Prevent program from "phoning home"?

clemenzina · 27 Dec 2017

(EDIT - Sincere apologies to admin for putting this in the wrong category. Am proper poorly with flu so can't think straight. Thank you for moving.)

Dell XPS 15 9560 - Windows10Home

This problem is probably nothing to do with Win10, but it's the OS I'm using so I'm hoping someone here has the expertise/insight to help me.

For nearly 7 years I've been using a video editor which is easy to use and does exactly what I need, no frills. I've stuck with an old version because "they" withdrew basic features in newer versions, not a problem here.

Suddenly, several days ago, after installing the old version on this new XPS and using it successfully a few times, the program refused to convert/save clips and froze, I could only close it with TaskMgr.

I paid a fee to unlock the latest version of the software, only to find that my precious "basic features" had not been reinstated so it's no good to me. Started to teach myself Windows Live Movie Maker, but it's not as "good" as my old editor for my purposes.Today, in desperation, I installed the old version again and to my delight it worked normally! But I was in a fool's paradise, as eventually it went into refusal-to-covert mode and froze again, it's unusable.

I wonder if the program is being stymied from afar, and if there is anything that can be done to allow it to keep going?

If it makes any difference, the offending but beloved program is Freemake Video Converter. When I install it I untick "send bug reports" (type of thing) and I use Unchecky to prevent the PUPs from installing.

mrgeek · 27 Dec 2017

Did you try to run the old version .exe in compatibility mode first? Manually set it to XP or 7 compatibility and test. Good Luck

Samuria · 27 Dec 2017

Just get the free ultimate movie maker hitfilm express it does everything and loads of tutors on YouTube it really is the best and used by pros most say it's better than Adobe premier

clemenzina · 27 Dec 2017

mrgeek said:

Did you try to run the old version .exe in compatibility mode first? Manually set it to XP or 7 compatibility and test. Good Luck

I always install it in compatibility mode, it has been working fine on an older laptop since Win10 came out and has been reinstalled a number of times without a problem. The problem is that on the new laptop it works fine for a while and then stops dead!

The new install of the old version coincides with Freemake deciding to charge for their latest version and freezing that one up until you pay. I've paid, but the latest version has had the basic editing functionality removed so I need to use the old version and obviously it's not covered by the "ransom" paid to unlock the new version.

Thanks for the thought :)

Samuria said:

Just get the free ultimate movie maker hitfilm express it does everything and loads of tutors on YouTube it really is the best and used by pros most say it's better than Adobe premier.

Lol, if it's anything like Adobe Premiere it sounds like a nightmare. I may even have tried it, I've tried so many. All I need is to be able to scroll thru many continuous hours, be able to see detail and extract one clip after another, join them up, put fade transitions in, convert/save and upload to YouTube.

I cover a lot of cams, can't waste time, and Freemake (old version!) is the only software I've found that suits my needs.

I just want to know how to stop Freemake stymying the program >

Samuria · 27 Dec 2017

Hitfilm will do all that with easy and its simple to use if you just doing basic and not compositing etc there are so many videos on youtube to walk you through you can soon get it going most donthave the videos to get you going but this does HitFilm Express: Free editing & VFX software - HitFilm.com

clemenzina · 27 Dec 2017

Samuria said:

Hitfilm will do all that...

I knew I'd already tried it - or at least, installed it. Today, the same result as last time. My display is 3840x2160, set by Dell @ 250% (and the icons & text on some apps eg Edge, for heaven's sake! are even then too tiny to read).

This is what HilFilm says:

Prevent program from "phoning home"?-2017-12-28-00_13_11-hitfilm-express-2017.png

So I uninstalled it.