Heres what I did

[MBCANDOVER]

Well I can't say it will work for all but about 2 weeks ago I noticed my system was getting slower and slower, mutiple programs would be frozen like on the screen and the CPU was pegged. My nightly updates were running with Spyware Doctor and things were getting worse. I upgraded to 5.0 when asked and then emails and norton were just a mess. Its was getting blocked or would freeze.

I then went back to 4.0 and it got alittle better but still lots of slow applications, troubles with emails. It still felt like I had some remnets of 5.0 around my system.

This morning I deleted Spyware Doctor from my system completly (All gone). Then rebooted my system and there was my computer again. Speed was back and it was peppy again. Emails are fine, Norton is happy, its a screamer again

At this point I'm not sure what was the real issues where. All I can say I was truly inconvienenced by a bad software program.

I hope to reinstall the new version when its deemed working as I have really enjoyed my older products for a long time.

But I would REALLY like a discount on any future renewal for all the time I lost by your bad release...

Merrill

[tom.tdw]

downloading version 4 should be ok again if you delete all v5 files from program files

[Patrick O'Brien]

Hi MBCANDOVER,

To date, there are just a small percentage of customers (such as yourself)that have experienced problems with SD 5.0 – some of the comments on the forums have been very positive although we accept there are some issues.

Since SD 5.0 has Kernel components in it, there will be some conflicts between what people have on their machines (such as other AV's and some low level drivers for their hardware).

Although we have been in external Beta for 2 months and have resolved the known issues, we will continue to work with any affected customers in an attempt to resolve their concerns as well.

if you could please send me a private message with your contact email address, I will open a support ticket on your behalf and a Support Representative will contact you as soon as possible.

[MBCANDOVER]

Patrick,

I thankyou very much for your message. I really do. But I have sent 3 messages and I have recieved 1 generic reply 4 days later that did not answer my question. Bottom line, my slow machine cost me time and money and I cannot afford to reload this software until its bug-less. I will in the future because of SD4's reliability

As a former product manager this is a major faux-pah. This is exactly what test beds are made for. The fact that it does not run with Norton - one of the industry standards - throws read flags.

The fact they released it too early and the issueds are all over this message board is also a red flag.

Bottom line I'm not a believer until some at the "C" level comes on these boards and gives the all clear and I can quote him/her.

I expect as a subsciber to be compensated in terms of additional update time when the all clear is given. Thats how you take care of your customers.

Sorry if I sound bitter, but I did not ask for a beta product, i was prompted to update to a released product.

[AChen]

Hi MBCANDOVER,

Why isn't it working / what is the problem?
SD 5.0 IS WORKING. We are, however, experiencing a number of unforeseen challenges that are expected when breaking into new territory. We have extensively tested this product and we have even delayed its launch for several months. Even with that, we have had some surprises that we are currently fixing. We are going make immediate improvements to the product and simultaneously let our customers know how to best utilize the stronger elements of new Spyware Doctor as further improvements are made. As you know, are using a new platform that further improve the malware search and destroy elements cherished in the earlier versions of Spyware Doctor.

2. Why did it go to market when it wasn't ready?
SD 5.0 was extensively tested. Just as Microsoft’s VISTA is experiencing growing pains, we are facing several challenges that did not appear in our earlier extensive testing program. We are adjusting the product to immediately respond to these issues.

3. Why didn't you test it more thoroughly?
It is not possible—given the extensive range of technological changes to the product—to respond to every bug or challenge despite our extensive testing phase. We thought we had caught the major challenges and were ready for a smooth launch. Our experienced development team has already begun resolving major issues.

We are working with each of our customers to resolve their issues quickly. We are providing an updated approach that will fix problems immediately and these will provide a foundation for improvements in the future as we add additional features to this product. The advantage to this new platform for innovation is that it has a modular design to help make quick changes.

We plan to help our customers on a case-by-case basis. We will first fix the product and handle any inconvenience customers face individually. Customers will quickly see once we have resolved these issues, that SD 5.0 is much stronger than earlier versions of SD.

SD 5.0 is a great product. It may have faced a few bumps as it is being launched, but it will be a market leader in testing and it will provide customers with even greater security than they have with our current award-winning Spyware Doctor security software.

We can see that there are still unresolved issues with SDv5 and we will continue to update, implement fixes as soon as possible. The Support team and I are here to assist anyone who may be experiencing problems and I will make sure each and every issue is followed up to the best of my abilities.

Again, I apologize for any inconvenience caused.