This isn't fun anymore!

[WaltR]

This isn't intended to be a bash but it is intended to recommend a change in direction. I have had Holster since it's inception and have never encountered a problem worth speaking of until the release of 4.00. I have experienced many of the problems that have been discussed in this forum with the 4.** releases and I am a little uneasy about expecting 4.06 to finally end all the frustration. I don't do shows very often anymore but wouldn't you know now that I have one scheduled for next week, I am very nervous about doing the show with any version from 4.00 to 4.05. I know I can use 3.40 or try to go back to an older version, but I for one am burned out spending hours trying this and trying that. I purchased a product that I expected to work without encountering all of the mess that has occured with 4.**. Again, this isn't meant to me a bash to MTU. I know they have done a great job in the past and will eventually get things ironed out. My wish is that since these problems seem to be related to getting this program to run with Vista, and MTU has recommended in the past to stick with XP, why not offer a release that has nothing to do with Vista for the many of us that have stuck with XP. I know this may be extra work for MTU but it would seperate the problems with Vista and XP users until the Vista problems can be resolved. At the rate it is going it may be nearly a year from the release fo 4.00 until the features we were expecting is encorporated into the final working version. I believe offering an XP and Vista version would better serve MTU's customer base and keep a higher level of confidence until the Vista problems are resolved. I hope i haven't offended anyone by stating my opinion.

Walt

[ddouglass]

There aren't that many who are having problems in XP with the latest release. What problems are you still having?

Unfortunately a lot of the changes to Hoster have also involved all of us having to get our computers more up-to-date because of the increased demands by all of those nice features everyone has wanted. There is a sigificantly increased memory demand, video memory demand and more current versions of Internet Explorer, .net Framework and Windows Media Player just to name a few. Version 4 has been a massive change for them and a lot of code has had to be totally rewritten to accomidate all these additions. When you do that it takes a lot of time and not everything is going to be right from the beginning.
A separate release for XP and Vista would not solve anything as you would still be waiting for more of those new features to be added because they would still be spending a greta deal of time getting the Vista version working right. Hoster currently recognizes whether you are using XP or Vista and uses code required for that OS, so within on setup you have both capabilities.
If you are still having some problems with 4.05 then let us know here so we can guide you to get them fixed or tell you if it is fixed in 4.06 which should be out soon.

[laddie]

I am an xp user and must admit that I had problems with the early 4.xx versions. But 4.05 is very stable. Any problems are minor. What kind of problems are you encountering with 4.05

[billyo]

i am runnng xp and i have yet to experienced all the problems people are having ( except for the garbled artist/ title at the beginning /end of some disc brands), i have suggested a while back to have a separate downloads for xp and vista, but i was told that they have thought of it but then it was scrapped, since most of of the problems are computer related..but i hope they will give it a second thought, so that way they could pin point what ( i think ) works and doesn't work with diff. os..

[Metalgodz]

Bravo

[WDEWDAD7]

I run my karaoke with XP, I do not have Vista, and I am not looking forward eventually having to go to Vista. However, a friend of mine told me he looked up Microsoft online and found (right away) a site by Microsoft, that tells you which program and how to turn off there programs, background, I assume, so that your computer runs better, and you have less problems with Vista. He said he did that and has had NO problems with his computer. Just thought I would pass this along. Daryl.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by WDEWDAD7

I run my karaoke with XP, I do not have Vista, and I am not looking forward eventually having to go to Vista. However, a friend of mine told me he looked up Microsoft online and found (right away) a site by Microsoft, that tells you which program and how to turn off there programs, background, I assume, so that your computer runs better, and you have less problems with Vista. He said he did that and has had NO problems with his computer. Just thought I would pass this along. Daryl.

Daryl do you have a link?

[gd123]

Vista FYI

If you RUN Vista from the SECRET Administrator Account, anything in the Program Files folder can be changed and you won't get all the questions when trying to RUN or INSTALL programs.

To enable this account:
Detailed Instructions to activate the Administrator
1. Go to your Start menu and in “Accessories” list, open “Command Prompt” by right-clicking on its icon and choosing “Run as Administrator”
2. When the Command Prompt window appears, enter the command:
net user administrator /active:yes
3. When done, log out from your current account.
4. The Administrator account should now be present on your log in screen.

[ddouglass]

This isn't helping or even on subject here since this is an XP discussion. It is good information though. You should put it in a new thread. I would add that when they activate that account and login with it they need to change the login name and set a password for it. Otherwise they are leaving themselves wide open for an attack. Billyo just started a new thread on what should be turned off in Vista, so you might want to add this there.

[capnvic]

Since I have one laptop running XP and the other VISTA. I will admit I have relied heavily on the XP laptop for my shows. However, I have recently installed 4.06 on my VISTA laptop, and I find that Hoster is running fine, I no longer have the graphics lag problem, nor any other problems.

So don't feel discouraged about HOSTER in either VISTA or XP. These folks at MTU put a lot of time and effort into their product because they believe in it...Its hard to find that kind of dedication these days. Especially when it comes to software. A lot of companies farm their work overseas, not MTU.

So don't Give up the Ghost!

[crazycarl]

I have had more trouble with 4.0? than i have ever had with any Mtu product. Heck!!! i removed one copy of 4.05 from a laptop yesterday, Over the internet and today i can not install on brand new computer. I even wrote support before i did the removal. to make sure my copies were free. I believe VISTA (playing with) has hurt the average KJ using Hoster. It is embaresing, when your computer crashes 3 or 4 times a night, lyrics are out of sink. I used to be top dog around here, because i used hoster, now I am Just a puppy. I am afraid to do anything with the computer doing a show for fear it will make the computer crash. I also belive the support ticket issue needs to be looked at, the last 3 times i never recieved an answer to my ticket, only a recieved message. I own 2 versions of hoster, only run XP, even my new laptop was ordered with xp, and I would sure like to install one of my 4 available programs on it.
Crazycarl

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by crazycarl

I have had more trouble with 4.0? than i have ever had with any Mtu product. Heck!!! i removed one copy of 4.05 from a laptop yesterday, Over the internet and today i can not install on brand new computer. I even wrote support before i did the removal. to make sure my copies were free. I believe VISTA (playing with) has hurt the average KJ using Hoster. It is embaresing, when your computer crashes 3 or 4 times a night, lyrics are out of sink. I used to be top dog around here, because i used hoster, now I am Just a puppy. I am afraid to do anything with the computer doing a show for fear it will make the computer crash. I also belive the support ticket issue needs to be looked at, the last 3 times i never recieved an answer to my ticket, only a recieved message. I own 2 versions of hoster, only run XP, even my new laptop was ordered with xp, and I would sure like to install one of my 4 available programs on it.
Crazycarl

have you tried 4.06 ?

[crazycarl]

bevis I would love too, except as i posted they say i have hoster on too many computers, funny as i have it only on 2 right now should be able to install on 4. as soon as they free it up i'll try 4.06

[Skybird74]

I've been using Vista all year & I've had some problems, but nothing like you are talking about. First of all, if you're going to upgrade, you should not Un-install first, but just upgrade. You should also SAVE all your downloads in your Download folder so you always have whatever you need at any given time. I have gone back & forth from 4.0x & back to 3.321, then up to 4.03, to 4.05 and now to 4.06 and have not had any trouble with registrations. You can't blame everything on MTU.

MTU had problems with 4.0 too, which is why they worked so hard to get it right - I belive 4.06 is the answer to everyone's problems!

And, when all else fails, as long as you have an older copy of Hoster still on your computer that worked for you, as a last resort you can also use Window System Restore, while you're waiting on new registration codes.

[Skybird74]

Originally Posted by WDEWDAD7

I run my karaoke with XP, I do not have Vista, and I am not looking forward eventually having to go to Vista. However, a friend of mine told me he looked up Microsoft online and found (right away) a site by Microsoft, that tells you which program and how to turn off there programs, background, I assume, so that your computer runs better, and you have less problems with Vista. He said he did that and has had NO problems with his computer. Just thought I would pass this along. Daryl.

MTU also gives you a detailed list of what to turn off on both Vista & XP, so that Hoster will run efficiently. You don't need to ask Microsoft.

[rickyrey]

As you all know Windows XP is discontinued. XP has a top of upgrading (at least that is what MS wants us to believe), as MTU posted on a thread before, Vista is here to stay and Microsoft aint gonna do nothing about this. Eventually as we replace our computers we will not find XP anywhere and Hoster will have functions that will not work with XP.

Hope that MTU will pass these troubled waters soon.

[Robster]

They seem to be going in the right direction with 4.06 ! i too had 4.03 then problems with 4.04 so much so i didnt even download 4.05 as i saw peeps with problems but last night i downloaded 4.06 and fingers crossed ..it looking that i can do a show with it with vista.

[Skybird74]

Originally Posted by rickyrey

As you all know Windows XP is discontinued. XP has a top of upgrading (at least that is what MS wants us to believe), as MTU posted on a thread before, Vista is here to stay and Microsoft aint gonna do nothing about this. Eventually as we replace our computers we will not find XP anywhere and Hoster will have functions that will not work with XP.

Hope that MTU will pass these troubled waters soon.

It is for this very reason, that MTU would not make 2 versions of Hoster (1for XP and 1for Vista) when asked by several people on this Forum. They knew that eventually everyone will have Vista, and Hoster has to work with it. Hence, continual fixes from 4.0 to 4.06 to make sure Hoster works with as many different computers as possible, whether using Vista or XP.

(Don't forget all the new features they added at the same time!)

YEA, MTU!!!!!!!!!!

Microsoft has made their decision, and WE have to live with it. Vista is here to stay whether we like it or not. It's no different than when we went from 98 to XP. (Well, there was ME in the middle, but it was still based on the 98OS). We all yelled for 2 years before Microsoft got XP right. Of course, here comes Vista to act more like XP in 2009 - wonder what problems that will cause

[marklwood]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

Microsoft has made their decision, and WE have to live with it. Vista is here to stay whether we like it or not. It's no different than when we went from 98 to XP. (Well, there was ME in the middle, but it was still based on the 98OS). We all yelled for 2 years before Microsoft got XP right. Of course, here comes Vista to act more like XP in 2009 - wonder what problems that will cause

Actually I think you are closer than you think. Windows 7 will be out next year. Vista may go the way of Windows ME. I can see a lot of enterprise IT just waiting for Windows 7 SP1 before they upgrade. On a side note, I got an add from a Vendor I do business with that has XP still for sale for $90. While I have been playing with Vista on an extra computer, I don't see myself using it on my show machine. I still have a full copy of XP that will tide me over nicely until Microsoft gets their stuff together.

[rickyrey]

I think that Vista is like the ME version, that really was trash. They do this so they can sell more OS.