TL;DR: Bottom line,
– this has some manual tools that are freely available elsewhere,
– and this does have some basic automation, if at all, of minor fixable fixes.
= = = = = = = = = =
Long version:
Ah, attitude.
At least this one is funny.
— Imagine an internet connectivity fixer that
depends on your internet connection to be working
in order for the internet connectivity fixer to fix
… what? To fix what is working?
— If my Internet already connects, why would I need
this software to fix it, when it ain’t broken?
— And if my Internet connection WERE broken, then how
would this software fix it, if this software depends on
my Internet connection to not be broken in order for
this software to fix it?
– – – – – – – – – –
More?
Imagine a connectivity fixer that gives up trying to fix
an inability to connect through, of all companies, Microsoft!
“… What? Microsoft? Oh no, I can’t work in THAT
environment. It’s too hard. Can we try something easier?
Please? …”
Seriously?
Fixing a connectivity problem through Microsoft email is
too hard for Connectivity Fixer Pro to handle?
This feels like a high-school entrepreneur advisor project,
… WWAHS what would a high-schooler say?
“… Hey, Connectivity Fixer, try fixing your email
send-out servers to NOT be on the bad side of Microsoft,
ya know, fix yer own connectivity first! …”
Try that.
Also, try considering GOODWILL by not insulting the audience
where you are giving a presentation, and instead say,
“sorry, we’ll fix that, immediately”.
Ashraf has created a terrific platform for vendors to get
exposure and feedback here at SOS Software On Sale.
Please do not come here to scold folks and defend your failures
as if we’re doing something wrong by pointing them out.
Please play nice, be respectful, say thank you to folks who have
other and better things to do than give you free feedback
in exchange for free software, we’re sort of like beta testers
who help you polish your offering for your greatest success.
For your greatest success.
==========
Let’s try to install it:
[ 1 ] The installation window is black text on dark
blue background, there is not enough contrast to
identify what is going on … oh, wait a minute, there’s
a [ Proceed ] button …
RECOMMENDATION: use readable-contrast, resizable presentations.
[ 2 ] It can’t figure out how I connect to the Internet,
it asks ME to manually find and type in a proxy … hmm,
not looking very smart there, Connectivity Fixer, can’t
you analyze my system and figure this out? …
RECOMMENDATION: perform a system analysis IMMEDIATELY and
tell us what you found in our computer right up front,
show us how smart you are, do not sit there like a petulant
child and whine “prove you are worthy of my talents first”,
this is MARKETING 101.
[ 3 ] It hangs on the “checking for promotion availability”
screen, never moving forward, saying the promotion is active,
but moving it’s thermometer bar constantly as if it’s
hunting, hunting, hunting, never really finding the will to
move forward, never finding the will to live … oh, there’s
that black text on dark blue background again, there is not
enough contrast to identify what is going on … oh, wait a
minute, there’s a [ Proceed ] button … maybe it wants ME
to take the next step, so … no, the program installation
does not moving forward on it’s own after checking the
availability of the offer … got it … it’s up to me …
RECOMMENDATION: move forward on your own to install, do not
sit there at a dumb screen that has no value for me, where
there is nothing for me to do, not even any entertaining
sales pitch.
[ 4 ] Moving on, it asks for an email address, then offers
to not store the email address … meaning the email
address is really not meaningful to connectivity fixer,
or what? Why send a round of emails to prove I’m a real
person if you are promising not to store it, why check
that I am not only a real person, like Captcha does, but
that I am a specific real person with a specific email
address? … waiting … waiting … hey, I used the same
email address I used 7 years ago when I bought and paid
for Connectivity Fixer Pro … nope, nothing … hey, and
it’s an email address that I pay for … nope, nothing arrives
… the installation screen INSTANTLY accepted my email
address and offered a stripwindow for me to insert a
serial number from an email, but no INSTANT send out of
an email with that serial number … is Connectivity Fixer
having problems connecting with an EXISTING CUSTOMER’S
EMAIL? Click [ Back ] and try another email … again
instant acceptance, but no instant send out … waiting,
waiting … oh, there it arrives … so Connectivity Fixer
Pro cannot “find” my existing paid-for prior customer
email because … ? …
RECOMMENDATION: hey, Connectivity Fixer Pro, why not,
ya know, fix your inability to connect?
PS – Yes, it stores our email address, just try to
re-register with the same email address, and, viola,
it KNOWS this email has been used before, and how does
it know, because t STORES the email address, even if we
check [ do not store ].
[ 5 ] Okay insert the serial number, it proceeds, then
offers yet another low contrast screen, see prior recommendation.
[ 6 ] Click [ Yes ] and the screen moves on …
RECOMMENDATION: oy, try also automatically moving on during
installation above, you can do it, you can!
[ 7 ] It sits at a screen saying
– do I want to MANUALLY fix my connection now
… bbuutt it’s not broken I don’t think,
– NOT monitoring
… bbuut what is the Connectivity Fixer Pro program doing then?
Why would I want to MANUALLY repair a connection that
is not broken, and yet I have a supposedly Professional
Fixer program on screen – manually? manually? what is
this “manually?
I could go on – low contrast screens, difficulty setting
minimize instead of exit, help being web hel, not local,
no automatic reconnections of the Internet even though
monitoring claims it is on, and so on, just nto a lot of
success, no feeling of control, no feeling of responsiveness
from the program, no reporting, no smarts
… nothing new in 7 years.
I’m beginning to think that Connectivity Fixer Pro is
ONLY to be used when we cannot connect, even though we
must be connected for Connectivity Fixer Pro to work.
So … what does this program actually do?
You lost me.
You lost me at the dialog here at SOS up to this point.
You lost me from the first installation screen,
through 7 steps of confusion.
You lost me at the end when the program FINALLY appears
on screen … and seems totally lost itself.
= = = = = = = = = =
Seriously, I click on whatever and get nothing useful,
no information, like [ Your IP Address: n/a ], seriously,
it can not find my IP address … even though I’m
on the Internet … there’a a [ Switch to wired ] button that
is a placebo, does nothing … I notice it does not
highlight the “tab” I’m on, so I have no idea if I am
looking at the [ Home ] screen or [ Advanced ] screen or
[ Net Info ] screen or what … but essentially it does
not matter because the program is not doing anything, not
offering to do anything, and not telling me anything,
certainly not anything I can’t find out by other means,
such as my IP address … it offers to use “alternative
checking methods” to check my Internet connection, but
not automatically, not intelligently, on it’s own?
Should I be trying various alternatives to get this
program to do something, to do anything?
… I tried to manually fix my working connection, and
it brings me to a dead-end screen, no report, nothing
to click on, nada, zilch … one entertaining thing,
though, is reading the low contrast fine print, I thought
it said “… you can continue suffering the Internet …”,
a closer second look resolved “surfing” …
In the passing 7 years since I bought and used
Connectivity Fixer Pro, the computer universe has exploded
… and yet Connectivity Fixer Pro has stood still
timeless, not evolving as far as I can see.
There are other program that check for appropriate hardware
and software drivers, and downloads and updates them,
… there are programs that scan and sniff LANs and WiFis and WANs,
… there are programs that clean registry entries, align
and tweak Internet settings, remove and reinstall entire
networking subsystems,
… there are programs that reset our router periodically, or on demand,
… there are great tips, tricks and tutorials on the web,
freely shared, for identifying and rebuilding failing networking connections,
… there are even tools for pinging cables to identify cable
problems, even how far down a cable there is a break or short.
And in the past 7 years, Connectivity Fixer Pro has learned
… none of that.
IF you are lucky to have a problem that Connectivity Fixer Pro
solves, and keeps solved,
… THEN it might be worth it for you
Bottomline:
– this has some manual tools that are freely available elsewhere,
– and this does have some basic automation, if at all, of minor fixable fixes.
.