jv16 PowerTools - New Major Version - Beta 2

jv16

Here is the Beta 2 version of the brand new, New Major Version of jv16 PowerTools:

(this version no longer available for download)

Please read the following before downloading

This is beta level software. It means that this version has been made available only for testing purposes. This beta version is slower than the upcoming, official release and the user interface is not final - especially in regards of overall smoothness. There is some flickering when moving between the tools. These general UI issues were not worked on since the Beta 1.

As you probably know, jv16 PowerTools was started over 20 years ago. That means for the longest time it has been a mix of very old code coupled together with new. Year by year, new versions have been made and tweaks and improvements and fixes have been implemented. As you can imagine, this has resulted in a very complex system, prone to bugs and difficult to maintain.

That is why we decided to start all over. Do everything from scratch. Both with the user interface and with everything under the hood. Go back and go through all the user feedback we have received in the past 20 years and basically take everything you love about jv16 PowerTools and build those features from the ground up.

Since this is entirely new code, the system cleaning engine and the registry cleaning engine have not been properly tested yet for safety. We have done a lot of testing already, but not enough. That is why this first beta version is provided as a "read only" testing version. It means you cannot do any changes to your system with this beta version.

From the bottom of my heart I hope you will like the direction we are going with this new version.

Please help us with the development by doing the following:

1) Download and install the jv16 PowerTools NMV Beta 2,

2) Run all of the tools main tools ("Optimize My Internet Connection", "Clean and Speedup My Computer" and "Uninstall Software and Left-Overs"),

3) When back at the Main Screen of the program, go to File > Save As. This will generate a ZIP file to your desktop, with all of the debug logs from the program.

4) Upload the ZIP file to WeTransfer.com (or other similar service), and send the download link to this thread, directly to me via forum Private Message or email it to support@macecraft.com

This would greatly help us with the development as the debug logs file contains information about how the Beta 2 performed, what items it listed as registry errors and what software you have installed in your system. We can use this data to improve the safety and accuracy of the new registry cleaning engine. The more data we get, the faster we get the new jv16 PowerTools released!

Privacy notice: The debug data will contain information of your system, such as the basic hardware setup, what software you have installed etc. If you are running the program in a system with private information, please review the debug data before sending it. We will store and treat all received data as confidential and will not share the data with any third parties.

As always, we will give out free licenses to the best beta testers. If you find and report bugs or provide any other kind of valuable feedback we will give you a free license to the final product.

Change Log (compared to the Beta 1):

1) Major updates to the registry cleaning engine as well as installed software detection engine. 2) The AutoUpdater.exe now comes digitally signed to reduce the risk of anti-virus products incorrectly blocking or flagging it as suspicious. 3) The automatic update process can now also update itself (i.e. update the AutoUpdater.exe with the latest version). 4) Bug fix: The temporary file cleaning modules of Clean ad SpeedUp My Computer can list files which no longer exist. 5) Bug fix: If you unselect all the Registry Cleaning options from the Settings screen and then attempt to run the Clean and SpeedUp My Computer, it will display an error message. 6) The program now supports command line parameters to automatically start the main tools. 7) Updated the user interface of the Settings window. 8) The main window's top tool bar with the Home, Backups, Settings, My Account etc buttons are located at can now be modified by the user to choose which tool buttons are visible.

How to send your feedback

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

* Open the program and go to File > Save As. This will generate a ZIP file containing the debug data from the jv16 PowerTools installation. Send this file to us, even if you don't experience any problems. We can use the collected data to improve the quality of the program.

* If the "File > Save As" method fails, you can do the same manually: Simply create a zip file of the jv16 PowerTools' Debug directory (not the Backups directory as was the case before) - by default this is at C:\Program Files (x86)\jv16 PowerTools Beta2\Debug. 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.

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

* 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.

Release Notes:

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

* This version does not yet contain the final set of features.

* Please do not install this version over any previous version, install it to its own installation directory.

* This version is "Read Only" meaning it will not allow you to actually clean or fix your computer yet.

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

jv16

Here is a screenshot of the main window:

main_window_b2.png

We did some minor improvements to the user interface, for example, removed the bottom tool buttons. They will be introduced when more tools are added to the program. The Beta 1 version was released on the 1st of March, meaning we had little over two weeks time to work since the first beta version. Most of the work was put in to the back-end, especially in the software detection engine and the registry cleaning engine.

One concern with the previous version was the high number of found registry errors. This was addressed by adding an information message popup to the UI explaining to the users that the new jv16 PowerTools can also clean browser history and cookie data and these results are also listed in the "Clean and Speedup My Computer" tool's results list giving the impression of many more registry errors found.

We also did a lot of work with the Internet Optimizer tool. Some users reported it not to work on their system. We addressed this by creating two alternative testing methods: before the benchmark test starts, the tool will see which of the three testing methods can be used. If none can be used, the process can be aborted there and user notified. If any of the testing methods work, only the working methods are used in the actual benchmark. Also, the testing parameters are dynamically set based on the speed of user's computer and internet connection. And finally, the program now detects any software based firewall or "internet security" software installations and let's user know that these software can make the Internet Optimizer tool to fail.

As I said, the most of the work was put in the installed software detection engine and registry cleaning engine. The software detection engine is now 90% complete with only minor adjustments needed and the registry cleaning engine is at 80%. What we mostly need for the development of the engines is a lot of testing data from real systems, so if at all possible, please run the Beta 2 in as many computers as you have and send us the debug data!

For example, one thing the debug data we receive is used to is to measure and accuracy of the jv16 PowerTools in regards of false positives in the Clean and Speedup My Computer, and false negatives as well. So, the more test data we get from you, the better the program will become and the faster we can release the official version!

sefirian

Zip File for beta feedback

thomas-k

Clean & Speedup

The cleaner list the single selection: Registry errors relating to Poweroff

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Store "C:\\Poweroff.exe"=hex,41,43,50,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,07,00,00,00,28,00,\ 00,00,00,a0,02,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,05,71,00,00,\

00,67,07,7c,ba,c5,4c,d4,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

Which kind of error? Is this really an error? I don't think so.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Store

Here listet programs are a kind of "Recently used programs", but here you find also other run programs. I have deleted the entry of this tool "Poweroff". Then I use Win+R to open "Run" and start "poweroff.exe" -> new registry entry

I think only obsolete entries of deleted files should be listed in "Generic registry errors" I found also entries of existing files. For example:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Store "C:\\Program Files\\Utilities\\DesktopOK\\DesktopOK_x64.exe"=hex,41,43,50,\ 01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,07,00,00,00,28,00,00,00,80,61,0e,00,27,cb,0e,00,01,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0a,73,22,00,00,67,07,7c,ba,c5,4c,d4,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,28,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,52,1c,0d,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,\ 02,00,00,00 "C:\\Program Files\\Utilities\\DontSleep\\DontSleep_x64.exe"=hex,41,43,50,\ 01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,07,00,00,00,28,00,00,00,80,49,05,00,89,ba,05,00,01,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,0a,73,22,00,00,67,07,7c,ba,c5,4c,d4,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,28,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,c8,14,ff,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,\

02,00,00,00

patirish

Cleanup in current version gets about 100 hits. Cleanup in beta almost 6000. The main difference appears to be browser history.

Pat Freel

mrtee

The information windows need to stay open longer. Didn't see softpro EzStamp listed.

Here you go.

bridgeguy

as requested

mwink4689

as requested

csgalloway

1 - it continusely stops Microsoft Security Essentials while beta 2 runs.

2 - always opens all windows on right side of screen - not centered.

w7_x64_GALLOWAYHP_Build120.zip

bwawsc

Web optimizer suggests a new DNS server. It displays the fastest found and the second fastest, but does not give the current DNS setting (IP and provider). DNS is often provided by your ISP, or is selected for a purpose (OpenDNS, DynDNS). The user should be told where they are getting their current DNS service so they don't blindly break something they are paying for.

keithnmckenna

Windows 10 testing. Windows 7 testing will be added as soon as it returns from the shop

chuguevskiy

Hello!

redseujac

As requested, I've send the link to the ZIP file for my system via WeTransfer.

Best regards,

redseujac

gil-s

Ran on Windows 10, no problem when running.

Thanks

caxne

No problems detected.

thomas-k

Caxne wrote
No problems detected.

Sure?

Are all showed errors in the the section "Generic registry errors", correct?

For example: listet errors in the registry for existing files.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1028\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1031\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1033\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1036\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1040\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1041\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1042\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1046\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\1049\hxdsui.dll c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\2052\hxdsui.dll

c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Help\3082\hxdsui.dll

orangesocks

Hi, runned smoothly

Regards

bllr

No apparent problems. Might be worth noting though that opening both beta 1 and 2 on my dual monitor system, the first page is positioning in the middle, i.e. half on monitor 1 and half on monitor 2, and not simply on monitor 1.

brucew.ray

Here's the zip file from PC. All ran flawless.

bertram-tasch

Here's the zip file. No Problems. Was running flawless.