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Just received this from Xara:
I had a very slow start-up with both Designer and Web Designer yesterday, loading colors 97%. But it appears fixed.Quote:
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.
(sigh of relief)
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 ?...:rolleyes:
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.
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
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?
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.
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
For 'Nanny' to be listening, this would likely have to be posted in 'Dear Xara' and I agree with Gary, I also think this is an overreaction. Not everything is perfect in the Xara world but dang it, it's a site far better with Xara than an awful lot of other places, no doubt about that.
;)
@Karateed -- not an over-reaction. The user should always be able to control how, or when, a program 'calls home.' Now, I know that my feelings are old-fashioned, since so many programs now are constantly communicating with, hopefully, only the company that sold them to us... like Microsoft's new Cloud Office. But I still think it's an invasion of privacy if we are not told about it, and then can't turn it off, like Adobe checking your PC for updates all the time even after you have told it to stop.
@handrawn -- just did the Regedit Xara Xtreme Pro 8.1 'options / galleries: AllowAutoDownload resetting to 0' -- thanks very much for your help. Is this the only one that opens up the chat line to Xara/Magix?