.  CPU goes to 50% use on dual core system when trying to display the files in "C:\Windows\winsxs".  Since it's just me, please consider my issue DOA.

done... I have PD 8.0 in both PCs (home & office)  yeah!

Like Gary, my folder C:\WINDOWS\assembly  is empty with PD8 but not with Windows Explorer.

In other folders I have no problem with performance (just 1 or 2 seconds). I have 4 GBs.

I couldn't replicate my issue with UNZIP when extracting to a sub-folder. I'll do a couple more tests to be sure.  But at home the issue is still there when using CTRL-E.

I think the main problems for me are solved. I plan to enjoy PD8 a lot more.

I do have one other issue.  Please accept my humble apology and disregard this if no one else can replicate.

I create a zip file from files A, B, and C.  I highlight the three files, click Archive, Zip...  The zip file is created and when selected in the folder list, the files A, B and C appear in the file list.  All as expected.

I drag file D to the zip file.  File D disappears from the file list, but does not appear in the zip file list - even if I click away from the zip file then back.  I restart PD, select the zip file and file D appears.  I create another D file and drag it to the zip file.  File D disappears from the file list and I get no indication that there is already a D file in the zip file.  The original D file remains displayed in the file list.  I restart PD and I can see that the second D file overwrote the original D file.

If I do the same procedure with the D file by selecting Archive, Add Files to Zip..., I get the warning box to overwrite an existing file.  If I overwrite the existing file, the new D file is reflected in the file list.  If I do not overwrite the file, the zip file list shows some duplicate names, but if I click away from the zip file then back, the file list is displayed correctly.

Gary,

First, I checked the folder display-time issue you are having - like the others, mine works fine.

Following your directions, I DO have a problem after dragging file D into the zip file - it does not appear in the zip file (I too have to restart PD), but mine does NOT disappear from the regular file list.  Everything else on my system works correctly, including the overwrite message.

Reminder, I run Windows XP Pro 32 bit.

My C:\WINDOWS\assembly is also empty in PD8 with only patch #1. In Windows Explorer there are files showing(WinXP sp3 system). I also checked my laptop(Windows 7 64-bit/PD 8 patch #1) and the assembly directory is also empty where as Windows Explorer shows files.

Good point Troy.  As a reminder I am using Win7 32-bit and NTFS file systems on an SSD boot disk (C:).

zip-draggin:   If I drag the file to the zip file (the name on my folder list) the file will be added and also remain on the folder.  The problem is that it doesn't zip the PATH information as the other files already zip...

I prefer to do it through the right-click menu

My zip operation works correctly on both my systems(WinXP Pro sp3 32-bit/Windows 7 64-bit). I don't have patch #2 installed yet, so both systems are running with patch #1. Don't know if this helps but is "force refresh after file operation" checked under Options/Preferences/General Settings?

Gary - you are not alone!  I have the same performance problems with winsxs and other large C: foldrs.  I'm on a Quad core I5 and one processor is 100% busy while PD works away at building the list. 

assembly folder also appears empty in PD.  I'm on PD 8.3.1.8, Win 7 64-bit.  Running Avast and Comoodo for security

Also tried the performance issue on my laptop - i3 quad core Win 7 64-bit with PD 7.0.1.3.  Much faster opening of winsxs.  But assembly still looks empty.

Greg, thanks for reminder ... yes I did have the refresh option checked during test.

I confirm the assembly issue.. though our handling of that folder is by design. This special "folder" is used to hold .NET assemblies and is special in every sense of the word. You'll note that even Explore lets you do little with it. PowerDesk is indeed for the advanced user as well as the common user--it is beyond the scope of the application to do anything here. So as we say this one is "as designed". 

On the zip issue.. we'll have a look at that one for Patch 3.

Heya Barry ... thanks man.  I was beginning to suspect I was a brick shy of a load.  I have the performance issues with 8.3.1.9 on desktop and 8.2.1.9 on lappy.  I have 7.0.1.1 on my netbook (can you say 'geek'?) and it outperforms desktop and lappy on folders with substantial number of files within.

I suspect the performance issue would not exist or be mitigated if someone is using FAT32 file system vs NTFS.

Thanks for update Mark.  I'll buy your explanation.  What about the 'Fonts" folder?  Same deal?

PD 8.3.1.8

ok, I prepared a visual explanation of my UNZIP problem and the catastrophic result if you have the conditions for it to fail.

Open the picture:    http://twitpic.com/3s5hmu/full       and then follow my comment below.

The Folder structure on the left is the before and the one on the right... guess?... the after.

I create a zip file at home and extract the files at my office and I do a similar thing when I leave my office to update my PC at home.

 I did an unzip using the Extract button on  the toolbar (I added to the picture) to my file:

    2011-01-21 1700 home.zip

After the unzip, I rename the folder called 'Trilogy' to 'Trilogy-working files'.

As you can see there are many sub-folders on it.

Now I do a 2nd extract of the same ZIP file. I should get the same structure again. I'm suppose to see the same structure on the original folder TRILOGY and in the renamed folder.....  done.... I get the TRILOGY folder  but look what happens to the renamed folder 'TRILOGY-working files'.... empty.... nothing.... nada.... gone.

If I right click my zip file, select PowerDesk, then Extract.... everything is fine.

to whom it may concern......... BE CAREFUL.... I erased the icon obviously and switch the shortcut CTRL-E for the Extract operation to NOTHING.

Pertaining to certain directories not showing files. Sorry but my feeling is if the files show up in Windows Explorer, they should also show in PowerDesk 8.

@ Greg

I agree Greg; otherwise a person might want to erase the directory, thinking it was empty.  I'm a WYSIWYG type of person.  In other words, don't be hiding stuff from me without my knowledge or express permission to supress, i.e., provide a box to select or deselect.

@ Boxtop and Greg

Even though I accept Mark's explanation - I agree with you two.  If a folder contains files, they should be displayed regardless.  If we select the system option to display hidden files and folders, ALL of them should be displayed.

agree with Greg, Boxtop and Gary.  The files  should be shown. Now, if there is a technical reason for not showing the files, maybe PD can draw something similar to the "FILTER ON" option when using filters, as in "SYSTEM FILES, USE WINDOWS EXPLORER TO SEE THIS FOLDER" or something like that. PD should be honest and advice the user what to do.

v8.3.1.9

This update fixed problems I had on 2 of my WinXP Pro 32-bit machines. On first system, v8.3.1.8 would not even start up, just came up with "PowerDesk has encountered a problem and must close" pop-up. Version 8.3.1.9 starts up fine and everything appears to be working properly. On the second machine, I could not access mapped network drives. Again it would bring up the "PowerDesk has encountered problems and must close" window. This is now working also. I will have to wait until I get to work on Monday to test the other 2 machines (1 WinXP Pro and 1 Win7, both 32-bit).

BTW, I also agree that PowerDesk should show all files if this option is selected. I routinely go through my systems and clean out empty folders.

Mark,

I believe the same way as the others about the assembly directory.  I am a firm believer that I should be telling my OS and software what to do, not the other way around.  If it is on my HD, PD should show me.

This is the reason a certain OS didn't make the cut - they tried to take too much control away from the user.  Like they (and we all know who they are) knew what was best for us, like we couldn't make our own decisions.  I may be overreacting a bit, but IMHO this is a dangerous path for Avanquest to take.

I've use to have problems prior to the latest patches to PD8 mainly with the refreshing of directories, I'd unzip some file to another subdirectory and in that new window it wouldn't show the files that were unzipped there, I use to have to shut down PD8 and restart it in order to see files in that directory, sometimes it would work sometimes not, But since the new patches came out it seems to be working alright. I've only had to do a Refresh once since installing PD 8.3.1.9, In fact I've never really had a problem with just seeing all the files in a directory except when PD8 first came out, mind you I do have the check mark on, in the box under Preferences/Lists - Hide system files and system libraries, because I choose not to see those files, Otherwise, I see everything on my system.

I hear you guys and understand your point of view.

The issue is that I do not want to spend development team dollars chasing the special case of the assembly folder for so little gain. I would not want the product to cause havoc because I didn't put the effort in to figure out that we shoudln't allow rename for example. It is just not worth it. We have much bigger fish to fry than this one. :)

I do agree that we can do better than showing an empty directory though.

Thanks all! We will make the patch live.

Yes, thank you. With the latest patch we are finally seeing a working PD8. Not yet as stable and reliable as PD7 and it's predecessors, but a good, working version anyhow. At last we don't have to remember a list of things not to do in PD. I can now use PD again full time without the frequent events where I felt like pulling out the few remaing hairs on my head!

I'm reading the comments above with interrest - please - PD is not WinExpl and Avanquest is not Microsoft - I agree - allow us to see all and have access to all on our drives. The fearfull and uncertain have to tread carefully when shovelling files anyway - so if the coding won't bloat or slow PD, add (for them) the option to disable it.

Also check this out - is it a bug or is it just my system: Right clicking on a Drive Icon in the drive bar or on a Drive Letter in the folder pane should bring up the pop-up menu, right? Well on my Win7-32, PD8 hangs. The right-click-on-drive works fine in Explorer and in W****5 (German file manager I have been using whilst PD8 was "in for repairs").

Once again thank you to Mark and the TEAM for your efforts in restoring and improving "our" Powerdesk to it's rightful position - AT THE TOP.

By the way, I we can just have a good PD8 to work with, you can take all the time you need to do PD9 right first time.

Regards

Jack

Okay, this right-click-on-the-drive freeze (on my system) only happens if that's the first thing you do after loading PD8. Once you have right-clicked on any other folder - with the menu popping up - you can then right-click on the drive letters and icons and the menu pops up - no problemo. Has anyone else seen this?

Cheers

Jack

Jack B,....  no problem with mine.

Mark Manes, I love my PD8 right now. There might be issues but the basics are all good.  This software is soooo much better than Windows Explorer that I'm surprise Microsoft hasn't have the intelligence to buy the company and implement it as the default program. Also, I appreciate all your work. You hardly see this service on any other program.

Fonts directory is empty on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit system, yet fonts are visible on WinXP Pro 32-bit system. This is not acceptable. I still strongly feel that if someone choses to show "all" files, they should all be visible.

I have an idea. Add to the READ-ME.TXT file that PD8 the following:

       "don't user PD8 to open the FONTS folder"

done! problem solve :)

@ Greg, using v8319

Fonts directory is empty on Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit system, as well.  This is not acceptable - I agree.  I also still strongly feel that if someone choses to show "all" files, they should all be visible.

New issue I have not read about here or possibly missed, is that when I simply left-click on the  "C:\Windows\Installer" directory, PD8 crashes - anyone else experiencing this?

@ Timothy

I went back to 8.2.1.9 and PD returned to normal performance when selecting C:\Windows\System32 and C:\Windows\winsxs as well as any folder with a substantial number of files within.  The crash you are experiencing would be in keeping with the crashes I was getting when accessing folders in C:\Windows with the patch files.  8.2.1.9 does not crash when accessing folders in C:\Windows.  *sigh*

oops, my @Timothy should have been @Box Top

Fonts is just like windows\assembly in that it is a special folder. Windows Explorer actually launches the font application when you go there. While I am not an expert about the font directory I do know that dragging files into that folder does not get them installed.  No doubt other trouble lie there if we showed the folder and then didn't write code to stop users from being able to do things with the files there.

For PowerDesk right now I think special folders like this one and assembly really should be thought about as a possible future feature for the product. For now I am more apt to either leave this alone or in Patch 3 giving the user a message saying that this folder should be viewed with Explorer so that users understand what is going on.

Mark, I can really appreciate where you are coming from on this thorny issue.  However, no other file manager I've used restricts access to any file or folder that Windows itself does not lock down.  I'm sure the vast majority of users would not change the Windows default setting to hide system files and folders and would therefore not even see these folders.  Any user that unhides system files and folders gets to live with the consequences.

It seems odd that only fonts and assemblies does not show files within.  Any user could wander into the system32 folder and wreck havoc on their system.  Telling a user to use Explorer to access files is weak.  If Avanquest is so concerned about users wrecking their system, what about Windows supplied regedit?  You allow Fix-It and SystemSuite users the ability to "clean" the registry with potentially damaging results as well as providing an enhanced registry editor that someone could use - on purpose or quite by accident - to render Windows useless.

When PD fails to show files in certain folders, it leads me to wonder what else it is not showing me or worse showing incorrectly.

As I mentioned before, I have gone back to 8.2.1.9.

I checked every folder in Windows and the two we've discussed seemingly are the only ones not to display files.  However, in testing this I see two files listed in the folder tree that should not be there:

  ativpsrm.bin - click on it in the folder list and I get "error in archive directory" and PD crashes

  mib.bin - click on it in folder list and PD crashes

Click on either file in the file list and nothing bad happens.

I have always told people the very first program they should install on their system is PowerDesk.  Not so much any more.

Mark,

I fully understand your explanation for the assembly and font folders and accept your decision with PD8.  But, at this point, I will be very wary before investing in PD9 and would need your personal assurance that this and any other suppressed information will be exposed to the user with the new release.

When PD9 is released, I will be following all user reports with great interest and Avanquest's claims with skepticism.  I appreciate all you and your team have done, but I will seek another product if the PD9 release in any way, shape, or form, resembles that of PD8.

Please take all that was garnered from PD8's release to heart and use this time to get PD9 working the way it should before you release it to the public.

I believe the whole purpose to use PowerDesk is because we want more functionality than Windows Explorer offers. If PowerDesk hides things that Windows Explorer shows than that in my opinion is a step backwards. I also believe that most people who seek a better file manager than Windows Explorer are well aware of risks involved with a more powerful file manager.

not sure about that. I rarely go to C:\windows for any reason.   I work on other 3 different drives and do many different things and PD8 makes my life much more enjoyable than Windows Explorer.  My office doesn't supply me with PD8. I bought it with my own money and don't regret it a bit. What it does it does it very well.

I see Mark Manes trying to fix the issues as much as he can. That's good enough for me.

I highly recommend this product.

Reminds me of FireFox and all their fixes as they go.

First off, I too, want to thank Mark for entertaining our opinions and suggestions.  However, I could not agree with Greg & Troy more fervently - that the target market for this product typically precludes individuals with a propensity to screw up their system; that is, we buy a product to handle a job and that's exactly what we expect; not a list of caveats telling us that for this particular function, look to Windows Explorer, again and again.  Why then did I buy PD8 - wasn't it billed as replacing Explorer for all of our needs?

Which brings me to the point that Troy made - the jury will be out for some time before I would buy PD9.  That's unfortunate, because I would buy up every upgrade version of PowerDesk, sight-unseen, because of past reputation and experience.  One single version marketed too early, threw that reputation right out the window - amazing how fast we become wary when repeated delays and repeated requests by the very diehard users that have made this product successful, fall on deaf ears, or are deferred to a future patch or version, or "it's not within the scope of this product".  How then can this be called a true file manager and a replacement for Explorer?  It simply can't.  Anything I cannot count on to be reliable and complete, I will simply quit using and find a replacement.

When did our engineering schools in this country begin to accept mediocrity?  That's what causes interstate bridges to fall down.  If you're going to go to the effort to make this product at all, please take the time to make it correctly and completely.  I must quote you Mark, from an article you wrote about Apple's App Store:

"...actually I think you'll find that many of us are like BMW drivers.  We know good cars and we are demanding.  If Apple does something wrong--we scream loud and hard."

I believe that's what we're doing as faithful users of PowerDesk, but you seem compelled to keep giving us reasons why you can not or should not accomplish something.

Also, you made this comment in that same article, "They {Apple} realized that he who controls the content; controls the world.  That is why it is going to be hard to compete.  It's always about the content."

Well, the same holds true for Avanquest, if you have the content, you will control the file utility market.  If that's not where you want to be, please let us know now, so that at least we can move on.

C:\WINDOWS\assembly is a proprietary folder for Microsoft. It doesn't display the same information as all the other folders. I'm sure Microsoft did this to save themselves to prepare a new software.

Avanquest should show a WATERMARK indicating this and advising to switch to Windows Explorer.

I use FireFox and once in a while I will encounter a web site that doesn't work properly. I switch to Internet Explorer on those cases without giving a 2nd thought to the issue. If 99.99999% of the time I'm not going to switch to the C:\WINDOWS\assembly folder .... I can live with that.

I appreciate what is being said by all.. and to be quoted from something I wrote somewhere else well.. just sayin' :) (blush!)

Ok.. so let me complete my thought on this one.

On the board right now for PowerDesk 9 I have a lot of interesting things we want to do to further the product. Many of them have come from these forums as well as our ideas (and no, I am not going to post them!). It is my hope that what we do is compelling enough for you to upgrade or recommend the product to someone else. I and my team will be doing our best to pry from you your upgrade dollar. If what you want more than anything is to navigate the fonts folder and assembly folder in PowerDesk.. then I guess I can consider that. I just don't think that is the case. I think you are speaking from the heart about a philosphy which I can hardly disagree with from a phisophical stand point. However on a product standpoint I don't think it is the best way to proceed. Let me explain.

I have a budget, a timeline and a business. I can either A. spend some of that budget to recreate what Windows does with the font folder and assembly folder or B. I can move on to bigger things that appeal to a larger audience. What I can't do is both. See budget/See timeline.

From a produt management stand point just asking engineering to show the files in the folder is not the right thing to do. As someone famous once said "It is a bag of hurt". (Quick: Who said that?)  It will create a ton of bugs and a lot of calls if we don't make it a real feature. Just showing the files will not cut it. 

What is the benefit honestly? What I will get is complaints as to why people can't do things in these folders. To me this means I need to develop it as a real feature and do something better than Windows Explorer does since that is our creed (as many of you pointed out)

As far as comparing PowerDesk to our Registry Editor I think it is a bogus argument. The registry editor has only one purpose--to edit the registry. I do not need to hang a sign at the front door that says "Ye who enter here..". The common user never uses it--it is for the advanced user always and frankly editng the registry is well... a loaded gun. No good usually comes of it. Still we don't get calls saying "I edited the registry and my system will not start...". Users who do this know what they did and know that our tool did what was adveritsed .. edit the registry. It did its job perfectly!

PowerDesk is meant for everyone--not just the power user. I will not purposely put features into PowerDesk knowing that one rename of an assembly file means the system suddenly will not run a bunch of software or dropping fonts into the fonts folder means that we get a call saying why doesn't my font show up when the user circumvented the "Install" button in the font applciation that runs when you normally browse the fonts folder in Explorer. You edit a key with a registry editor we provide that is on you. If you drop fonts into the fonts folder and PowerDesk allows it and it doesn't work.. that is on us. That is the differnece.

Anyway..  we have not taken anything away. PowerDesk 7 never had this feature (nor would it show you the files) ... I'll put it on the list of features to discuss if you guys really think it is a good way to spend our budget. Frankly I think we have bigger fish to fry.

I like fish... the bigger the fish to fry the better. 

Personally, I have never gone near the assembly folder in Explrer or PD.  I have gone to Fonts and noticed that I couldn't install a font from PD, so just opened up Exprorer and did what I needed to do. 

I understand the development trade-offs Mark M describes (I've been in that business), and I guess that the number of people who would buy PD only if it handled these special folders is very small.  So the financial answer is pretty clear.  PD needs to do what many people would pay for.

On the philosophy front, there are no rights and wrongs - only opinions.  And I see both sides...

In my humble opinion, it would be sufficiant if PD gave a warning message or workaround  - even in the halp files - for the "unsupported folders".  It should be inexpensive to do and at least adheres to the principle that users should be told why somehing is unsupported and how to get around it.

Well I guess that means we can take some of the "power" out of PowerDesk. I don't know if you read in my earlier post that the fonts directory opens and the font files are visible on PD8 with the newest Patch2 on my WinXP Pro sp3 32-bit system. Why? A couple other things, #1, I installed the patch on my Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and all went well. I then installed Patch2 on my WinXP system and was prompted that serial number was inuse and I needed a new number for the WinXP system. I contacted chat and was informed that I needed a second copy of PD. I was under the impression that PD was good for three installs. I have had PD since version 3 in believe. Further more I didn't run into this problem when installed the first patch(Patch1) on either system. It looks to me that this was a policy change in between Patch1 and Patch2. If Avanquest does this with Fix-It Utilities in between product updates I will have to think about continuing with Avanquest product line. I have used Fix-It and PowerDesk since Mijenix and have recommended them to other people(I repair computers(software and hardware) on the side). #2, I open PowerDesk on the Windows 7 system and burrow down to the assembly and fonts directories, right click then click open and they will open in Windows Explorer. The fonts directory will even let me copy, paste and delect fonts so where is the safety if people not knowing it is opening in Windows Explorer do some damage there. All these people(who you say you are trying to protect) know is that they were able to access this directory through PowerDesk. The assembly directory also gives me the option to uninstall on the right click once I open it through PowerDesk/Windows Explorer. Just my two cents.

Quick reply:

The fonts do not show up for me... on PD 8. It might on some systems as the reason it is not showing is related to some security settings on the folder that might be changed on your system. By default users will not see it. Your mileage may vary etc.

On the license -- today it is 1 license per CPU. It has been this way for years. The serial number / activation system we have does not tightly enforce that limit thus users have misunderstandings regarding the license. Regretable because we would get complaints if it was strictly enforced and we get complaints if the system is relaxed like it is. Of course we made no policy changes between patches.. you just tripped over the wire.

I hope in the future to have good news regarding this policy--but as discussed before in these forums our licensing is no worse than the competitors and they cost more.

I am sorry you had the trouble though.. I really wish the world was not such that product activation was something a company had to have.

Hi Mark.  Thanks for your well thought out response (except the registry/PD bogus part :) ).  You are the product owner.  You get to decide how to spend your money.  We've made our thoughts known to you. We get decide how to spend our money.

I, like others on here, have blindly purchased every PD upgrade.  I purchased 4 copies of 7 and 4 copies of 8 for my systems.  To be honest, neither 7 nor 8 are worthy of being considered upgrades.  They are updates at best.  I will no longer blindly purchase upgrades so if you want to pry upgrade dollars out of my hands, you are going to have to demonstrate real improvements to the product as well as new features.  Prior to this forum and your support, PD had virtually no support and no way to express concerns about the product and request features we'd like to see.  My apology for being harsh at times, but that is born of frustration with a fundamentally awesome and essential application.

PD is feature rich, easy to use, easily customized and reasonably priced but is essentially the same since version 6 (which was THE benchmark file manager of its day).  I've been searching for a PD replacement.  I've looked at every file manager available and most are crap but for these two...

I've found the current benchmark file manager to be DirectoryOpus.  It is the best featured manager available and the look/feel is truly elegant.  It is expensive and has so many options that it becomes a daunting task to customize.  But the developers keep the product updated and I've found it bug free.  I own a single license that allows installation on 2 systems.

Closing in quickly is XYPlorer.  The developer is constantly improving the product, adding new features, fixes bugs quickly, tests his product thoroughly, and runs a great user forum (which includes access to beta versions for licensed users).  It is missing some features of PD (such as true dual pane and integrated zip support), but they are on his list of things to add.  He, like you, has to pick and choose where he spends his resources when it comes to new features.  But his program is lightening fast, easy to use, easy to customize, contains useful features not found in PD (like a robust file rename capability and tabbed browsing), and I've never had it crash.  I purchased a lifetime license for one system.  I use XYPlorer as my primary file manager on my primary system.

So come on Mark, fix the bugs in PD8, then put your money and your developers to work to make PD9 the benchmark file manager worthy of our upgrade dollars.

Thanks.  Over and out.

Well said Gary! :)

I tested around 8 File Managers 6 months ago and no one matched PD8.

I guess Mark will keep "prying my upgrade dollars" :)

Mark,

I was done posting here - said all that I needed - or so I thought.

What is PowerDesk?  Avanquest advertises it as "The Ultimate File Manager for Windows!"

You need to define what it is and what you want it to be, I believe, before you start throwing resources towards bells and whistles.

I use PD as a file management utility, plain and simple; I use it for its advertised purpose.  It has some features that I use all the time and others I could care less about; but to me, it is first and foremost a file management tool.

I don’t use MS Word to draw graphics nor do I use my CAD program to write documents.  The fact that both have very simple functionality to help me out with other tasks is great, but not why I bought the programs.

I don’t view the suppressed display of directories on my hard drive as a philosophical debate; I see it as a utility failing in its objective – in its advertised purpose.

As project manager the fate of PD is in your hands, but I, for one, have no use for a file management program that does not manage all my files, regardless of the difficulty of that task.

Well said Troy! :)

Mark,

I've been getting up to speed on the weekend posts -- WOW. Frankly, until posted here I never accessed either the Assembly or Fonts directories via PowerDesk (or any other program for that matter) and never really plan to in the future. That being said, I sill would like to be able to see what is contained in those directories. Windows is all the time adding new system directories. Heck, there used to be only a very modest number of subdirectories to the Windows directory. The list of special directories is only going to grow larger. All of these subdirectories have potential for making a system unusable. I think you underestimate your clientelle. If they don't understand that a directory under the Windows directory is potentially hazardous and take steps to protect themselves (like a daily OS drive backup), then they are going to get burned with or without PowerDesk's help.

Just a few notes:

- PowerDesk v7 and v8 shows me the files in the fonts directory.

- Was anyone complaining about not seeing the Assembly directory files in v7?

- OMG: You can't see the tasks in the Task directory either ! ! !  :-)

- With the latest patch, I am back in your camp, but still think we (users) should be able to see ALL directories if we select that option.

Good luck with v9.

Since installing and removing this debacle PD8 (several times), which for me on Win 7 64bit is the root cause of slow file deletion and emptying of the recycle and on removing it cleared up this problem, I have looked at a lot of file managers.

My picks are Explorer++, a free work in progress program which is very good, and Directory Opus. With Directory Opus file finder it actually finds ALL the files on my hard drives that I am looking for. Not so with PD's file finder. D O also includes a synchronize program, which I use a lot to copy/delete/synchronize files from one PC to others I use, that is just as good, if not better, then what is included with PD With PD7 I had numerous crashes of this program when syncing large numbers of files and or when the file size was large). It is a little over the top with options and some may be hard to find.

I am running a 60 day trial on both a Win7 64bit PC and a XP 32bit notebook. I will probably buy this program and say goodbye to PD on future releases (Since I own 2 copies of PD7 and have 3 licenses for PD8 I will still use it on the PC's that it still runs on (IE I don't get the "This program is already installed on another PC" box)). D O does allow installing on a desktop and notebook with the same license and they give you a discount when buying more then one license. So with 2 licenses you can have it installed on 4 computers. And I think you can run it in portable mode loading it on a USB flash drive.

Yes it is more expensive then PD but hey at least it does what it is supposed to do.

I love PD 8 because:

-shows folder on the left side and files on the right side

-remembers my sorting (descending by date)

-I can select files and paste the name with or without the whole path.

-I go from folders to files with one TAB. Other software go around different sections and that is a no-no for me since I do this hundreds of time a day.

-zip capabilities.

-customize toolbar (I wish I could select letters or write 1 or 2 myself to show in the new icon I setup)

-the CTRL-1 & CTRL-2 and the CTRL-W makes my life easier.

-the Viewer pane

-the move & copy with the capability of scrolling to my most used folders.

-capability to change the date&time of my files.

other than that, I install a font (bar codes) 7 years ago using Windows Explorer, never went to the Assembly folder in my entire life (I'm working with PCs for 27 years) and I will never post propaganda for other software in a place that has the intention of fixing problems with the software in question: POWERDESK. 

OK, I've done a little checking now which should have come before I posted above. Maybe we should start our complaints with Microsoft. Like the TASK directory I mentioned above, the ASSEMBLY directory is also a special directory. What Microsoft shows via Explorer isn't what is contained in the directory anyway! What is actually there is a series of subdirectory names that combine to display the assembly information.

OK, there ARE 3 files in the assembly directory and there is a single file at the end of each subdirectory string, but Microsoft doesn't show this. What it shows is a special view of the information in the Assembly directory ... but I still don't see why PowerDesk can't just show what is actually there. I mean, this is under the WINDOWS OS directory. Tinker with at your own risk and all that.

Maybe PowerDesk needs a ProPLUS version? Or maybe you could add a pop-up warning when your novice users uncheck the Hide system files and system libraries option telling them that this could be hazardous to their system's health!

Fernando -- I could not agree more with your reasons for using it - simplicity. If someone wants to hype another tool, do it somewhere else.

Sorry if I have offended you talking about other file management programs but I am offended with the quality, or lack there of, of PD8.

Maybe current and future OS's will need a special program to actually work with there file structure. Right now that is not PD8.

I am always successful when trying to understand other peoples opinion.

"offended with the quality of PD8"?  that I can't understand.

If I don't like a program, I browse around, select one, test it, and buy it if I like it.

I don't go around posting in all the other hundreds of software I didn't like letting them know why I don't like their software.  I browse around, find PD5 and I love it.

are you sure PD8 and the "lack of quality" is your real problem?

I understood the first time Mark Manes mentioned that is very expensive trying to display all the PROPRIETARY folders Microsoft works with. I didn't need the 2nd time he has to explain the same issue.
case close. Avanquest should work in issues that affect 99.999999% of the people. I'm sure Mark will appreciate donations for display the folder Assembly the proper way  :)

It' s not the problem of not showing files in the assembly directory per se, it's what else is PD 8 not showing. I don't want to have to go through every directory in PD 8 and compare it with Windows Explorer. I brought up(it has since been fixed) some time ago that PD 8 was not even showing msconfig. My question is how many other files are not showing in PD 8? 

Mark,

It is a dangerous path, my friend.

Don't get me wrong, I still love PD, and contrary to what I have been preaching, I will probably stick with it.  But, if this path is taken, I will move to the first file management program that better meets my needs, if one is ever written (or I find one during my testing).

I also want the security I used to feel with PD.  I bought the upgrades as soon as they were released, no questions asked.  I never thought of testing other file management programs until PD7, and this scares me - and should scare Avanquest as well.

I want to put my faith back into PD, but with this line of reasoning (of omitting information because of the cost effectiveness), I don't see that happening.

All,

I think one of the problems Avanquest may be wrestling with is what to show in these special directories. Personally, I just want to see exactly what is there. Will those of you out there that must see these directories be satisfied with the actual contents? or does it have to mock what Microsoft shows? And trust me, what Microsoft is showing in the ASSEMBLY directory (for example) is NOT the actual contents.

Wow.. so many posts on this asembly directory thing.

Mark Q.. you hit on somethng that I'll talk about ever so briefly as someone else said it as well. Someone said directories are directories and you should just display what is there. What if I told you that this is not the case?

I refer you to these articles on Wikipedia -- the concept is known as "namespaces". These are esentially virtual folders that look real to you but are not. They are a collection of objects. A typical example of this is My Network yet there are others.. like the Control Panel or your Desktop. Windows Explorer does not just show you what is in a paritcular folder. In the case of special folders it compiles the objects (the folders/files/mount points, etc.) into a view that shows you what you think are simple files and folders yet they dont really exist on the disk in a collection in that format. These require work to support and these special cases are "shifting sand" in the Microsoft world. What was good for one OS release is entiredly different from another. Remember MS is NOT interested in seeing products like ours do a better job than they do. Further they don't make it easy for us to do what we do today. We are always one patch away from something that did work moving to not working. It is the nature of the beast with utility products in general.

Here are the links should you be interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Shell_namespace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Folders#List_of_special_folders


In any case I don't need to bore you with these things--you just want it to work and I know this. I am not saying that we will never go and do work for special folders that are not already included in the list (assembly, fonts, etc.). I am just trying to make you understand that there is more work here than you realize. I also want you to know that I will not spend time on a half-baked solution. Showing the folders contents and let the user go nuts is not how I want to move going forward. Sure you can find cases today that you can do damage but if I were to redesign those features I would put something in that was like one poster suggested where we warn the user and then allow them to do what they want. It is your PC and I want you to be free to wreck it or fix it as you please. What I don't want is the support calls and a reputation for killing PCs. Those calls cost us money and reputation.

Still even doing that requires more coding and doesn't fit into our short term plans. I don't think any user is going to buy the product based on the fact that I advertise that they can now view the asembly folder in the Windows hiearchy. Maybe I am wrong?

For those of you who are concerned that we are going to specifically go out there and "hide" something from you as part of a philosphy in general where we decide that you shouldn't see it -- it just not the case. The case is that users reported a problem with viewing the assembly folder and I looked into an decided for NOW it is not the best use of resources to do anything about it and I told you why. Most companies don't tell you anything in regards to these things. They thank you for the report and say we may address it in the future. Probably to avoid debates such as I find myself in now. So ok.. "Thank you for the report.. we will address it in a future release." :) I am writing that with a smile on my face.. don't get upset!

As far as competitors go.. they are just that. Every piece of software has its positives and negatives. Feel free to talk about what you like and do not like about our products vs. theirs. I learn something from these posts usually. DO is a great product at twice the price. If it suits your needs--please feel free to add it to your stable. We get users that defect to our product all of the time. PowerDesk is not a dead product guys.. it does well and continues to do well. If it didn't we wouldn't develop it further. 

My point of being here is that  I am trying to do is bring you the best product that i can and also work to represent your views into our product plans. It the best i can do.

I'll probably not post more on this topic unless someone brings something new to the conversation. I believe I have addressed the hows, the whys and have been open to you all. I am ok if you disgree or think I am wandering a dangerous path. For me SoftCity is about connecting to you and that is what we are doing here. As you have hopefully seen we have come full circle from the day I entered the forum and started driving product direction on your feedback. I just can't always do what everyone asks. All I can do is listen, take notes and do the best thing I can for you and the product.

By the way--If all goes well am going to post Test Patch 3 later today. :)

Thanks everyone :)

Quote:

I am always successful when trying to understand other peoples opinion.

"offended with the quality of PD8"?  that I can't understand.

If I don't like a program, I browse around, select one, test it, and buy it if I like it.

I don't go around posting in all the other hundreds of software I didn't like letting them know why I don't like their software.  I browse around, find PD5 and I love it.

are you sure PD8 and the "lack of quality" is your real problem?

I understood the first time Mark Manes mentioned that is very expensive trying to display all the PROPRIETARY folders Microsoft works with. I didn't need the 2nd time he has to explain the same issue. 
case close. Avanquest should work in issues that affect 99.999999% of the people. I'm sure Mark will appreciate donations for display the folder Assembly the proper way  :)

 End Quote:

Sorry but I am a long time PD users. From version 4 or 5, its been so long I don't remember which version. Back in Win 95. So as far as I am concerned I can express my displeasure with the newest version of PD any place I like.

If you don't like that is just to bad. Get over it.

Have a nice day.

Let me clarify something. It is not just the special hidden folders not showing in PD8.

It is the overall quality of the program. This started back in version 7 with hangs/crashes when doing certain things. At least with the older versions you would actually see what was in all folders. More then what MS showed you using Win Explorer. Yes the newer OS's have a different file/folder structure and places more emphasis on security, to the point of being a lot over the top. But I want a file manager that actually shows what is truly on my hard drives.

Now PD 8 doesn't even do that and is still hanging and crashing when trying to use it. Then when you go to close it it won't close even though it isn't displayed on your monitor.

Just why must I open Task Manager and shut down 1-2-3 instances of PDexplo.exe for me to open one that will show on my monitor.

Ed,                                                                                                                      I have had problem with PD not closing occasionally. I would close the window but it would still show up in task manager. I have a feeling that if I closed it then opened another instance of it before it has time to fully vacant memory it caused a glitch in the program. I think this happened because PD was very slow to close completely. Just now I have opened task manager to watch how fast PD was closing and it seems very fast now. Maybe the newest patch helped with this problem.

Mark,

I am quite familiar with namespaces, aliases, etc. (some sibilance of these have been used for quite some time, there was even a system to do this in DOS).  To me, if it shows up with the DIR command, or in Explorer, it is part of my file system.  I am sorry we must disagree on this and what is important in a file manager.

With over thirty years programming experience (two-thirds of that in Windows), I am intimately familiar with the inherent peculiarities of Windows programming and I do sympathize.  As I said, I didn't expect this to be "fixed" in PD8, but at least addressed with PD9 - which I could live with.

I will keep an eye out for future developments and do hope you give this some attention.

Good luck and thanks for listening.  If there is anything I can do to help in the future, just let me know.

Greetings all..

For your previewing pleasure.. I give you Preview 3 (patch 3) of PowerDesk 8.

Here is the link to the article with the changes.
http://cafe.softcity.com/contribution/1ETM0QzN/view/powerdesk-8-preview-release-p3

PowerDesk 8.4.1.4

>Gary Williams
>When I expand C:\Windows, then select C:\Windows\system32, PD >crashes.

Still crashes.

Robert,

No crashes when opening system32 directory on either of my systems(WinXP Pro sp3 32-bit/Windows 7 Home Permium 64-bit).

I'm a long time user of PD, since the Mijenix days. Two problems I am still having are:

Using build 3 of the current patch update, 8.4.1.4, I tried moving 6 or 8 files to different folders (1 at a time) using the move button and PD 8 crashed (Had an error and needed to close, I think it said).

Clicking on an .mp3 or .txt  or .csv or .jpg file to open it runs my other file manager instead of the default program these are supposed to open with.

Win 7, Home Premium, 64 bit

Oops, looks like I'm in the wrong spot here, will repost in the patch 3 feedback area...
 

"Using build 3 of the current patch update, 8.4.1.4"

After seeing that I'm not even sure of whether I'm trying the latest patch. I'm on 8.3.1.9, and when I use Live Update it tells me I have the latest.

In any event, this is a big "FAIL." The patch now apparently sets itself to "Run As Administrator" at install, since I never did so and I get the UAC permission check every time I run it. OK, no problem.

However, the bloody program still will not save settings. Any settings. Every time I start it, it is set for "Point to Select," and I have to uncheck it. I then use "Save Settings Now" to try to preserve the setting, but no joy.

Same with the Toolbar customizations. No matter what I do I cannot get them to save.

I have completely lost what was once my unbending faith in and support of PowerDesk, reflected both in my long-time use of the product and my recommendations of it to others. Tonight, assuming I can remember or find where I saved my serial number, I will be reinstalling PD7, which, while not perfect, works in every respect for the way I use it. Failing that, I think I still have my PD6 installation exe around somewhere, on an external drive, I think.

In any event, no one should have to jump through the kinds of hoops PowerDesk customers are expected to overcome just to get basic functionality to work. I will never purchase another edition of the product, nor of any Avanquest product. And sadly, I will never again be able to recommend the product to anyone else. Quite the contrary. I am frequently asked for purchase advise by clients, colleagues, and friends, and it will be my unfortunate duty to recommend that they stay away from Avanquest products.

Sayonara, Avanquest

obviously, Scott works for a Software company competing with PowerDesk and he wants to leave a nasty message to dissuade probably users. 

I'm a long time user of PD and it is way superior to many other software I tried before.

PD8 is being tested and it keeps improving thanks to feedback in places like this one.

Quote Fernando:

obviously, Scott works for a Software company competing with PowerDesk and he wants to leave a nasty message to dissuade probably users. 

I'm a long time user of PD and it is way superior to many other software I tried before.

PD8 is being tested and it keeps improving thanks to feedback in places like this one.

End Quote:

What are you a shill for Avanquest?

Your persoanl comments to me and other is just over the top. I have never said a bad word about you, until now, and kept my posts to problems I am seeing with PD8.

Your comments about PD are worthless. If you had ever used some of the older versions you would never think version 8 was any good. But yet you post how good the program is. It IS NOT. It Is a POS and Avanquest knows this. Otherwise why would they be pumping out patches. Patches are usually released to increase speed and add functions. These patches that are being released for PD8 are to maybe make the program usable, which they haven't IMHO.

So please keep your personal comments about me and other posters on this forum to yourself.

OK, final word. After posting my last message, I decided to download the 8.4.1.4 patch from the link in Mark's last post and give it a shot. I got it downloaded, then uninstalled the version then on my machine. After the uninstall, I permitted the reboot, then waited for the system to completely stabilize before beginning the installation of 8.4.1.4. No other programs were started other than the installation.

The installation ran its course, then reported a successful install and requested a reboot, which was done. After reboot, I again waited until the restart was complete, the drive quiescent, and the system stable, then started PD. Or, rather, tried to start PD. I never even got a whiff of it this time. I got a "PowerDesk has stopped working" dialog, check for a fix, etc. Disgusted, I uninstalled it again.

While waiting for the reboot cycle to complete, I thought about trying something, so when the system rebooted, I opened System Restore and checked. Sure enough, I had a restore point that went back prior to my initial install of the last patch, about ten days ago or so. So, I rolled the system back to that point.

After waiting while the restore proceeded, then the reboot, I shut down all my background system tray items except the security-related stuff, AV, firewall, etc. Again running the 8.4.1.4 install as Admin, I tried again. Install completed, rebooted again. Started the program again, and got exactly the same result, crash on startup.

This time, before uninstalling to reinstall PD7 (which, BTW, is running just fine at this moment), I decided to gather as much info as I could, in case it might be of value to Avanquest. Below I have posted that information. Oh, yes, this is on Vista Ultimate, SP2, Build 6002, AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core, 32-bit.

Details from crash dialog:

Problem signature:
 Problem Event Name: BEX
 Application Name: PDExploNXP.exe
 Application Version: 8.4.1.4
 Application Timestamp: 4d3cdacc
 Fault Module Name: PDExploNXP.exe
 Fault Module Version: 8.4.1.4
 Fault Module Timestamp: 4d3cdacc
 Exception Offset: 000ef4c9
 Exception Code: c0000409
 Exception Data: 00000000
 OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.256.1
 Locale ID: 1033
 Additional Information 1: 1ed8
 Additional Information 2: 47854b598131c0e18030985f5a7d11c6
 Additional Information 3: cbf9
 Additional Information 4: 41a49950db99d4436dec43b258396ab0

Instead of closing the dialog, since I have VS2010 on this machine, I told it to debug. When the debugger launched, I go a modal dialog, like so

Dialog from VS 2010 debugger:

A buffer overrun has occurred in PDExploNXP.exe which has corrupted the program's internal state. Press Break to debug the program or Continue to terminate the program.

For more details please see Help topic 'How to debug Buffer Overrun Issues'.

I told the dialog to go ahead and Break execution. The debugger informed methat, as would be expected, no source or symbols were available, but it showed the call stack location as msvcr90.dll!72941641().

I then went ahead and told it to show me the disassembly. I'm not going to post the whole damned thing here, but here is the part that was visible on-screen, with the break point indicated with an arrow, as it was in the debugger:

Relevant section of disassembly:
72941635  pop         edi 
72941636  adc         edx,esi 
72941638  pop         esi 
72941639  pop         ebx 
7294163A  leave 
7294163B  ret 
7294163C  int         3 
7294163D  int         3 
7294163E  int         3 
7294163F  int         3 
72941640  int         3 
=> 72941641  and         dword ptr ds:[7296D7A0h],0 
72941648  ret 
72941649  int         3 
7294164A  int         3 
7294164B  int         3 
7294164C  push        esi 
7294164D  inc         ebx 
7294164E  xor         dword ptr [eax],esi 
72941650  pop         eax 
72941651  inc         ebx 
72941652  xor         byte ptr [eax],dh

That is all the information that I could obtain. I have now uninstalled PD8 completely and reinstalled PD7, which is humming along nicely. I have given all of the time I am prepared to spend on this POS version of the product. In truth, if my personal time could be billed to Avanquest at the same rate as my billable time, I would be owed a pretty penny by now.

Fernando the Twit, I don't know you, and you don't know me from Adam's housecat, but you have in one post demonstrated yourself to be a worthless witless wonder who is happy to comment from a position of utter ignorance. I do not work for an Avanquest competitor, nor for anyone else. I am an independent developer, with a long-standing history using PowerDesk, and the fact that I have clearly stated that I would rather go back to PD7 than adopt any other program should make it abundantly clear that my intent is not to diss PowerDesk, but to report and complain about the very real problems with this version of PowerDesk. You may take your worthless opinion and perform a self-administered enema with it.

How about a VOTE Thumbs down on this site. Although they would run out of server space.

Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit  PowerDesk Pro 8.3.1.9

Is it me or is it PowerDesk?

When I select the Menu item "Options" and click on "Preferences" I get a window with five tabs.  Each tab contains a number of items, but NONE of them show the checkbox needed to affect changes.  In other words, I cannot select and make any changes to the default preferences.

Romy, I am not using 64-bit, but I see the window with 9 tabs and OK/Cancel buttons.  Are you by chance using the large fonts option in Windows?  Sometimes that messes with dialogue boxes.  Just a thought ...

Also are you logged on as a Administrator? If not then some options are not available.

Thanks for the answer.  I am not using the large icons option.  However, now that you pointed it out I can see the edges of two more lines of tabs.  I will try to uninstall PowerDesk and reinstall the previous version with all of its problems.

After a complete uninstall-reinstall cycle and two separate patch installs with two reboots everything appears to be running correctly.  Thanks for your help.

Unfortunately I encountered the "cannot select more than one item" problem.  (I also discovered that if you import the PowerDesk 8.3.1.9 version stg, the previous versions now remember the Launchbar items.  Unfortunately this also imports the new problems!)  The new patch version 8.4.1.4 did not solve any of my problems.

I had no option but to use a previous disk image and reset everything to the 8.2.1.9 version.  I am not at all impressed.