jv16 PowerTools 2016 - Beta 2 Released

jv16

Here is the Beta 2 version of jv16 PowerTools 2016:

https://www.macecraft.com/downloads/betas/jv16PT2016_beta2.exe

Please read the following before downloading

Please, please please do remember that this is beta level software. This means that this version has been made available only for testing purposes. This beta version is slower than the upcoming, official release. This version most certainly does contain bugs and can potentially damage your computer and cause hair loss. Send all your feedback, comments and bug reports relating to this version as a reply to this thread (use the Post Reply button).

The purpose of releasing beta level software like this is to allow people to try the software out and give us feedback on what parts of the program still need some fine tuning.

It is not recommended to run this software in a work or production use computer. Whatever you do, always create a system backup before running beta level software. If you do not do so, please do not complain to us about it.

As always, we will give out free licenses to the best beta testers. If such a beta tester already owns a license we can also issue VIP and Platinum VIP packages for free, or other similar prizes for the trouble.

However, you are not entitled for any kind of free license by simply downloading these beta versions and reporting that all is fine. Free licenses are given out only to beta testers who give us valuable feedback, such as bug reports or improvement ideas. We will publish the list of users who won a free license after the final version of the product has been released, not before. All free licenses are decided on case-by-case, sometimes it takes just one message with two lines to earn a license (e.g. if you found a really good bug that no one else reported), sometimes it takes much more.

How to send your feedback

* Please use the Post Reply button of this thread for all feedback.

* If you are reporting a bug, please create a zip file of the jv16 PowerTools' Backup directory - by default this is at C:\Program Files (x86)\jv16 PowerTools 2016 Beta2\Backups. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The zip file can contain detailed information of your computer, if you are worried about your privacy, use a service such as https://www.wetransfer.com/ to upload the zip file there and send me the link to the file via a forum Private Message.

* If you wish to report that you have tested all the features of the program, please include to your post the Debug Report as generated by the Program Debug Tool (under the Debug menu of the Main Window).

* You can send attachments, including screenshots, to the thread from the Post Reply > Upload attachment tab (below the main text area).

* If you are reporting a False Positive by the Registry Cleaner (or by "Clean and SpeedUp My Computer" tool), there is no need to send a Debug Log, this version does not have debug log enabled for the Registry Cleaner to show its true performance. To report a False Positive, simply send a Screenshot of the False Positive, and please mention what aggressiveness settings of the Registry Cleaner you were using at the time of the scan.

* You can also send your general feedback, how you feel the program works for you or if there is something you don't understand, or if some feature doesn't work the way you expected. Feedback like this is sometimes even more valuable than bug reports.

Why the buttons have red dots?

* This version ships with the Debug Mode enabled. This means that each button of the program will have a red square on it. The req square will turn to green when you click it. This color coding helps you to keep track what features you have already tested and which not. You can use the Program Debug Tool to see the list of buttons you haven't yet clicked. The Program Debug Tool can be found from the Main Window's Debug menu.

Release Notes:

* Do not start to translate this version to your language yet, there will still be major changes to the language file (English.lng).

* Not all features are ready for testing, such as the Windows AntiSpy feature or the Registry Compactor.

* The new icons are not included (in /Settings/Icons) yet.

* The Download Handbook will download the PowerTools X handbook.

* Do not install this version over any existing version of PowerTools. If you do, strange things can unfold.

* This is a testing version, it means a lot of debug code is turned on, which makes the program run much slower than the final version. It also means the file sizes are not final.

* Not all features of Clean and SpeedUp My Computer are yet enabled. Running this test version does not represent the full cleaning and optimization potential of the final version.

What's New (compared to jv16 PowerTools X)

1. New feature: Home screen feature in the main window shows you a summary of your computer's health and performance, with shortcuts to the relevant tools to repair any detected issues. The home screen also allows you to see the progress of how these numbers changes over time, such as after using jv16 PowerTools.

2. New tool: Startup Timer measures the time your computer takes to start up. It also measures the impact of all your automatically starting software have to the system startup to allow you to see exactly what is making your computer start slowly.

3. New tool: Pictures AntiSpy allows you to remove privacy threatening metadata from your picture files. The feature can be used manually or it can be set run automatically.

4. New tool: Windows AntiSpy allows you to disable the privacy threatening features of Windows. NOTE: Not yet available for testing in this beta version.

5. New tool: Easy Mass File Renamer offers an easier way to rename many files at the same time. The previous Mass File Renamer tool is still available for more advanced and customized mass file renaming operations.

6. Improvement: The System Health measurement has been completely updated to give you a more exact and detailed rating of your computer's health. Furthermore, it is now ran as a background process, meaning you no longer have to wait for it to complete. It runs periodically on the background without using much if any system resources.

7. Improvement: Fully redesigned user interface for easier user experience and the new user interface also works better with different screen sizes.

8. Improvement: Fully rebuilt Startup Optimizer allows you to easily speed up the Windows startup without removing any software. The new Startup Optimizer supports disabling the optimization per individual software and its implementation no longer requires the use of multiple starting processes.

9. Improvement: Clean and Fix My Computer has been renamed to Clean and Speedup My Computer and the tool contains dozens of improvements to allow a safer and more optimized user experience.

10. Improvement: Major improvements in the Startup Manager. For example, it now can show the impact each automatically starting software has to the system's startup speed. This impact measurement is collected in real-time while the system starts by the Startup Timer and it offers greater detail compared to Windows 10's Startup Manager's "Impact to startup" rating. The Startup Manager can now also show detailed data of the resource usage at startup time per starting software, for example, you will be able to see how much system memory each starting software used during startup.

11. Improvement: Major improvements in the Software Uninstaller for more accurate listing of installed software, as well as improved software uninstallation ability.

12. Improvement: The Initial Setup of the software now needs to be run only one time - instead of once every 15 days of the previous versions - and it also takes less time to run.

13. Plus, hundreds of smaller improvements and bug fixes. NOTE: Not all improvements and fixes are yet included to this beta version, they are still under internal testing and will be included later.

Change Log - What's New (compared to Beta 1)

Bug fix: The startup times are not recorded on many systems (such as Windows 10).

Bug fix: The Computer Health and Registry Integrity values are not updated after cleaning the computer.

Bug fix: The Registry Health value is not calculated correctly (it was not properly calibrated in the Beta1).

Bug fix: The program can crash with error message Access Violation when run for the first time.

Bug fix: The program can crash with error message Operation not allowed on sorted list.

Bug fix: The warning and tip boxes can be displayed with the text not fully visible.

Bug fix: In Settings > Integration with Windows, there are some duplicate items.

Bug fix: The program doesn't detect all running anti-virus products (in order to display a hint relating to resident anti-virus products possibly interfering with the operation of jv16 PowerTools).

Bug fix: The program can show an Access Violation error message relating to TSvcMgr.GetConfig.

Bug fix: The program can show an Access Violation error message relating to TRegistryDataAnalyzer.ExtractFilenamesExLEO.

Bug fix: The red icons on buttons in the Startup Optimizer do not turn to green after clicked.

Bug fix: The Clean And SpeedUp My Computer can show error Internal Error: SafetyNet-CRKBR-1B "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\sdksubscription.CompanyFileEventSubsc.1\" - this is an incorrect trigger of the Safety Net feature, the specific key can be safely removed (if the software lists it as invalid).

Bug fix: It is possible to click the Start button in Registry Monitor's Create New Snapshot window while a new snapshot is already being created.

Bug fix: File Split tool can crash with error message of Range check error.

Bug fix: Startup Optimizer's Optimize / Do Not Optimize button can display Please Select At Least One Item error message even if items are selected.

Bug fix: The software's own uninstaller does not remove all the registry entries created by jv16 PowerTools during installation.

Bug fix: In case of excellent system health scores, the home screen can display an empty Recommended Actions list.

Bug fix: Clicking Re-Calculate Health Scores and then choosing the comparison feature makes it impossible to close the comparison (the Close Comparison button does not show up).

Bug fix: Measuring the system health leaves behind backup files relating to the registry compact process.

Bug fix: The program sometimes resets its main window size and resets it to smaller, especially if window is maximized.

Bug fix: Startup times listing in the home screen can contain duplicate results.

Bug fix: The Startup Timer's user interface doesn't always show up properly (items that shouldn't be visible are visible and vice versa)

Bug fix: Clicking the Compare Health Score Against drop box without actually changing the selection causes the screen to flicker.

Bug fix: The program can show a big empty white area at the bottom of the main program window.

Bug fix: The startup times are listed in the home screen in an illogical order.

Bug fix: Software can still remain licensed after using the Reset All License Information button.

Bug fix: The home screen can recommend user to enable the Startup Optimizer, even if the Startup Optimizer is already enabled.

Bug fix: When a tooltip shows up for the first time, it is sometimes displayed empty without any text.

Bug fix: Even with Pictures AntiSpy never used, it could report picture files being skipped because they had already been processed.

Improvement: The Software Uninstaller now generates a debug log also from the process of uninstalling of software. If uninstalling software crashes in your system, please send us the contents of your /Backups directory and we will be able to better debug the problem.

Improvement: The Software Uninstaller's ability to detect installed software has been improved based on user feedback.

Improvement: A copy of all generated debug log files is now also saved under \Backups.

Improvement: The software now generates more detailed debug log files.

Improvement: If the software detects a valid license during installation, it no longer shows the prompt to ask user to join Macecraft's newsletter.

Improvement: Clicking the Re-Calculate Health Scores button in home screen now displays a better message and shows a progress animation.

Improvement: PreWorker.exe now uses less system resources including cpu at system startup.

Improvement: Added an option to the Maintenance tool to clear all stored system health data.

Improvement: In the home screen, the automatically generated old health data text descriptions are now better.

Improvement: When comparing system health data to old ones in the home screen, the system startup times are now hidden, as they do not relate to the system health data comparison.

Improvement: Many updates to the home screen's user interface.

Improvement: If user hits Ctrl + Enter in the Tutorial screen, the tutorial will be skipped (default settings will be applied) and query about reboot will be skipped at the end of the Initial Setup - the computer will reboot without a query. The Ctrl + Enter option was created to ease testing the software with less user input.

And remember, please send all your feedback regarding this beta version to this thread! Thank you!

arctucas

Well, the week is over...

jv16

Arctucas wrote
Well, the week is over...

We encountered few more issues in the final stages of internal testing and we wanted to get those fixed for Beta 2 as well. The Beta 2 should be released tomorrow.

parkd1

That is what I thought. I agree.

arctucas

OK, thanks.

jv16

Beta 2 has now been released, thank you all for your patience! Please see the download link from the first post. It should also be distributed via Beta1's Check For Updates feature.

The health score values, especially the file system health, are not yet working perfectly, but they are a lot better than in Beta1.

redseujac

When will the translators have the opportunity to receive the file(s) for translation?

jmagnuso53

I noticed after running Clean and Speedup My Computer, the software does not ask for a restart to enable changes. Is this now normal or an error?

jv16

redseujac wrote
When will the translators have the opportunity to receive the file(s) for translation?

This usually happens when reach the Release Candidate stage. For example, right now not all new features are yet available in the latest beta version, and not all user interface elements including texts are yet final. We should reach Release Candidate stage soon, and when there, there will be plenty of time to do the translations as while in the Release Candidate stage, we will also do a new benchmark study with the RC level software and release it alongside with the new version.

jv16

jmagnuso53 wrote
I noticed after running Clean and Speedup My Computer, the software does not ask for a restart to enable changes. Is this now normal or an error?

Do you mean the software does a computer restart without asking for permission, or do you mean that it doesn't want to do a restart at all?

mihaibarbulescu

jmagnuso53 wrote
I noticed after running Clean and Speedup My Computer, the software does not ask for a restart to enable changes. Is this now normal or an error?

Hi,

Since the new Registry Compactor (requires reboot to take effect) is not yet available in Beta2, a reboot will only be suggested by jv16 PowerTools 2016 in case the number of file system or registry errors that needed to be fixed is greater than a prefixed value. If the number of problems that needed to be fixed is somewhat lower, a reboot will not be suggested.

To be on the safe side - please let us know if you are experiencing a different behaviour or if this clears up your question.

Thank you!

siliconman01

This applies to Windows 10 x64 Pro Insider Build 14257 and jv16 2016 Beta2.

When performing a full/complete uninstall of jv16 2016, the uninstaller does not remove the jv16 folder and .lnks from the standard Windows 10 start menu.Jv162016Beta2Uninstaller.png

mihaibarbulescu

siliconman01 wrote
This applies to Windows 10 x64 Pro Insider Build 14257 and jv16 2016 Beta2.

When performing a full/complete uninstall of jv16 2016, the uninstaller does not remove the jv16 folder and .lnks from the standard Windows 10 start menu.Jv162016Beta2Uninstaller.png

Thank you for reporting this problem to us! The upcoming jv16 PowerTools 2016 Release Candidate will include a fix for this problem as well as any other traces that our own product might leave on your system in order to ensure that none are left behind.

jmagnuso53

mihaibarbulescu wrote
jmagnuso53 wroteI noticed after running Clean and Speedup My Computer, the software does not ask for a restart to enable changes. Is this now normal or an error?

Hi,

Since the new Registry Compactor (requires reboot to take effect) is not yet available in Beta2, a reboot will only be suggested by jv16 PowerTools 2016 in case the number of file system or registry errors that needed to be fixed is greater than a prefixed value. If the number of problems that needed to be fixed is somewhat lower, a reboot will not be suggested.

To be on the safe side - please let us know if you are experiencing a different behaviour or if this clears up your question.

Thank you!

Thanks for the heads up. Indeed the software does not recommend a restart with minimum errors.

Another question. I used the picture antispy and confirmed all metadata is deleted and it looks as if you use a default date to replace the original date. I do a lot of hiking and picture taking and like to keep track of dates and locations as I create sequenced compilations. Any plans to enable some type of backup system or maybe a "sandbox" to place the wiped files while retaining the originals? Not a big deal, just a thought.

jmagnuso53

When I scroll down on the beta2 version Main screen to view and display the data while hovering over the recent startup times chart, the software jumps back up to the top of the main screen after a few seconds.

mihaibarbulescu

jmagnuso53 wrote
Another question. I used the picture antispy and confirmed all metadata is deleted and it looks as if you use a default date to replace the original date. I do a lot of hiking and picture taking and like to keep track of dates and locations as I create sequenced compilations. Any plans to enable some type of backup system or maybe a "sandbox" to place the wiped files while retaining the originals? Not a big deal, just a thought.

Just to clarify: your original pictures are not replaced, but rather their internal file format altered (meta data inside them cleaned). We may consider adding options to enable/disable the cleaning of particular meta data, in order to allow users such as yourself to conserve the type of data of their choice (for example, to preserve the original date when the picture was taken).

I hope this helps.

mihaibarbulescu

jmagnuso53 wrote
When I scroll down on the beta2 version Main screen to view and display the data while hovering over the recent startup times chart, the software jumps back up to the top of the main screen after a few seconds.

Thank you for reporting this problem to us!

We have received few similar reports and we are currently working at implementing a bug fix. The upcoming jv16 PowerTools 2016 Release Candidate will include a fix for this problem.

arctucas

Icon issues on Home:

arctucas

Even with most aggressive cleaning, only 96% registry health achieved.

jmagnuso53

The beta 2 software has locked up and I had to use task manager to end task. This has happened a few times and I have attached the zip file. I usually run a VPN (Mullvad) and I suspect this may be involved. I will try to duplicate without running the VPN and report.

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