News on PowerTools 2009

jv16

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alienworld

Well that's interesting. : I think PT 2009 is much more intuitive than PT 2008. This must mean that I have some sort of horrible mental disorder. :?

redseujac

No no, AlienWorld, not at all. I simply don't understand the users finding 2009 too difficult to use. If that's the case then 2008 was too difficult to use too, because as far as I'm concerned, 2009 is NOT more difficult too use than 2008.

After all what's the meaning of "too difficult to use" concretely? The user interface? The tools? Which tools? What's too difficult in that/those tool(s) concretely?

I must admit the System Registry e.g. is not an easy part of Windows to work with. But "not geeks" should realize that from the start and not risk adventures with it, sometimes ruining the whole system.

Anyway I think PowerTools 2009 is easy and safe enough even for novices.

jv16

redseujac wrote
I simply don't understand the users finding 2009 too difficult to use.

I think it's because you have used the PowerTools products for so long. I think I understand what the people who think PowerTools is too difficult to use are saying.

Lets image a novice user with a generic, abstact level idea of "cleaning the computer". The user downloads and installs PowerTools. When the program starts, is there really a button that says "clean my computer"? No. Instead, the product contains many lower level, less abstract tools, like "Registry Cleaner", "File Cleaner" and so on.

This is the problem I will address with the big PowerTools 2009 update I mentioned before.

redseujac

jv16 wrote
...is there really a button that says "clean my computer"? ...

This is the problem I will address with the big PowerTools 2009 update I mentioned before.

Well I find this rather (very) dangerous, the more fore a novice and even for everybody, unless he/she knows (can see and control) in detail what will happen concretely to his system when he/she presses that magical button.

Those "one-click-cleaners", I don't trust them too much, you know...

alienworld

Hehehe, just kidding. I'm obviously unable to read the survey participants minds, but I wonder if "too difficult" is being interpreted correctly. I'm sure as h#ll not a registry expert, but I see nothing about the interface which seems arcane or difficult to "figure out". PT does, however, put a lot of information under the user's nose to deal with (or not). Other reg cleaners (which shall remain nameless) keep some/much of this stuff hidden. Perhaps folks are really saying that they are having some pause getting comfortable with all this information . . . dunno, just a guess. Information can be scary if one is not sure what to do with it. Anyway, backups and restore points do much to alleviate anxiety, or so I've found. Aside from a few glitches, which the developer is fixing, PT 2009 is a huge improvement over the previous version, IMHO. 8)

jv16

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hawkeyelom

In My opinion, a one click button is a BAD idea, as I want to know exactly what a selection is going to do, as for example clicking on registry cleaner.

I can not believe your poll that many users thing 2009 is hard to use--something does not compute.

jv16

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redseujac

BTW, PT2007 included a "One Click Cleaner" and it was not a "big success", au contraire...

chick

I have been using JV16 since it was a free product and think that it just keeps getting better and better!

I also think that you are right that it is a problem for the users who have been with JV16 for a long time to understand why some people find it difficult to use. For me to understand this all I can say is I am a retired Project Manager for a large piping company and the pros always make difficult projects look easy because of there experience and know how, but it takes a real pro to teach the beginner to do it without a problem. I think the people behind JV16 have a come a long ways towards accomplishing this.

Thanks,

Chick

brian49

Some utilities by other developers feature a `basic user' interface as default, with an option to enable an `experienced user' interface. This tactic might perhaps be worth considering for jv16 PT. But I agree with redseujac and hawkeyelom that `basic users' should be steered away from the idea of a one/two-step instruction to `clean my computer'.

redseujac

Brian49 wrote
Some utilities by other developers feature a `basic user' interface as default, with an option to enable an `experienced user' interface. This tactic might perhaps be worth considering for jv16 PT.

Yes, I do agree! (One of possible examples: RegVac Registry Cleaner).

But I agree with redseujac and hawkeyelom that `basic users' should be steered away from the idea of a one/two-step instruction to `clean my computer'.

Once again, I fully agree!

akajohndoe

jv16 wrote
the new User Survey (http://www.macecraft.com/questionnaire4/)

I just found this today, so put in my responses.

jv16 wrote
the biggest surprise is that a whopping 75% of users feel that the biggest problem of PowerTools 2009 is that it's too difficult to use.

That really sounds more like an educational opportunity or for a context driven help system than a product deficiency to me. I do know that some of the other tools (e.g.: SKTOOLS on the PocketPC platform) have the ability to toggle between basic and advanced mode. Some backup products likewise. I would not want to see PowerTools "dumbed down", but can see how it could be daunting for some as is.

baldrick

Hi all

Am a 'new' user of JV16 PowerTools 2009, being a recent convert from RegSupreme Pro (which I have used for some years), due to the cessation of development/kind offer of a free transfer to the 'big brother'. Having said that I did extensively use jv16 Tools many, many moons ago (in fact far longer ago than I would like to remember) when Jouni was just starting out. :)

Now, I have to say that I agree with AKAJohnDoe when he say "That really sounds more like an educational opportunity or for a context driven help system than a product deficiency to me."

Personally, I do not find PowerTools 2009 too difficult to use...and I do not consider myself to be an extremely PC literate person but what I do tend to do is carefully read the Help Text and/or User Manual (not yet finished this one but almost there : ). I believe that the core problem is that a lot of users want things done quickly and do not take the necessary/recommended care in terms of informing themselves about what they have/how to use it...and the natural reaction to that is 'it is too complicated to use', etc.

Having said that, whilst I too would not want to see PowerTools "dumbed down", I do think that an ability to toggle between an advanced mode or basic/wizard led mode, would be a plus point for the software. That is unless the upcoming new product (freeware?) is intended to and ultimately fill that need?

Well, my two pennies worth...for what they are worth.

Cheers

Balders

jv16

AKAJohnDoe wrote
That really sounds more like an educational opportunity or for a context driven help system than a product deficiency to me. I do know that some of the other tools (e.g.: SKTOOLS on the PocketPC platform) have the ability to toggle between basic and advanced mode. Some backup products likewise. I would not want to see PowerTools "dumbed down", but can see how it could be daunting for some as is.

I have many ideas of making the product easier to use, and one is the implementation of (kind of) basic/advanced dual interface to the main window. So don't worry, PowerTools will not be "dumbed down", nor will a single feature be removed as a part of this process.

jv16

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baldrick

Thanks Juoni

Am looking forward to seeing what the freeware version is like...but I for one will be sticking with what I have got...which is great.

jv16

And some more news: I had quite a few days long offline time because my internet connection had some problems. During this time I have worked hard on PowerTools and other people have worked on the new yet-to-be-named freeware project.

For example the Color Debug System I mentioned before is 95% done and it has already proven to work very well, with only in-house testing we have found and fixed many small bugs never even reported by users.

siliconman01

As usual, it is is very good to hear that enhancements and new elements are being incorporated in PT....especially when they have assisted in identifying/correcting subtle bugs in the existing programming. I sincerely hope that the promised new test version will yield a fully compatible x64 PT 2009. :)