[EDIT] Least offensive way to solicit Pro purchases

[Portland]

PL is very nice, i am currently testing it on my wifes and my computers.

After a few days after every computer restart we get a NAG window and the latest suddenly after a month or whatever a large NAG window opens with a reminder to buy the software while windows is running.

I find this is extremly annoying and pushing users to buy the software. The free version should not be called free if these disturbing reminders appear all time.

Either you release a FREE version which is actually free and without those bothersome NAG´s or you call it Shareware or Trialware

Free must be Free without reminders in the middle of a windows session.  (MODERATOR EDIT: There is no code to just randomly pop up a nag in the middle of a Windows session when you are doing nothing with Process Lasso, that is a factual error I feel compelled to correct. If it happened somehow, it was errata or a restart of Process Lasso.)

btw... the actual Beta version of Process Lasso gives an error message on Windows 7 64bit on every systemstart, i am waiting since weeks for a fix. i can safely say that i will buy PL after this bug is fixed so the NAG issue will be fixed for me too. But i still say "FREE" must be free, forcing us to buy something ends up in angry users or users that get the Software from a warez site. 

l8r
(no native english)

[TfH]

Hello.

If you check this page:
http://www.bitsum.com/howfree.php

There is mention:
Home users can use the free build indefinitely, though they will eventually experience some nags and a reduction in available features.

[Jeremy Collake]

No nags pop up out of the blue. There is no code to do that. A single quick-skip nag is shown at startup, and new in beta 1 out of every 6 times you click the Process Lasso system tray icon.

These two 'nags' are simple click-byes. There is no timer on them or anything like that. We label our software as Shareware on all download sites because of the existence of these 'nags', despite the product being mostly free. In version 3 the nags were actually more aggressive, so you are complaining about something that was toned down already. We feel it is not really that much to put up with and certainly do not try to hide this in any way ;o. Users of the free edition must accept these nags. To them, that is the small 'price' I suppose.. and it is rather small. I mean, come on. WinRAR and other projects have similar nags of equal non-annoyance to MOST people. They may annoy you, but most people aren't that bothered by them since they can skip right past.

I take this issue very seriously. In fact, I use the free edition MYSELF to ensure they don't become overly annoying. I hardly ever see them. Just at startup, and very rarely when I click on the Process Lasso system tray icon. I figure if *I* can deal with them, then anybody can. I also use Windows 7 x64 and so there is no incompatibility, though a crash may exist, even if I haven't personally seen it. It is a beta, after all.

As for how some nag appeared in the middle of a session, I can only surmise Process Lasso was restarted or its system tray icon clicked to open its main window... That's my only guess. There is no code to just 'pop up' nags at you out of the blue. I hope it isn't a hacked/modified copy of Process Lasso, in which case who knows what it is doing. That is why it is important to always download from Bitsum.com, for your own safety. I've seen multiple cases of people downloading pirated software, and while it appeared to work just fine, they came with a little extra surprise of malware. This is probably the #2 way malware is spread, other than porn sites ;o.

As Tinfoil Hat pointed out, further on our main page if you click 'Free Edition' or 'How free is free', we clearly indicate the presence of some nags after long-term use and a reduction in some features (notice most all continue to be available). We could be MUCH more restrictive.. and are doing only what is required to continue operation. This is also in the product EULA at install time. These links are in big bold letters for a reason

I do not believe the majority of users would find these nags annoying to the point of offensive. If I am wrong, then I will change them. The result may not be what you want though ;o. For instance, since the software is already classified as shareware, many people wouldn't mind seeing it go to time limited trial. I've resisted this though, keeping the mostly free edition.. well, mostly free.

The new automated updater we have coming should save more clicks than the nags mandate, if it is any consolation.

[Scott]

Forced you to buy?  Oh give me a %#@!% break!

[Jeremy Collake]

Forced you to buy?  Oh give me a %#@!% break!

He experienced what he thought was a random pop up while using Windows, for whatever reason. I think once he realizes that isn't policy he'll change his mind. As for forcing anyone to buy, you are right - if I was out to force them to buy, I'd .. well .. force them to buy or discontinue use, lol. Fortunately I know most are perfectly happy with our mostly free edition. It is sad I have to qualify it as 'mostly free', but I suppose that is accurate depending on just how free you call free. It is free in the sense that it requires no money to use indefinitely, which I thought was the definition of free. I do understand how some companies have abused the word freeware though, and so such arguments are made. I'm not abusive of that term, classifying our software Shareware everywhere, despite the fact that this turns off potential users who don't realize that it is actually free-er than most shareware.

[edkiefer]

Hi jeremy

I am not complaining here just reporting so you get feadback . I guess my test period is up on free part with only the 1 startup window to click (installed 3/28/11 AFAIK ) .
Anyway today I was checking case temps with prime95 running , had PL minimized and I was getting the buy window sometimes every time I brought up PL, then other times it took many times of clicking on it in tray .
Also I notice the icon in try is staying a long time in stoplight icon mode, even when PS is not restraining anything .

I will try an figure if what triggers the window so often, if I find i report back .

[Jeremy Collake]

I am not complaining here just reporting so you get feadback . I guess my test period is up on free part with only the 1 startup window to click (installed 3/28/11 AFAIK ) .
Anyway today I was checking case temps with prime95 running , had PL minimized and I was getting the buy window sometimes every time I brought up PL, then other times it took many times of clicking on it in tray .
Also I notice the icon in try is staying a long time in stoplight icon mode, even when PS is not restraining anything .

Thanks. I am not sure about the tray icon remaining stoplight, that should only occur during restraints. If the governor isn't running it will show a different type of stoplight, and all red one. However, since there is some inter-process communication going on, it is possible for it to be disrupted I suppose.

As for when the window displays, in the beta it is random at 1/5 times you open the GUI. So, sometimes it will show, sometimes not. However, it should never pop up unless you click the tray icon to open the main window, or re-launch Process Lasso. The random nature is just to reduce annoyance. I didn't want to show it every single time the main window was opened.

[edkiefer]

I am not complaining here just reporting so you get feadback . I guess my test period is up on free part with only the 1 startup window to click (installed 3/28/11 AFAIK ) .
Anyway today I was checking case temps with prime95 running , had PL minimized and I was getting the buy window sometimes every time I brought up PL, then other times it took many times of clicking on it in tray .
Also I notice the icon in try is staying a long time in stoplight icon mode, even when PS is not restraining anything .

Thanks. I am not sure about the tray icon remaining stoplight, that should only occur during restraints. If the governor isn't running it will show a different type of stoplight, and all red one. However, since there is some inter-process communication going on, it is possible for it to be disrupted I suppose.

As for when the window displays, in the beta it is random at 1/5 times you open the GUI. So, sometimes it will show, sometimes not. However, it should never pop up unless you click the tray icon to open the main window, or re-launch Process Lasso. The random nature is just to reduce annoyance. I didn't want to show it every single time the main window was opened.

Ok, it did seem random and didn't seem to match any actions in PL log window . I don't normally multi-task to much to give PS a lot of restraining .

Here some backround  though .
I have everything default settings except all my gaves i pointed to there exe for game mode . No tweeking on anything with probalance .
I also don't have PL run at startup, I do that manually and have been just letting PL GUI minized (in tray) .
All I was doing was alt-tab 3 apps back an forth (prime95, Speedfan graph , FF and PL ).
If as you said random then thats fine, working as should .

The icon was in the red, yellow an green icon. I only noticed this today, normally it only flickers to the stoplight when probalance does something an reverts back to CPU graph . It might be connected to the buy/activation window window being up in GUI ?

I try an give it a go to see if I can reproduce it , again today was only day I saw it and today was firts day with activation window poping up so seems might be related .

[Jeremy Collake]

The icon was in the red, yellow an green icon. I only noticed this today, normally it only flickers to the stoplight when probalance does something an reverts back to CPU graph . It might be connected to the buy/activation window window being up in GUI ?

It shouldn't, though I will have to double check to see. I'll take a look into this .

[edkiefer]

The icon was in the red, yellow an green icon. I only noticed this today, normally it only flickers to the stoplight when probalance does something an reverts back to CPU graph . It might be connected to the buy/activation window window being up in GUI ?

It shouldn't, though I will have to double check to see. I'll take a look into this .

Able to reproduce mostly . If/when I run prime95 with 2 threads of torture test - 100% CPU, shows in PL as 95% ) the icon gets stuck in light icon even though last log says restore to original priority and the * is back in normal mode priority .

All I had to do is alt-tab prime95 and it switches restrain when doing that, then it got stuck, and I make sure prime95 is focus window with PL in backround to view log .
Then if I stop prime95 it goes right back to normal mode (CPU, response, memory icon .

This only happens with 2 threads on a dual core (E6400) if I do 1 thread it only goes to stoplight mode for a sec when alt-tabbing so priority changes .