Shareware trial strategies are tricky. Do you give the punters 30 days to try out the product? Sixty days, like Buzz’s ActiveWords (another gratuitous plug; you’re going to have to start paying me, Buzz)? Or do you cripple (I hate the word; hobble is better) the software in some way so the user isn’t going … Read more
A day ago I vented my disappointment at a sneaky marketing gambit inside ZoneAlarm’s otherwise excellent free firewall software, which scared the user into running an external spyware scanner in the hope of getting them to upgrade. This morning I received word from their PR department that this promotion “has been turned off. The wording was not … Read more
For firewalls, I always recommend Zone Alarm from ZoneLabs. To my mind it’s still the best and most intuitive firewall around. But most people only need the free version. And that’s where the problem is. Why do ZoneLabs make it so hard for ordinary users to download it? Readers and friends who have tried to … Read more
A new version of The Bat! is now on the rafters. The developers, RitLabs, promise a new look user interface, the chance to replace the default interface glyphs with those of your own preference, better message filtering, special deal for students and, for the next 3 months registered users of The Bat! version 1 and … Read more
Aaron Heskel from Belgium suggests Agnitum’s OutPost as an alternative to ZoneLabs’ ZoneAlarm firewall. I’ll definitely check it out. As with ZoneAlarm, there’s a free version which may be enough for most folks. I’ll let you know how I get on.