Ok, it's this simple. I'm not out to bash Zabaware.
I'm trying to explain the problems with the software that I bought from you. I'm angry and frustated with it's performance and also with the seeming lack of responsiveness from Zabaware in correcting the problem.
I'll try to be clear and to the point without sounding angry.
Hal 4.0 is re-installing itself in the registry every time it loads. This is NOT, I repeat, NOT an acceptable meneuver. It looks like a problem with the installer.
I'm fully aware of the registry's function within Windows. But, as I've tried to tell you....
Hal's loader, installer, or something in the package is being naughty, over and over and over again....
NO OTHER PROGRAMS ON MY MACHINE EXHIBIT THIS BEHAVIOR WHENEVER THEY LOAD. And believe me, I have an enormous number of programs from which to choose. Games, utilities, TSR's etc....
Nothing else does to the registry, EVERY TIME IT LOADS, what hal does.
Hal 4.0 is doing SOMETHING ELSE.
I have a startup monitor that watches for autostart entries into the registry in order to prevent pesky adware and trojan infiltrations. It's been very, very effective so far with many different trojan server and adware exposures.
Normal installations of other autostarting programs also trigger this monitor when they first install themselves. That's Ok the first time.
Hal triggers this monitor every single time that it starts.
I have attempted several total extractions and reinstallations of the software with consistant results. Hal 4.0 does not allow the auto-startup function to be disabled. Any attempt to exit hal after changing the setting in the options menu results in the next hal session puking up a window that says that hal's files have been corrupted and it must be reinitialized.
Re-initialization, via the setup wizard, results in hal forcing it's way back into the auto-startup area.
Maybe, just maybe, I really don't want hal starting whenever I turn on my machine. Maybe I'd like to simply hit the hal icon when the urge strikes. Hal won't have any of that. If I don't let it be there at startup it simply refuses to work. Hal sees it's exclusion from the startup area as an inconceivable circumstance and decides that it must be a fatal error caused by corrupted data files and it needs to be reinitalized.
Ok, you ended by saying the following:
"Using the registry is not horrendous and damaging in anyway. It is a database designed for the purpose of storing program settings. It was designed to get rid of pesky INI files that waste valuable FAT storage space and create a mess. Does anyone else think this is redundant, offensive, or horrendous? If so I will honestly consider using INI files in future versions of Hal."
Well, I can't see any problems with hal using the standard reg functions you've described. But, please allow me to reiterate, Hal is doing something else. It's probably just a glitch in the loader program that you can easily correct. Although, a single ini file with all the useful variables recorded shouldn't take up all that much space in the hal directory. If one can't design a program that can store these few floating variables you've described without a flood of different ini files then maybe there is a problem with the programmer. But that's beside the point.
The larger problem is that the auto-start cannot be deactivated without hal being convinced that the data files were corrupted. I'm then forced to go throught the whole wizard nonsense again and it jams itself back into the auto-start area without my permission.
As a note, the only time my registry monitor is triggered is if an executable is dropped into the "startup" since this places an autostart entry into the registry. Hal tries to add another autostart entry each time it loads. This is an errant function. It's caught in some sort of loop where it thinks it need to continually add itself to the startup list.
I'm not trying to bash. I'm trying to help you fix a problem and help myself get a good, working program.
I'm not some idiot psychophant that's looking for a dog biscuit by telling you how super your program is. I'm being terribly candid about what I think of your current customer service methods and what I think of the way your software is misbehaving.
If hal had been written as a simple non-autostart program, it could easily just be dropped into the "startup" area in the programs menu and it would magically become an autostart program without any fancy 3rd party loaders to screw up the works.
This method works quite well as I was previously running an AI program called "BILLY" as an autostart simply by dropping it into the startup area. Billy had no face and no voice. He was just a text chatterbox. But, He popped to life each time I loaded windows and he caused no startup monitor glitches each time he loaded.
Your software looked like the next step in the AI evolutionary process for my system.
I hope this helps you figure out where the glitch is hiding.
I'm not trying to be caustic.
I only want one thing from Zabaware at this time ; A working copy of Ultrahal.
Please understand that after 2 weeks of feeling like you folks are ducking and dodging emails and support forum posts, I'm more than a little frustrated. Especially after putting $30+ dollars in your pocket for software that does not perform as advertised.
Here's what the monitor shows every time hal loads at either startup or by clicking the icon. I changed the numbers to x's and shortened the filename length for my own convenience:
**************************************************************************
Ultra Hal Assistant 4.0
has registered the executable
C:windowsinstaller{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxxxx}{xxxxx.xxxx.xx.xxxxx}.exe
to run at system startup.
Do you with to allow this change? Y/N
**************************************************************************
As you can see, this is not the ultrahal.exe that is repeatedly loading.
It's the installer system that you've incorperated into the process that's screwing with the works.
I've tried simply dropping the Ultrahal.exe file directly into startup and it still tries to jump back to using the installer file from windows.
