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Phuket

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Posts posted by Phuket

  1. version 1.32.803 64-bit  - the free version.

    It used to show in the system tray on Windows 10 , but it won't now.

    I set all these options in "View/Options/System Tray": 

    * Minimise to tray

    * Display metrics in tray tooltip

    * Display metrics in tray 

     - but it doesn't appear in the tray.

     

    It used to work, for years. But now it has stopped.

     

     

  2. I worked in software for 28 years and would never let any product be released without it being thoroughly tested. This product clearly has not been thoroughly tested. Do you realise how much time I have wasted trying to find out why my DVD-CD drive was not working, only to discover it was caused by Speccy?

     

    Do you think this is some kind of game? Issue untested software and see how many bug reports it generates?

     

    I wonder how many other hundreds, if not thousands of people out there right now are wondering why their CD-DVD drive is not working? Would they be able to relate that non-functioning to the latest version of Speccy?

     

    No, I don't expect Piriform to drop everything and fix this problem, but I expect them to make sure their releases are not dangerous or damaging to people's computers.

     

    As for your comment, Alan_B, what is there in "or something like that" that you don't understand? No, I couldn't remember the original title, but I know it indicated that Speccy could cause damage to a computer. Clearly, I should have saved that title for this second problem which does cause damage to a computer.

     

    You think my original title was libellous? Please, what do you think about this second problem? How many people are right now thinking they need to buy a new DVD-CD drive?

     

    If Piriform had any conscience or aspirations towards customer care they would immediately - and I mean right now - produce another update containing exactly the same code as in the previous version, v1.22.536, which did not stop DVD-CDs working.

     

    That way, at least some people would automatically install the update and discover that their DVD-CD magically started working again. Actually, I am not sure I ever used my DVD-CD while running that previous version, so cannot guarantee that it would work.

     

    Hazelnut, I applaud your ability to reply calmly and non-confrontationally. However, I hope you realise that this second problem was the final straw for me. I do seriously wonder what skills your engineers have at Piriform. I used to have about a dozen software engineers working for me and if any produced something as buggy as this they'd be in big trouble. But that would never happen because we had a quality system which demanded proper documentation, design reviews, software reviews, system testing, etc and even field trials. So nothing as buggy as this would ever get released to the public.

     

    I'm done. Good luck with fixing it.

  3. After being so kind as to allow you to change the title of my previous topic (http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=39502) from "Danger! Speccy Does Not Update Disk Temperatures" (or something like that) to a much less worrying title, I have now discovered that this latest version of Speccy stops my DVD/CD drive from working.

     

    With Speccy running, after inserting a CD or DVD and clicking on the CD icon in the left pane of My Computer, nothing is displayed in the right hand pane. No errors, no warnings, no time-out messages. Nothing.

     

    If I then kill Speccy, the CD or DVD starts to work.

     

    So, basically I've had enough of this product. I'll have to find something else that does the same thing.

     

    If you guys at Piriform can't reproduce this fault, or the other fault of misreporting disk temperatures, then there's really not much hope for this product.

     

    If I could invoice you for the hours I've just spent trying to figure out why my CD/DVD drives weren't working, I would. But I won't be holding my breath.

  4. Hi Phuket, are you expecting the tooltip metric to update whilst you are hovering over?

     

    No.

     

    Did you see my photos above? The tooltip said 32C, the actual temperature was 42C and the tooltip did not refresh regularly until I exited and restarted Speccy.

     

    So tonight I will set the refresh time to 10 seconds before I shutdown. Then tomorrow I will start the PC from cold and take pictures of the tooltip and the summary window. I wish my screenshot utility could capture the tooltip, but it can't, so I have to use a camera.

     

    If Speccy behaves the same way tomorrow as it has the last couple of days, the tooltip will not get updated every 10 seconds until I exit and restart Speccy.

     

    So, are you telling me that you cannot create this problem on XP SP3 systems?

    And yet both my laptop and desktop show the same problem.

     

    Very odd.

     

     

    Edit:

     

    If I can, I will make a video - using a screen capture recorder - and post it on Youtube for you to see.

  5. Just to let you know the devs are aware of your thread Phuket.

     

    By the way can I ask what interval you have set for the refresh rate for the tray tooltip metrics?

     

    I used to have it at 120 seconds before I noticed the problem with the latest version.

     

    Then I changed it to various times, eg. 60 seconds and then 10 seconds, just to prove to myself that the tool-tip wasn't being updated. I had it at 10 seconds on the laptop when I took the pictures I posted above.

     

    I have now set them both to 65 seconds.

  6. OK, this nails it. The problem also exists on my laptop.

     

    After startup:

    =========

     

    The tooltip:

     

    post-67431-0-63206100-1380105962_thumb.jpg

     

     

    The window:

     

    post-67431-0-11341400-1380106006.jpg

     

     

    After exiting Speccy and restarting it:

    ==========================

     

    post-67431-0-17276200-1380106011_thumb.jpg

     

     

    So, on my laptop Speccy does not update the tool-tip data unless I exit it and restart it.

     

    Let's get the engineers to sort this out - I think I've done enough to show there is a problem.

     

     

     

    .

    post-67431-0-11341400-1380106006_thumb.jpg

  7. Windows may be configured to power down drives that are not in use.

    "Green" Drives may power down of their own accord regardless of Windows.

     

    I understand that some Hard Disk monitors will refrain from background monitoring of Disks that are in standby so that the Disks may remain in standby.

     

    Perhaps the latest Speccy will wake up the drives and take measurements when you launch its display window,

    but the background monitoring could possibly "let sleeping dogs lie" whilst disks are on standby.

     

    It is saving you power and wear and tear, and it will not merit over-temperature monitoring whilst in standby :)

     

    Unfortunately, the "standby mode non-monitoring" idea does not appear to be the cause because again, today, after starting my PC, all 5 drives were being reported as 32 - 33 C in the tool-tip, but when I opened the Speccy window, they were shown as 40 - 45 C.

     

    I then browsed each disk to get them out of "standby" mode - that's if there were in "standby" - and their temperatures remained unchanged in the tool-tip as 32 - 33 C.

     

    I then exited and restarted Speccy and the tool-tip temperatures are now being updated.

     

    So there's a problem for sure - I shouldn't have to start the program twice.

     

    I think it's time that a person from the development team responded to these posts (not that I don't like passing the time with you, Alan_B, ;)), but I think I have provided enough actual observed data to warrant at least a "yes, we are looking into it" from the people at Piriform.

  8. Phucket would you have any objection to me editing the title of your thread to something like 'Latest version tray metric query?'

     

    No problem, hazelnut, but I have an update on my installation.

     

    Yesterday it was all working fine - the temperatures in the tool-tip were being updated for everything, i.e. the 5 drives, CPU, GPU and MB.

     

    Because the tool-tip now displays all the temperatures, I changed the displayed metric to be the CPU, as that is usually the hottest and, using the mouse to trigger the tool tip, it is easy to see the temperature of everything else.

     

    But today, although the CPU temperature is being displayed and being updated every 60 seconds on the System Tray icon, the tool-tip is not displaying the correct temperature of any of the 5 drives.

     

    The MB and GPU temperatures displayed in the tool-tip are correct - i.e. they match the temperature displayed by Speccy when the tray icon is double-clicked and the Speccy window opens.

     

    But the drive temperatures displayed in the tool-tip are 31, 31, 32, 31 and 32 degrees whereas the Speccy window shows them as 38, 40, 40, 40 and 43 degrees.

     

    So there is still a problem with this version.

  9. Thanks for the missing details.

     

    A further essential detail is the Hard Drive itself.

    Can you be more precise on what model you have.

     

    I am sure that Piriform always test the software before release,

    but they would never release anything if they first tested against every available make and model and size of :-

    Hard Disk Drive

    Ram module

    CPU

    Motherboard

    BIOS

     

    I have never yet seen a UNIVERSAL problem with Speccy that affects every user.

    I have only seen failures with an unusual combination or one particular component model

     

    I know it is more than a one man band. Forum moderators may know actual numbers.

     

    Please note that I am not a developer, not even a forum moderator, just another user of the Piriform products.

     

    Belated welcome to the forum

    Alan

     

    Thank you for explaining that you are not part of the Piriform development team. I hope they do read this forum and take note of what may be a problem in their product.

     

    There are in fact 5 hard drives in my system. I display the Western Digital Black 2.0 TB in the System Tray as that is the one that runs hot - as it is supposed to.

     

    I was going to say something about the tool-tip of the System Tray icon, and the fact that the new version displays all of the metrics instead of just the one selected in "Options / Advanced". I was thinking that maybe the change to the software, in the very area of code where I have a problem, may be linked.

     

    So I decided to uninstall the version I was running (v1.22.536) and re-install the latest version (v1.23.569) to check exactly what is displayed in the tool-tip, so that I could write about it.

     

    And guess what? The re-installed new version is now updating the temperature displayed in the System Tray.

     

    I cannot explain why it now works but after the first installation it didn't.

     

    I would not be surprised if there isn't a bug there somewhere - possibly in the installation procedure - because I exited and re-ran the new version several times after the first installation, and it did not update the temperature displayed in the System Tray at any time.

     

    Ah well, all's well that ends well - but if I were the project leader on this product I'd be looking quite closely at the installation procedure.

     

    Regards from tropical Phuket.

  10. A bug report ought to include the Operating system and whether it is 32 bit or 64 bit.

     

    I cannot understand how a failure to "update the system tray metrics" would cause a lot of people to damage their computers.

    If a lot of people are so incompetent they should not make reckless changes based upon a lack of information.

    I find your alarmist title out of all proportion to the complaint.

     

    Have you never heard of a Microsoft Patch Tuesday that actually brought company systems down and crippled normal commercial operations until I.T. support undid the damage ?

     

    The boy who cried wolf when there was no wolf lost his reputation so was not believed when there was a wolf.

     

    Sorry about the missing O/S details: XP SP3 32 bit, not fully updated as I don't have Automatic Updates set to update my PC automatically. I wait until Patch Tuesday - or Black Tuesday - has passed for at least two weeks before I dare let MS install their s/w on my PC. And, just to be safe, I also make a system image before letting the update occur.

     

    I use Speccy to monitor my hard drives. One of them - a Western Digital Black - always runs hot so that is the one I show in the system tray. When I noticed it was constantly displaying 32C, I knew it couldn't be correct. And it wasn't. That's where the danger comes in - if you have a disk being cooled by a fan that stops running, you need to know that it is getting hot.

     

    The old version now displays 45C for that drive which is acceptable in the location where I live. (Have a guess from my Username).

     

    So, what about peer reviews and your release procedures? Are you just a one man band or do you have other engineers check the code and discuss the changes at meetings where minutes are taken and follow up actions are scheduled? That's how it was done in my company and we never released software that did not pass basic test procedures.

     

    It is very disappointing when a respected software utility like Speccy gets updated and fails to work correctly. Hopefully my "alarmist" title may help to improve the checks you perform when releasing an update.

  11. It's just as well people don't rely totally on Speccy otherwise there may be a lot of people with damaged computers due to Speccy not reporting information correctly.

     

    The current version v1.23.569 does not update the system tray metrics.

     

    I have reverted back to version v1.22.536 which does.

     

     

    I would really like to know what kind of software release procedures your company goes through before issuing software to the public. Do you perform peer reviews or have test systems?

     

    Basically, I am shocked that a company like Piriform can release software that simply does not work properly.

     

    It is very easy to lose your reputation and very hard to get it back again.

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