Comments for You may want to rethink your recommendation of this product I had problems with.

Comment from A. Orcan on 2008-09-11

2008-09-11T09:03:20Z

There are oodles of software that claim to do so many things, it is sometimes hard to decide. I have been involved in computers for 35 years and have 4 PC's at home and 2 at work. As I have children, it is rare not to have to correct or repair something every week. I usually don't have to use any software to solve problems unless it is much more practical to use a utility. I have some favorite ones, but I usually don't recommend any of these to people because of the fact that wrong use of such powerful utilities may require a complete reinstall or loss of files, license info and consequent damages just to name some possibiliities.
I think even the best software is a potential danger if the user is not aware of the consequences of a seemingly innoccent and minor tweak option to be used. It is common for user to select "optimize my PC", "delete duplicate files", "turn off auto-play" and realize afterwards that many programs will not work as "optimized" settings effect critical system parameters, duplicate files deleted at wrong folders were necessary for some programs and after cancelling auto-play, flash disks may not be seen unless explorer is exited and re-entered, large capacity flash disks may not be recognized due to third party add-ons, external drives and some devices may not work properly, etc.
My point is, every product may have useful features and better ones have the option to revert back to former settings, but one has to know absolutely have at least some level of knowledge or check the web and learn to find out more before using programs that may even cause blue screens of death.

]]>

A comment on: You may want to rethink your recommendation of this product I had problems with.

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Don Davis on 2008-09-10

2008-09-10T15:20:26Z

Leo, I enjoy your site because we share many similar opinions and your knowledge is a wonderful resource helping me understand these toys I have acquired. However after 35 years as a police officer I wish to point out that many people will ignore or misconstrue entire paragraphs. Thanks for the great advice that I recomend whenever the oportunity arrises. D.D.

]]>

A comment on: You may want to rethink your recommendation of this product I had problems with.

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from David Thompson on 2008-09-09

2008-09-09T16:21:20Z

I've used TweakVI on my Vista box (I also have used the MS program TweakUI on my XP boxes for years -- not the 'V' versus 'U' difference in the name). I found the TweakVI for Vista a bit frustrating, it wasn't always clear how to engage a setting, as they say "some settings will take effect only on reboot". Well, they don't tell you which settings those are, so if you don't see your change (or don't know how to recognize the change you made, yes that's possible, too), you find yourself wondering "I gotta reboot... again?". But I was learning it enough that I wanted to buy it. I wanted to try some of the other features reserved just commercial use. But they don't accept buyers who use a yahoo email address. Well, I use Yahoo premium mail and I pay for my account, so I was royally pissed at being locked out of a purchase. I've seen bias against yahoo email accounts before, but I don't think I've ever had a *purchasing* problem before. When all they do is a send a license key via email anyways, I don't know why they care what email address I use. They never responded to my pleas for an exception or requests for explanation, so I looked around for Vista tweaker replacements. There are plenty. WinBubble seems pretty good and is free. TweakVI never got any money from me, and I've uninstalled it from about 6 other friends machines. For me, there is nothing unique to TweakVI that WinBubble doesn't do as well or better.

]]>

A comment on: You may want to rethink your recommendation of this product I had problems with.

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from novice on 2008-09-04

2008-09-04T19:23:08Z

for the benefit of those who might want to do a lot of experimenting and tweaking:
the past 3 months i have been home and reading or skimming some 200-400 articles a day on technology (computers and smartphones mostly) and i have also tried a number of things suggested in those articles. what i have learned is that while some things can be really useful (like this website), most of them add little or nothing to efficiency. and a few could even be dangerous. while i wont tell people to stop trying those out, i think people should weigh the benefits against the effort and risk.

for me what distinguishes Leo's recommendations from others, and that includes even the reputed and trusted websites, is that Leo has USED them himself (he does say he may recommend on reputation but i cant recall any). most others tend to test and recommend at best. the good ones may have methodical testing basis but an expert recommending after having USED something personally gives a much better insight, in my opinion.

]]>

A comment on: You may want to rethink your recommendation of this product I had problems with.

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ken B on 2008-09-04

2008-09-04T17:49:46Z

Funny you should mention the ad-vs-endorsement. The ad that appeared for me on this page was for a program called "PC SpeedScan Pro", which according to SiteAdvisor, may be a "rogue" program. (Unfortunately, the "bad guys" have learned how to advertise using the same methods as the "good guys", and Google isn't immune to their tactics.)

http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/ascentive.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_software

]]>

A comment on: You may want to rethink your recommendation of this product I had problems with.

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.