Help! Xara Designer Pro - cant open! (Not even after a full re-install and PC reboot)

[gwpriester]

The past two days, I have gotten hung up on loading colors, both in Designer Pro X and Web Designer MX Premium.

Do you think it is something in the water? Or some sort of international conspiracy? (My money is on the conspiracy theory--I love conspiracy theories).

[angelize]

Do you think it is something in the water?

if it is it's affected the water systems of 4 countries and 3 different continents!

[handrawn]

was out most of yesterday, so I didn't notice anything in that regard, but on the subject of auto-updating galleries:

my system freezes [mouse/keyboard] for several seconds on first startup of XDPX [8.1.3.23942 CD] per window 7 session.. or at least it did until I changed a couple of XDPX registry settings which appears to prevent the auto-updates.. can't recommend this as such since it may have other effects, but I don't use xara for web site building and rarely use the design gallery at all.. anyone else have this problem I can pass on the info

I think it may be related to eset FW/AV, win7 throws up several 'program has stopped working' messages if XDPX is blocked in eset although it still starts up ok - no problems if the WNC is actually disconnected

[gwpriester]

Just received this from Xara:

There were problems with Designer 8 last night, a long delay on startup (minutes) caused by the MAGIX auto-update system. Fixed around 22:30, not sure when it started as yet.

I had a very slow start-up with both Designer and Web Designer yesterday, loading colors 97%. But it appears fixed.

(sigh of relief)

[handrawn]

I'm with steve

This is a 'problem' caused by the program trying to be 'too clever' for it's own good - no-one should be forced into automatic updates [and have to hack registry to prevent it]... we should have choice, but xara treats its customers as uninformed [aka idiots] a lot of the time ..eg: 'this image would be better imported as a jpeg' .. I don't think so how does xara know what sort of image it is - red text anyone ?...

[gwpriester]

I think you are overreacting just a bit. Windows automatically updates. My McAfee Security Center updates itself. Adobe CS5.5 is always updating, though in all fairness, Adobe does notify you first.

But most of the time the updates are in the background and you don't even know they are taking place.

[handrawn]

non of those need registry hacking to turn off - I have never ever had windows set to update without asking first [issues with fonts anyone...?] - I will grit my teeth and not say what I think about Mcafee - adobe lets you choose too, as you have noted

[jon404]

If anybody knows, would Photo & Graphic Designer do this automatic 'calling home' as well? Also unable to disable it? Gosh, what if Evil Ones, like Barclays Bank, buy out Xara and take over our computers? Art-bots!

Handrawn, can you post your registry fix? Sounds like you figured it out...

But I'm with Gary on the conspiracy.

"There once was a terrorist in Mali
Who wanted a free ride to Bali
So he flagged down a Predator,
To get as far as England, where
At Gaddesden Place he pursued his folly."

EDIT -- I guess the workaround is to just unplug the internet when Xara-ing?

[gwpriester]

If you really want to make yourself nuts add Collusion to Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...don/collusion/

You install the plugin and go about about your website business. Then after a few hours or a few days, click the small icon in the lower right hand corner of your browser. It shows the sites you have visited and how information about your visit has been shared with other third party sites.

I just installed collusion (I had not installed it on my new computer), went to the NY Times, The Guardian, Woot, and Amazon and this is what shows when I pressed the button.

[handrawn]

ok ok

It's not conspiracy in this case it's 'nanny knows best'...

I have no objection to sites legitimately collecting data reasonably
I have no objection to sites updating what is on my computer where it is of benefit
for legit purposes I have no objection to default updating being set at auto - as long as I am asked if I want to leave it that way first run [hey even Microsoft and Flash do that ] and as long as it remains under my control should I choose to exercise that - someone out there have a problem with any of this?

Jon there is a registry key in options / galleries: AllowAutoDownload resetting this to 0 cured the problem I was having of the computer freezing - I assume it stops the auto downloading from the name of it but that is an assumption on my part, only Xara would know for sure and it may have other effects, I have no time or interest in checking it out because like I said I use the design gallery hardly at all.... and build web sites [wordpress excepted] not at all.. so at your own pace and risk ...

and finally no, it is never a good idea to optimise line art to jpg, no matter what size it is...

I do hope nanny is listening