I’m sure it is going to their servers too, I see 2 or 3 blinks when it first opens on the file list. When I stopped it from going out, it closed once the TCP/IP call timed out I think?

Irv S.

My guess is that Avanquest found out that PD 8 Pro got posted about on websites – thanks dotTech for spreading the news more than wildfire – and they blacklisted the registration key they sent to everyone. However, I am not sure why some people can still use it while others cannot.

I first wrote to the German site that hosted the program. I got back in German the answer that I can only use it on one machine. I then posted to the Avanquest web site support page, and got back and answer that I should contact the German page. Meanwhile Bruce gave me an e-mail address to write too, and that is the one that called it ‘illegal’. I gave all that I wrote to the web link and my confirmation message.

Like anything else, the support people probably have NO CLUE what is going on, especially in other countries as far as promotions and offers I’m afraid.

I had just gotten another e-mail from German Avanquest asking me to send confirmation e-mail. I’ve sent both mine and my wife’s, we both applied and got the file for our computer. Hers is STILL working, my closes immediately.

I used PD Explorer 6 on my old XP system. It had problems on W7 x64 handling some folders, so I stopped using it. PD8 ‘worked’ like a charm. I had paid for PD6 but they had no upgrade to 7, and now 8. I was thinking of buying 8 when I saw the free offer. Got it, liked it, for 10 days and it shutdown. Now they want me to buy it. With the support like this, I don’t think so.

I’m pretty sure since my wife’s is still running, the license that it seems is the SAME for everyone, is NOT closed off. What probably happened is the program reported back to Avanquest an IP Address and some info for my system and my wife’s. Who ever got there last was disabled. I assume a check is done when opening.

You know, I just checked that with my ISS suite. I blocked the program from going OUT… it stays open. Nasty program calling home…

I’ll probably just delete the thing if they don’t mail me a new license. Why they used the same one for everyone I don’t know, but it can cause problems. Nothing said ONE INSTALL per location. You can’t use it on more than one computer, but two people getting 2 copies in one location is NOT the same.

Irv S.

I should sue them for libel; that is how pissed I am right now. It is a good thing I don’t have an army of lawyers are my disposal.

———————-
Thank you for your email.

The website where you downloaded Powerdesk 8 from below was hosting the file illegally. This file has now been removed and the offer terminated. The serial number will no longer work.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Kind Regards,

Craig
———————————

and from the German one (avanquesttecsupport@softwarehelper.de) :

—————-
Sehr geehrter Avanquest Kunde,

vielen Dank für Ihre Anfrage!

diese Problem stellt sich, wenn die Software auf einen anderm oder dem gleichen PC
ein zweitesmal installiert wird.
Laut Lizenzbedingen darf die Software nur auf einem Arbeitsplatz genutzt werden.
Falls sie im Zuge einer Neuinstallation eine Ersatzseriennummer benötigen erhalten
sie diese gegen Nachweis einer Rechnug oder einer Bestellnumer im Falle eines
Downloadkaufes.

Erstellen sie bitte auch noch einen Screenshot aus dem hervorgeht, daß die
Seriennummer als ungültig abgelehnt wird

Falls Sie noch weitere Informationen wünschen, sehen Sie auch in unseren
FAQ Lösungen unter folgendem Link nach:

http://softwaresupport.at/3.html

Achtung: Bitte unbedingt die Ticketnummer in der Betreffzeile der
E-Mail stehen lassen und einfach auf “Antworten” klicken.
Sonst ist eine weitere Bearbeitung Ihrer Anfrage nicht
möglich.(Nur wenn sie weiter Hilfe benötigen bitte antworten )

Vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse an unserer Software.

Hans Kiemer

Avanquest Service Center
Tel. 09001/000386
(Mo – Fr 9 – 17 Uhr, €1,50 pro Minute aus dem dt. Festnetz)
————————————

It seems it can’t be used twice in the same house?

Irv S.

Not much luck so far, I got a reply for Avanquest US telling me to contact Avanquest DK… sigh…

Still confused why it still works on my wife’s machine? It must ‘call home’ and then see 2 uses on one IP Address?

Irv S.

I sent them e-mail, we’ll see I guess?

Thanks,
Irv S.

That’s weird, since it was Avanquest who gave us the serial number. So I went to their tech support site and asked for a new serial number. After a bit of email conversation (very polite, and never trying to weasel their way out), I got this reply:

=============
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Avanquest Technical Support.
Here is a new serial number for the software: [I won't put it here. - Bruce]
=============

You can try it too. There is no need to be rude or insulting in your message. Just describe what happened, and ask for a replacement serial number.

Here is what they need [taken from an email from Ivy at their customer service]. This is the email address: Support1@AvanquestUSA.com.

===================
In order to provide you with a serial number and download link to install the software, we will need the following information sent to us.

Complete First and Last Name:
Address:
Phone Number:
Email Address:
Software Title:
Version:
Purchase Date:
Store Where Product Was Purchased:
SKU No:
(The product SKU number is found printed in the center of the CD and is 4 digits long.)

Once we receive this information we will reply to this email with a new serial number for you.

Thank you,
===================

Obviously, I had not purchased the software nor did I have a physical disk, but obtained it for free directly from Avanquest as a download. I explained that as follows:

===================
Following the instructions at the Avanquest website (see next paragraph), I asked for and received a legal serial number for PowerDesk Pro 8. This was not a pirate site or some other scam; it was a legitmate Avanquest promotion. Filling in the form on this site led me to another official Avanquest page which gave me my serial number. I DO have a copy of that webpage, but don’t see any way to include attachments with this message. That was on December 10, 2010, well within the 90 day limit.

Website: http://register.avanquest.com/ABSOFT/produits/Promotion/enregistrement_presse/register_cov_gd.cfm?idcgd=517.

That promotion has now disappeared, and one is redirected to the general Avanquest page. But you can still see a cache of the promotion page here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:i6i3CjIwxhEJ:register.avanquest.com/ABSOFT/produits/Promotion/enregistrement_presse/register_cov_gd.cfm%3Fidcgd%3D517.

The program worked well for a few days. But now whenever I try to start PowerDesk Pro, I get an error message (in German), telling me “this serial number was already in use.”

So, please send me a new working serial number. Thank-you very much!
===================

That’s it! Sometimes all you need to do is a little leg-work, and be polite.

- Bruce Fraser

What goes?

Even if I had a different serial number I can’t enter it?

Irv S.

No joy yet. Hoping there will be more freebies before all the Advent and Christmas “gifts” are done!

PD Pro is my fave Explorer sub, esp. because of the Dialog Helper and the File Viewer.

2) I’ve loved PowerDesk, first Free, then Pro, for a long time. I paid for PD6, on a deep discount. Nobody’s mentioned what may be my fave feature: PowerDesk Dialog Helper. It’s similar to (but different from) a feature built into AnVir Task Manager. When you’re prompted for a Directory/Folder to save or open (etc.) a file, they both make it easy to review the last bunch you’ve selected. So, if (say) you’re alternating between two folders that are in very different parts of your HDD, you can just select the top selection and the second one, and skip all the navigating/browsing. Genius!

I love having PD’s dialog helper AND AnVir’s, because they always make different suggestions! PD’s is relatively short-term evanescent, while AnVir’s seems to remember your all-time faves over a longer period.

PDPro’s File Viewer is also one of the best, IMHO.

I’m hoping that PD8 will work, and will add some functionality to the PD6 I usually prefer to QDir and FreeCommander and a bunch of other excellent Explorer replacements.

It is true that PDPro sometimes slows to a crawl and needs to be re-started. And sometimes its fresh-start speed on one computer seems a bit sluggish. But I usually always keep it open, so that’s often not a problem.

It still works for me.
Just to clarify: I installed it a couple of days ago, and it’s still working. Did you just now install it?

I registered last night with mail.com email address, it ends in techie.com, and I never got a response. Checked Spam. I went to bed, and when I woke up today I figured I could try a new address. Now when you click on the link to register your email address, you are redirected to Avanquest home page. Oh well, you snooze, you lose.

Thank You — Ashraf and Krumpelt

Tried to “take over” most of the tasks the program could do. Open zip-files etc. I have no big issues with this, most programs today try to do this. (just try to use a new web browser. “new web browser is not your standard web browser, do you want to change that, click here”. )

On the plus side, the option to switch from Explorer to Power Desk would have to be ticked manually.

I have now been using this program for the past day or so.
The reason I got this program, was for the dual panel. Using two windows explorer windows, I sometimes forget where I am copying from and where I am copying to. To be able to do it all in ONE window should solve most of that.

So far, I am not too happy about this program. It seems to be slow. Very slow. I get e feeling it is more like a “skin” than a “program”. It feels like every time I do something, the program has to do a lot of things “behind the scene” in order for it to happen.

Copying is slow. Opening new windows is slow…
I let the program take over handling of compressed files. And guess what. It is SLOW!!! And, when it finally opens, the file IN the .zip can not be opened because the program cannot find it. On screen I can clearly see “myfile.pdf” in the .zip “mytest.zip”, but clicking on the file inside the power desk windows gives me “windows can not find…” in whatever temp-area power desk has hidden it.

Any other zip-handler (winrar, 7zip) has NO problem whatsoever to open the file.

So, right now I am thinking about uninstalling and going back to using my regular programs.

I also found a great program called FileMenu Tools (search on Softpedia) that adds a lot of extra capability to right-click menus in most file managers, you can choose which tools you need. Might be a good alternative for people who don’t want a “do everything” program like PowerDesk.

Thanks Avanquest for making this available to us, definitely worth a try!

I have used PowerDesk 4 thro’ 6, but missed free PowerDesk 7. What a find!
Immaculate instructions as ever, thanks for the translation.
AVG 2011 and Outpost firewall both queried, but otherwise a perfect installation on/in (?)
Win 7 Home Prem. (64).

By the way Ashraf, I noticed a reference in a post on another review (or forum) about adverts and income for dotTech. Therefore I have unblocked this site on Adblock and furthermore I pledge to follow the link of one or more adverts on each visit. Obviously you wouldn’t ask, but if all dotTechies do the same, it might help your rating.

For anyone else who is wondering, “breadcrumbs” comes from a fairy tale about two children who leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind them to help them find their way back from a walk in the woods. Unfortunately, birds follow close behind and eat the breadcrumbs. It all works out OK in the end.

RE: “Backtrack, or breadcrumbs”
Forgive me, please, if I’m not using proper terminology.

What I mean is this: You are looking through various folders on your computer, and then you say, “I want to go back to the folder I was a minute ago.” Just click on the “Go Back” button on the toolbar, and it will show a list of the last nine folders you looked at. Select one and it takes you directly there.