Stardock Central : Spyware?

SDMCP is not spyware. It is a program that manages smart auto-start. It's really not needed if you're not running any of the Object Desktop programs.

But it's not collecting any data.

Ahh but if its not 'spyware' why does it say it is under properties? why does it hog resources if its not 'collecting any data'? why on earth would it be running? i dont have object desktop and how comes it decided to discontinue loading under its own choice? i hadnt loaded SDC in days ...

Ahh but if its not 'spyware' why does it say it is under properties? why does it hog resources if its not 'collecting any data'? why on earth would it be running? i dont have object desktop and how comes it decided to discontinue loading under its own choice? i hadnt loaded SDC in days ...

How about this radical thought - turn off the MCP. We ahve it on by default because 95% of the people who run Stardock Central are using it to get Object Desktop which does use it for various components.

Another radical thought? read what i said, its not 'running by default', I havent run it in days and i dont run it at startup This is not the first time ive watched SDMCP doing its stealth thing. at one time, i even had object desktop splash screens appearing on start-up. But hey i run win98 SE, it doesnt matter, no one bothers to check code or anything for my OS, i have had nothing but problems since AP and now PM as well, (ask Cari-Elf, she knows who i am). So this SDMCP thing is just another annoyance that is Stardock' (If i had xp i would no doubt be singing your praises, everything works on there, but i dont, i have the other OS your sposed to support)

And they do. The only machine I have with ODNT software on it right now is a half-disassembled Win98 box on the floor, and everything works fine.

~SDC~

Darkspire, well I don't know what you'd have me tell you. You want me to say that SDMCP is secretly recording your credit card entries and forwarding the information to a vast network of international identity theft criminals across the world?

I'm sorry you have problems. I can't help you though. Sorry.

(Incidenally, Draginol = Frogboy, non-admin account).

Ive been around long to realise you have many guises Im sorry if my words were / are / is spiky, i like win98SE, i know its on the way out, but you as a brain know that it is the last of the 9x OS's, hence i do know its difficult to test things as xp is a whole new OS, bit like win95 was to DOS many moons ago. I think GalCiv is the best thing since sliced bread but im just not a happy camper with the problems i get, (not through my lack of lightbulbs, yet again, see CariElf) and then have to hope and prey something works as the history on SDC never tells me whether certain things are fixed, like the scenario editor on AP, i just looked at the history for PM, guess what? nothing, no word as to whether it has been fixed in the new update, so i still havent tried it.

GalCiv runs on Win98 SE. The things you are talking about have nothing to do with Windows 98.

But ultimately, we count on users to tell us problems while we're in development. For instance, if the scenario editor or whatever has a problem on your system, the best time to have checked would have been months ago.  Now, if it's not fixed, odds are it won't get fixed.

Saying "I won't try it unless they write up in the history file that they've explicitly addressed MY problem" is not helpful.

My Stardock tries to update itself on startup but then crashes with the smart exception below. It means I cant get at the second release candidate . Anyone else having this problem?

Stardock SmartException Logging Information
-------------------------------------------

OS Version : Windows XP
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
Application Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
Crash Addr: 77C3F5EA 01:0002E5EA C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVCRT.dll

Processor Registers (x86):
EAX:00000001
EBX:00000073
ECX:7FFFFFFE
EDX:02A3F582
ESI:02A3F4A8
EDI:0047383E
CS:EIP:001B:77C3F5EA
SS:ESP:0023:02A3F260 EBP:02A3F4BC
DS:0023 ES:0023 FS:0038 GS:0000
Flags:00010202


Current Application Call Stack:

Addr Frame Logical addr Module Name
---------------------------------------------
77C3F5EA 02A3F4BC 0001:0002E5EA C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVCRT.dll
77C3CD94 02A3F4F8 0001:0002BD94 C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVCRT.dll


Debug information for each stardock app follows ....

Yes, go to "SDCentral" folder in Stardock folder. Hit "Restore" program and it will reload/setup Stardock followed by automatic update if internet connection is ON.

That worked great - thanks.

You can turn off SDMCP in Stardock Central. It's the very first option on the very first tab in the settings menu, so it's not like it's hiding, or anything. There's no alien conspiracy, Mulder. (At least not here...)

Bill

~SDC~

"GalCiv runs on Win98 SE. The things you are talking about have nothing to do with Windows 98."

Beg to differ:

"1) It currently will only run on Windows XP. We expect to have that fixed next week."

"Saying "I won't try it unless they write up in the history file that they've explicitly addressed MY problem" is not helpful."

Your words, not mine.
So if the first beta said it didnt work on anything but xp surely you would announce when it was fixed for other OS's in the games history on SDC in any future updates? And i dont think compatiblity with win98se is "MY problem", its like an epedemic, lots of peeps have win98se. So im not asking for a 'specific' code / balance change am i? just asking for you to update the information you have already given.

Your history updates for the games are "not very helpful"

"Lots of misc. changes." or " * Lots of other stuff and fixes."

And that goes for most of the game history updates (AP, PM etc), i can understand if you want to keep certain bits a secret like when you do a change in game balances but it would be cool if you listed actual code changes that were program only as well, not just added features (see a Diablo II game update history or NWN one as an example)

"But ultimately, we count on users to tell us problems while we're in development. For instance, if the scenario editor or whatever has a problem on your system, the best time to have checked would have been months ago. Now, if it's not fixed, odds are it won't get fixed."

The scenario editor was a problem that was raised from the first beta or second beta of AP, it was never mentioned as fixed in any way, i spent ages with CariElf on ICQ testing various things with it, it turned out it was a problem with the encryption on saving / loading in win98se but the dude who had done the code had since moved on to work on the PM. So you knew about it, from the forum posts on the AP beta, and from CariElf and it was never really addresed.
I posted quite a few timess times to say when you updated the GC manual on SDC that the zip file was empty , no PDF in it, that was never fixed either in the following updates.

Im sorry , i hate all this wonky karma

[Message Edited]

Just curious, darkspire: why do you stick to win98 SE? I use a pc every day since 1995, and imho WinXP is the best Windows ever - I hated Win98, it sucked big time. As I said, I had to work with it every day...

Oh and by the way: I think you're a little bit out of line - so far Frogboy has been very kind to answer your rants, and I honestly don't understand why you are making such a fuss about this.

~SDC~

Just curious, darkspire: why do you stick to win98 SE? I use a pc every day since 1995, and imho WinXP is the best Windows ever - I hated Win98, it sucked big time. As I said, I had to work with it every day...

Its a good OS , 98 wasnt very good. XP really needs a better base system, its a monster as regards what it needs in the base PC, like processor etc, and to be honest really needs a P4 to get any half decent frame rates. Also its a new OS, 98se is the last 9x OS and most of my games and bits go back a bit and i dont want to loose compatibility.

Im out of line? Dont even know you, so your brown nosing carries no weight with me, im disscussing Stardocks support towards win98se and SDC, if thats ok with you?

I can understand that - you have to use the right tools for what you want to do, and if Win98 is the right tool for what you want to do with it... I for my part have quite a bunch of old games (like civilization 1, master of magic, privateer), and I run them under XP with DOSBox without a glitch.

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net



Don't know you either, I just could not help myself



I thought you were complaining about SDC being spyware... but it's ok of course - just wanted to nose around a bit

~SDC~

"I can understand that - you have to use the right tools for what you want to do, and if Win98 is the right tool for what you want to do with it... I for my part have quite a bunch of old games (like civilization 1, master of magic, privateer), and I run them under XP with DOSBox without a glitch."

Like win95 was to DOS when it arrived, some do some dont, but im afraid theres more donts than do's for FULL compatibility you need a 9X OS.

"I thought you were complaining about SDC being spyware... but it's ok of course - just wanted to nose around a bit"

Read what i said and what you quoted,

"Stardocks support towards win98se AND
(the next bit is a seperate issue marked by the AND)
"SDC"

GalCiv...Runs...On...Windows 98.

DarkSpire: If you want to start a "Stardock sucks" rant then go ahead but count me out.

You started out claiming Stardock Central is spyware. It's not.

Then you claimed SDMCP was spyware. It's not. And you can have it not be loaded by default.

Then you claimed Galciv doesn't work on Win98. It works fine on Windows 98.

Then you quoted something i said about the first beta of poltical machine when it was XP only. Yes, that was a month ago. Political Machine betas have worked on Win98 fine for weeks.

Like I said, if you just want to complain, go ahead. But I'm not responding anymore. You seem to have an axe to grind.

I have this happen too. Why does this happen? (incidentally, I'm on XP)

:notsure:

That's MCP loading up sojmething liek Smart Exception or any of the other "smart start-up" programs.

Brad,

So, if I UNCHECK "Enable MCP SmartStartup" in the SDC settings pane, SDCMP (and for that matter anything else) won't load unless I manually start SDC? Not having Object Desktop, I only use SDC for game updates and the chat room, so it isn't really necessary for me to have it run 24/7.

Correct, if you're not using Object Desktop you don't really need MCP.

MCP is basically a service that does two things:

1) Provides a way for programs to get loaded MUCH earlier than the usual auto-start type things allow. This is important for programs like Keyboard LaunchPad, WindowBlinds, DesktopX, ObjectBar, and others where you want them up BEFORE you see your desktop.

2) Provides system tray support so taht programs can modify the system tray and restore the system tray contents if you kill explorer (important for progrmas like DesktopX and ObjectBar).

In the long run, we hope to make it so that poeple can have finer control. Check out this screenshot of Stardock Central 2:

You could envision a future where SDC looks at yoru account and knows which you have. So if you only have games, it knows not to bother with SDMCP and such and displays the games first.