Woody doubts our recommendations and our integrity
I bought an IncrediMail Premium License about 12 years ago. Never had any problems with this software despite changes in ownership. Perhaps I am grandfathered? Your criticisms seem to be based on which software provides you income or not. Your “Love” of Emsisoft is an obvious example.
Our answer
Hi Woody
We have had numerous opportunity through the years to sell antivirus programs and make huge commissions – Norton and MacAfee offered us 75% profit on sales – we could have made more earning 75% of the $50 or $60 price of Norton or McAfee than we do on Emsisoft. Yet we rejected all these great offers and for the past 19 years we have ONLY recommended Microsoft (or other free antivirus programs) for antivirus protection – all of these programs were highly rated for many years.
Avast and AVG (particularly AVG) started changing into programs which were more and more like intensive antivirus suites (like Norton and McAfee) and seemed more interested in selling their paid versions via their free versions (there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this method, but it is irritating. MSE/Windows Defender are free of annoying sales pitches, additional toolbars and other distractions – and until several months ago had decent detection ratings.
As you are probably aware, we have been doing remote computer care service for about two years. A few weeks ago, we started noticing that many computers we worked on that were running MSE or Defender started having Trojans or viruses. No one was talking about it on the web. We knew something was happening as we had not seen this until very recently, so we started testing many antivirus/antimalware programs and Emsisoft was the best we could find. We not only based it on our tests, AVComparitives Tests and other independent testing, but we also based our relationship with them based on their high level of support.
Now Microsoft has officially announced their product is not to be used as sole antivirus and they announced that anyone using MSE/Defender, needs to use a third party antivirus. Once again, we were ahead of the pack on this one and were not surprised to see that Microsoft officially confirmed what we had been seeing/concluding.
As far as IncrediMail, we were actually working with them before IncrediMail ever was released. They sought us out due to our connection with artists, and our current stationery creations. We worked closely with them on beta versions and when they started adding other add-ons/services, we pulled out. We told them we would not be a part of a program that installs anything unknown to the user. Several years later, they approached us again when they got new owners, and we worked with them about two years as they were abiding by our standards. Unfortunately, they sold out again to a new company and started adding adware/bho/conduit engine and more, and we pulled our endorsement. In fact, Perion, IncrediMail’s current owner, also makes “Smilebox” one of the most ubiquitous malware programs and search and home page hijackers around.
If a company does not abide by the standards we believe they should have, we pull our endorsement. Simple as that. This is why our members have come to rely on us and trust us.
I hope that clarifies for you, and thanks for being a part of Cloudeight!
Professionally said, and to the point,TC. If he still doesn’t understand your standards, then the problem is his not yours!! If he is a “true” Cloudeight member, his comment is totally out of line–Amen.
I think ‘Woody’ is plagued by a lot of ‘knots’!!(Read ‘knotholes’!)
I commend you for your controlled response to what I consider an outright accusation. My reply to ‘Woody’ if written on paper would probably have set it on fire if it was allowed to be printed at all !! COGRATULATIONS EB & TC !
I wholeheartedly agree with both Lillian and Dave’s comments. Nevertheless I continue to use Windows Defender, being part of Windows 8, entirely to my satisfaction. I assure you that I have not encountered any viruses or Trojans. If I do in the future, I will not hesitate to switch to Emsisoft as recommended by Cloudeight.
I remember you two used to promote Malwarebytes as heavily as you now promote Emsisoft and Malwarebytes was/is free; so, his ‘money’ reference becomes a moot point. I was using Emsisoft months before you started promoting it so I know it is good protection.Some people just can’t stand it when they see Webmasters such as yourselves that are actually out there for the good of the surfing public intead of being there to make a buck. His panties are in a wad over something; but, he can’t blame you for his ills.
I used Incredimail for years. Starting out with the free version and moving to the premium, later on. During that time, I watched Incredimail premium changed its software, by removing items, that, had been included, and started charging extra for them. I was one of many who went premium, to help them, get established, only to have them, stab us in the back, once, they made it. So you are right in your assessment of them.
EB and TC great answer you are honest caring people I love your reply to a fool who does not know what honesty is.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself !
Woody,
Mate, if you don’t like to read what these two peopler say then hit the ‘unsubscribe’ button, what could be easier?
Go TC and EB, I always conduct my own research based on your recommendations, havent tried Emisoft products yet, still happy with what I’ve got
Adding another Amen to your professional reply. If money was what he accuses you of being about, he hasn’t dealt with you very much or he would know how wrong he is. Keep up the good work.
ditto!
I have never been able to understand why people who have a gripe must always make a noise about it and I don’t see that you guys have to justify yourselves to some person who is questioning your integrity.
As I said before,you always give solid reasons for recommending or not recommending something.I don’t have to follow it, that is my choice.
Stay the way you are that is why you have a following.
I too had Incredimail and before I switched to Outlook I had all kind of problems and was quite happy to get rid of it..I am from the old school where integrity and keeping your word is so very important.I have always admired cloudeight’s policy and rely on them for the truth concerning computer decisions. they are first class in my opinion..
A wonderful reply to someone who hasn’t got your integrity!!! I have been with you for many years and you have never steered me in the wrong direction, quite the opposite as your advice has been so helpful.Your recommendations have always been “spot on” and you have always explained the pros and cons, so don’t change a thing, it is a pleasure to deal with such honest people.
You guys are like Bill O’Riley…up front with the truth for the folks…for us little people! Thank you for doing that!
Woody, I fail to understand if you, as you say were “grandfathered” or if all the help that Cloudeight gives us has somehow escaped you, or perhaps you just have not noticed what has been going on? Darcy, EB, TC give nothing but up to date information, and help to their users and have done this without compromising their integrity. Wake up and smell the coffee!
I agree with most of the points made by others on this topic although comparing you to Bill O’reilly is a low blow. I’m sure that was a typo error and she meant to say that Woody was like O’reilly. Accusatory, one-sided, lacking objectivity and in your face commentary.
Keep up the good work.
I agree to a point with everyone’s comments here. As Marinus stated, I too continue to use Microsoft Security Essentials. (I am unemployed and my budget does not allow the purchase a program right now.) I try to be careful where I “surf” out there, but just this past August, MSE caught a Trojan for me. I don’t understand one thing: If Microsoft is, indeed, saying we shouldn’t use their antivirus software, why are there more updates than ever downloading for the program? It seems like almost every two or three days now, there are updates for the program where before they were available about once a week. And since you guys began campaigning against Malwarebytes, they seemed to have cleaned up their act. There for a while, the program seemed to never “catch” anything. But now it seems to be back to the old Malwarebytes. It has caught several PUPs on my system in the past several months. Now IncrediMail is another story altogether. IncrediMail was the first and only email program I ever used on my home computers. I bought a life time membership back in the early 2000’s which, of course, is now of no use to me whatsoever due to all the changes for the worse that IncrediMail has made. With every update to the program, my computer seemed to get more bogged down. So when TC and EB began discussing this issue, I decided for the health and well-being of my computer to remove it. I used their highly recommended Geek Uninstaller to remove the program and it did, indeed, remove every last speck of IncrediMail. I could not believe all the “hidden” stuff that Geek Uninstaller found related to IncrediMail and removed for me. And what a difference in the speed and performance of my machine after removing all that junk… You guys are the greatest. I have learned so much and use many of your “tips and tricks”. As members of this group called the human race, we will never always all agree on everything. Woody is entitled to his opinion as are all the rest of us. And I think you guys supplied a great response to Woody. Keep up the good work!
What Microsoft is saying is that you should not use MSE as your only protection. Windows 8 has Windows Defender — MSE — too. They are not discontinuing MSE (Defender) they are telling people not to rely on it. It’s detection rate was down to 72% the last test results we saw — that means that 28% of viruses/trojans in the wild (commonly found on the Internet) are not detected.
We can sure understand not wanting to or having the money to spend on anti-virus protection. But you should at least use one that detects closer to or above 90% (Avast, Panda) which offer free versions. We’re not fans of Avast because it tries to be too much, but it will protect you better than MSE.
We see dozens of computers a week with our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care service — and we have found no difference with Malwarebytes. What we have seen is Malwarebytes detecting cookies (tracking cookies) as PUPS which they are not. Cookies are not software nor are they executable. We have cleaned dozens of actual PUPS off computers supposedly protected by Malwarebytes (Free and Paid versions). We would not trust Malwarebytes right now– they lost our trust and they are not going to win it back in a few months — they have to earn it back. Even if they had changed and become the program they used to be –how would you know if they changed back to the program that didn’t detect much at all. Malwarebytes has a long way to go to earn our trust back. They still haven’t had the guts to answer our email — they can run but they can’t hide.
Thanks for your comments and for your support.
TC
I ask Woody this “what is wrong with making money”? It takes money to run the web pages and it takes money and a lot of effort to mail the news letter . I have been clean on my computer for so long I can’t remember a time that it has been down . I give thanks to TC and EB for that, they gave me some thing I did not have “knowledge” One out of all is not a bad thing but these people responded to you, if it were me I would have not .
I, for one, appreciate very much your unbiased and solid evaluations of software. I have not found anyone else that meets your integrety and honesty on software evaulations and recommendations. You recently installed Emisoft on my pc. So far I am very pleased.
As far as your direct care service which I have used many times, I was pleased with the results. One thing that would improve your service a phone number that could be used with Direct Care. That personal touch would be helpful. Sometimes questions can best be answered directly via phone. It would make your Direct Care the perfect solution. Jim B.
I really really give you credit for the professional way you tackled talking to that idiot named Woody. It really takes gall for someone to accuse such wonderful helpful people of just caring about money!! If that would have been me, he contacted, I certainly wouldn’t have found him deserving of a reply–let alone a polite one!! Obviously, there is a bad apple in a bushel and thankfully, they can be thrown out but TC and EB, just brush his remarks off your shoulder for he is only speaking for one empty minded individual for I have been with you for years and I, as well as loads of others, love you, know you are nothing but honest and helpful and will hope you dismiss his opinion for it is the likes of a person who definitely needs an attitude adjustment and if he ever calls you for service, I dare you to mess up his puter big time but knowing you guys, that would never come into play!! We all know you’re hones, helpful and not money hungry so forget him!!!
OOPS, I left out the t in honest. Sorry about that
I have read several articles about MSE and from what I read there is a lot of misunderstanding just what Microsoft really said. From what I read Microsoft never said to use multiple anti-virus programs. I keep seeing comments made that were taken from other ‘experts’ that is either wrong or taken out of context. I haven’t gotten any bugs but I don’t go to porn sites, etc. which is just looking for trouble. They are letting other paid for anti-virus companies use Microsoft’s results. I’m not sure why that is. But I’m staying with MSE.
I see that I am in agreement with many others…that you and EB have proved over and over again how totally honest and trustworthy you are and so willing to continue to offer help and share your knowledge with us. You continued that trust with a gentlemanly reply to that email. Thanks for your professionalism, once again.
Woody,if you did not get paid, would you go to
work?