SD 5 is slow. (And, still no customer service.)

[ZenWarrior]

SD 5 is as slow as molasses. Pages are taking forever to load. If this is anything close to what the end product will look like, I will have to find a better anti-spyware solution. But for now, it's back for version 4.x.

:mad: And btw, customer support is up its usual tricks and not responding to service tickets. As I have said in many other places and forums on the net, SD 4 is great, but PC Tools' customer service has to be among the worst in the industry. How about a response to a customer's troubles quite some time after submitting a ticket? Even an acknowledgment would be nice and welcomed. :mad:

(A timely response would be even better--and part and parcel of that for which PC Tools cashes our checks. PC Tools seems to have no problem taking a customer's money in a very timely manner.)

[Support]

ZenWarrior,

Thank you for your report.

I have escalated this report to the Technical Support team.

In the mean time can you try turning off the OnGuard tools 1 by 1 and then turning them back on to help isolate which tool is causing your issue. The slow page loading in IE7 is a known issue that is being worked on.

They will respond to your query soon.

Kind regards,

Nicholas
PC Tools Support Services

[arden42]

Is it SD5 itself that is slow, or the entire computer, or just particular programs? As Nicholas said, IE7 being slow is a known issue. Other known issues can be seen in this thread (http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44951). :)

[AChen]

Hi ZenWarrior,

If you would like me to follow up your support tickets, please private message me your ticket numbers and I will have this looked into.

[Amaspain]

I have unistalled spyware doctor 5. My PC is now working so much better and I feel alot more confident that no Adware is going to suddenly appear somewhere.

I won't be using it again

[WarrenG]

Hi Amaspain,

I am confident the reason you came on here was because initially you were concerned about the protection of your PC and trialed the beta and had a problem with slowness. This is a beta and yes problems can arise but there are people on here like AChen who follows up these issues immediately and they bring out another beta which hopefully solves the problem.

From your last response it seems as though you think Spyware Doctor is spyware itself and puts false adaware on your PC? Can you back this up? I am a long time user of the software and I would think that a company this size and with the reputation it has would not do such a thing.

I hope you eventually come back to using the software as I still find it the most efficient in detecting and removing spyware and yes at times it can be slow but I have tried ALOT of spyware programs out there and slowness is just something these programs have in common, but I deal with this by doing scheduled scans when I dont need to use the computer for things important.

Best of luck :)

[Amaspain]

Hi Amaspain,

I am confident the reason you came on here was because initially you were concerned about the protection of your PC and trialed the beta and had a problem with slowness. This is a beta and yes problems can arise but there are people on here like AChen who follows up these issues immediately and they bring out another beta which hopefully solves the problem.

From your last response it seems as though you think Spyware Doctor is spyware itself and puts false adaware on your PC? Can you back this up? I am a long time user of the software and I would think that a company this size and with the reputation it has would not do such a thing.

I hope you eventually come back to using the software as I still find it the most efficient in detecting and removing spyware and yes at times it can be slow but I have tried ALOT of spyware programs out there and slowness is just something these programs have in common, but I deal with this by doing scheduled scans when I dont need to use the computer for things important.

Best of luck :)

Version 4 placed Adware within the mood message of Skype. There are a number of posts on this board from myself and others regarding this issue.

Version 5 also placed an ad on outgoing email messages, I know this can be turned off but it should not be on by default if I have paid for the product.

I have no confidence in PC Tools in that they could sneek in more Adware without my knowledge.

I also feel that having removed version 4 and 5 that my PC response times are much quicker.

[Gary]

It is too slow to even use.

[Chippa]

Version 4 placed Adware within the mood message of Skype. There are a number of posts on this board from myself and others regarding this issue.

It looks like this has been removed with SDv5. In SDv4, I would not consider this adaware, firstly there are options to disable this and also it gives the user a feeling of security knowning that 3rd party programs are being protected by the Onguard functionality in SD. Secondly I can guarantee no other spyware program would flag this as adaware because its not adaware!


Version 5 also placed an ad on outgoing email messages, I know this can be turned off but it should not be on by default if I have paid for the product.

There is no advertisement I can see. All it shows me is that email guard has scanned this email for any traces of spyware, most companies use this form of tagging, it also gives the user a sense of security. I feel confident that the email I received is safe to open and view. Also option can be turned off in email guard settings.


I have no confidence in PC Tools in that they could sneek in more Adware without my knowledge. I also feel that having removed version 4 and 5 that my PC response times are much quicker.

Of course its going to show an improvement in response time as Onguard runs in realtime and is contstantly monitoring PC for malicious processes etc and monitoring software which all spyware products incorporate use some form of memory usage and memory usage = slow response times. It may be quicker now but what about if someone sends you a malicious attachment or dodgy URL on skype? Or if you get a nasty email that when you open runs several hidden processes? I would prefer protection and a slight increase in response time as opposed to someone destroying and obtaining information off my pc

Cheers,
Chippa

[Gary]

I am on a high speed connection and when my download speed drops to 39mbps from 500+ there is a problem. I do not get this using the stable version, which I plan to continue using.

[AChen]

Hi Gary,

Which programs are you using to download? FTP, P2P, downloading from websites?

Any additional info would be a great help.


Cheers,
Anthony

[Amaspain]

It looks like this has been removed with SDv5. In SDv4, I would not consider this adaware, firstly there are options to disable this and also it gives the user a feeling of security knowning that 3rd party programs are being protected by the Onguard functionality in SD. Secondly I can guarantee no other spyware program would flag this as adaware because its not adaware!

A definition of Adware taken from Wikipedia:

"Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used"

SDv4 placed an advert within Skype which is broadcast to people in your contact list. The option to remove this was only added after this was raised as an issue. If this was not an issue then why fix it

[Gary]

Hi Gary,

Which programs are you using to download? FTP, P2P, downloading from websites?

Any additional info would be a great help.


Cheers,
Anthony

Any website. Nvidia, Majorgeeks..etc. I do not have this problem with release 4.

[Darkbeholder]

Gary,

Are you experiencing this slowness in all browsers or just when using Internet Explorer?

If it is just in IE7 then its a known issue that is being worked on: http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44951

There was also mention of a fix by microsoft in http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45250

Also is the slow download limited to getting files from websites or from all transfers?

thanks

Darkbeholder

[WarrenG]

A definition of Adware taken from Wikipedia:

"Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used"

SDv4 placed an advert within Skype which is broadcast to people in your contact list. The option to remove this was only added after this was raised as an issue. If this was not an issue then why fix it

Hi,

Obviously there were mixed views on this part of the software. I am a skype user and I was happy with it being there, just made me feel that little bit more safer as I am relatively new to this form of communication software.

But on the other hand I did get people asking my why it says protected by PC tools, so I assume they might of had a few people email/call them asking for an option to turn it off, and looks like they have done just that.

It can be considered a form of adaware hence your definition but it was in no way malicious or harmful to your PC and the problem is fixed now.

Be happy :) your problem has been solved in that regard.

[arden42]

Yeah, I'd see the Skype thing as an error in judgement on PC Tools part (it should have been off by default) - but they listened to their users and changed it. :)

If you want to get technical about that definition (not that Wikipedia is authoritative by any means), it does say it displays advertising material on a computer after the software is installed on it - the Skype message was only shown to other people, not on the computer SD was installed on AFAIK. ;)

[Amaspain]

Yeah, I'd see the Skype thing as an error in judgement on PC Tools part (it should have been off by default) - but they listened to their users and changed it. :)

If you want to get technical about that definition (not that Wikipedia is authoritative by any means), it does say it displays advertising material on a computer after the software is installed on it - the Skype message was only shown to other people, not on the computer SD was installed on AFAIK. ;)

Talking about being technical the message was displayed on my computer as well as being available for my contacts to see. I know this as I was able to see it and remove it, but when I restarted Skype the ad would reappear.

I use Skype to keep in contact with clients and it was very embarrissing for me.

[Gary]

Gary,

Are you experiencing this slowness in all browsers or just when using Internet Explorer?

If it is just in IE7 then its a known issue that is being worked on: http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44951

There was also mention of a fix by microsoft in http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45250

Also is the slow download limited to getting files from websites or from all transfers?

thanks

Darkbeholder

I get this in all browsers IE7 which I only use for Window Updates, Firefox and Opera. When I downloaded a file -from any site- my download speed dropped from 500+ K/bps to around 39. I just downloaded a file and the Xfer rate was 563K/bps using SS 4.0. When I was using the Beta version, it was like being on a dial up connection. The only problem I have with SD 4.0 is the time it takes to load. I will NOT go back to 5.0 until it is a final release.

[arden42]

@Amaspain:

I didn't realise the message was shown on your computer as well, sorry - I don't use Skype. Anyway, they made a mistake, they've fixed it - as far as I'm concerned it's not an issue. :)

@Gary:

Is it only when downloading files - i.e. via FTP - that it is slow? Or is it when downloading anything, e.g. just any web page?