Just One Long-Time Users Suggestion...

[sandybeach]

Just One Long Time Users Suggestion...

I feel very badly for feeling I have to suggest this but.......

Not just for SPYBOT 1.5 but for numerous other similar providers (Lavasoft Ad-Aware etc.etc.); the latest versions of long standing & extremely reliable programs are destroying these program's reputations as the readers/users become more & more frustrated/confused/frantic in their attempts to use new programs intended to be compatible with VISTA(s)!!!

In truth, I'm sure that it is extremely HARD to create w/Vista(s) being changed repeatedly (here come the service packs). I realize the push to Vista is horrendous & someday most will be stuck w/ it, but for now, a great percentage are & will continue to resist Vista (& IE7) due to the terror of being embroiled in a half baked OS pie.

I believe the current BEST option for the producers & the users/clients is to retain both the Older (1.4) & re-write the newer S&D 1.5 to be specific for Vista(s) ONLY. Even a new Non-Vista specific version should times & tides require such.
At the very least leave your "legacy" 1.4 available for download by new or reverting users who, for whatever reason, can't cope with 1.5.

Businesses, en mass, are rejecting Vista & siblings for the near (3 years +) term and much of your cash must flow from there. Many businesses who've bought new machines w/Vista ,company wide, are now biting the bullet and paying to have all their new machines re-formatted back to XP Pro! The losses in cash & lost productivity are outrageous.

One of the main reasons Spybot/Adaware etc. gained the huge popularity they justly deserve (beyond the FREE versions!!) was that even first month computer users could download/install/ & operate the programs easily & with confidence & with basically no computer knowledge. They didn't need to know how to delve into their C: drives, find programs folders, look inside them etc. to be & feel protected. Any bugs were minor enough not to stop the process of use (TT overlap bug).

Sadly, even experienced, nay even highly accomplished professionals & experts, are finding that the new versions are too time consuming & troublesome to try & keep operational & are either reverting to the older (about to be unsupported)versions or abandoning the programs all together!

For a company with such a Glorious & Enviable history/record of service to the masses such as Spybot has been, this is a tragedy beyond compare!! Hopefully..not beyond Repair!!!

Please , for ALL our sakes, KEEP that which works and develop for the NEW OS specifically unless/until the marriage is solid as rock. I've been loyal & kept my readers & suggestion followers loyal since Win 98SE & am having extreme un-easiness about suggesting they abandon ye or endure more head-aches than I or they can/wish to suffer!

Stop the hemorrhaging NOW before any more harm is done: Announce that you will continue to update 1.4 for at least a few more years or until newer version suitable for legacy OS's is equally reliable. The cost is minimal compared to the destruction of a fine reputation so richly deserved!

God save Patrick & Team Spybot & us!! Sincerely Yours, Sandy.

[PepiMK]

Most changes in 1.5 were NOT Vista related at all, and 1.4 just misses some functionality that gets more and more important (and is used more and more by us) to detect newer kinds of malware.

Also, most Vista requirements are helpful even on older OS versions. Codesigned executables for example, something we had for years already. Proper support of fast user switching, something every XP user will benefit from. Error crash reporting, something where we've refrained from following the official Vista book, but which even in our more general way benefits everyone since it allows us to track program crashes faster.

The Immunization view uses one of the new GUI features - but one that already exists in XP as well, and the list imho doesn't look bad on older versions.

1.5 even has restored backward compatibility with Windows 95!

So where exactly is the problem with 1.5 on "legacy OS"? If there is one, I am pretty sure that it has nothing to do with Vista support (and would exist in an updated 1.4 as well, since 1.5 is an updated 1.4 and we only implemented the useful-for-all Vista requirements)! So it would need to be fixed anyway