Pardon my NERO Rant

I have been a Nero customer for a long time. I purchased the new 2014 version yesterday and tried to install it on my Win 7 system and got the "1158 Error" abort. A google search turned up many instances of this with Nero dating back to many earlier versions. None of the "fixes" in the google searches worked. I went to Nero and their forum and posted about the problem. Responses were basically what was in the goggle searches and all "pointing fingers" at everything except the Nero installer.

During troubleshooting, I tried booting my system in Diagnostic Startup which only loads very basic items but it still got the 1158 error.

I decided to try Windows 8.1, which is a dual boot with my Win 7 system. Nero 2014 installed without problems on the Win 8.1 system.

I noticed that one of the required applications that Nero needed and installed was Microsoft MXL 4.0 SP3. I did a manual download and install of MXL 4.0 SP3 (and rebooted the PC) and tried the install but still got the 1158 error. In the meantime, on the Nero forum they were blaming everything from video drivers, to buffers to antivirus, etc. On a whim, I set compatibility mode for Windows 7, in Windows 7, and it worked. Nero 2014 installed on my Win 7 system.

Chalk Nero up to the typical company that blames problems on everything else. Until I retired, I was a LAN/WAN Network and Hardware Help Desk manager for a US Federal Government Agency for 23 years. It was a multi-vendor system and one of our "problems" was the vendor finger pointing. They all did it, from "Big Blue" down to small vendors. I see this frustration on support forums, such as the Dell community forums (that I worked for 10 years), Win 7 and Win 8 forums. Users have problems and they go to a vendor and instead of helping them (either they don't want to or don't have the talent to help) they tell them their hardware or software is not the problem that its "their PC" or "their other hardware" and the user is left holding the bag. They come to support forums for help and many times we are able to sort it out for them.

I know about the free applications such as the CDBurnerXP and Imgburn.

I use the Burning ROM application more than others, but I wanted Blu Ray capability so I upgraded to the latest version. The Burning ROM is used in my Recording Studio for CD Production; I can add the ISRC code, add text (CD Title and artist name) and burn to multiple drives at the same time. Even the popular (in recording studios) Sony CD architect can't do all that.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/multimedia.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/cddvdblu_ray.html

Coulda saved yourself some grief and a hundred bucks.
As well as ImgBurn, I use SUPER<c> for format conversions.
Explore the categories, see what you like.

I have everything setup with Nero Burning ROM. If I use something else (that will do everything I require) it would mean converting everything to a different application. As I have a semi commercial CD production setup I would rather stay with what I have, and it didn't cost "a hundred bucks" - I only paid $34.95 for it on a special "upgrade" offer.

There are many programs that will burn audio CD's, but I need ISRC code ability and many do not offer that. I also need the capability to burn to multiple drives at the same time, some will not do that (even the high $$ Sony CD architect will not do that). I have a bank of 5 USB connected PATA CD/DVD drives that I use for audio CD production. With the PATA drives I'm able to burn the audio CD's at 8X speed, that is needed so the CD's will play on older audio CD players.

But my rant is not about the price of the product but rather the fact that it is buggy and Nero wants to blame everything except their software for the problem.

I ditched Nero a long time ago. It was both buggy as a flophouse bed and bloated as a dead cow. Nero was good when it was mostly just a burning application but when it started adding bells and whistles, it went downhill fast.

I agree that Nero, like Roxio, has a lot of "bloatware". But, as I'm invested in Nero for my recording studio CD burning, and I wanted their Blu Ray applications I bought the upgrade.

My beef is not with the bloatware, as I was aware of that, it is with the Nero installer program and compatibility with Windows 7. Its a joke that I had to install it in Windows 7 in a Windows 7 compatibility mode (and that it installed without problems in Win 8.1 native mode).

Well, a hundred bucks is what you'll pay from scratch, as I don't use it I was unaware of any upgrade discounts, pretty well stick with freeware or open source since adopting 2000Pro way back-in-the-day.

Now unfortunately, with some of my favourites like Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer or simply SUPER in latter updates have come with adware
but all one needs is patience and deny/decline/uncheck all the toolbars and other crap to get to the meat. If you're uncertain, just cancel it at the end and start over slowly, reminiscent of the artichoke gag from The Little Rascals or Three Stooges but a necessary evil so they can get some funding.

Since I use a CD burning program for commercial purposes, and it has the features I need that all freeware programs and some commercial (Pay) programs that I've found do not have, I don't mind paying for it.

My beef is with the Nero Install program and its bugs that Nero wants to point fingers as "not my problem".

Yea I've been using the CDBurnerXP for a while now. Lightweight and it does the job quite well.