How to Stop Ad Popups?

[iNate]

The ParticleShop that they bundle with PSP has Pop-Up Ads that you cannot disable. No options in the application to do so. The only way to rid your machine of it, is to uninstall the plug-in (my solution).

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PSP at $206 would not sell to anyone but super fans of the applications who use it for nostalgic reasons. It's not $206 good. For RAW, it's almost useless (and AfterShot is actually way worse when it comes to DNG files). It has bad PSD/ABR compatibility (complete application crashes with some PSD files that Affinity and Xara handle just fine). The performance lags the industry.

It simply isn't good enough to ask for such a price. The only reason why many people get it, now, is due to the dirt cheap prices that older versions are sold at on sites like Amazon.com. This is why Corel is always offering those $14.99-24.99 upgrade deals - to try to move those users onto the latest version.

There is no point in paying for Adware. The alternatives are too good. You just buy an alternative. People are doing that.

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@ LeviFiction:

Corel bringing the price down should have theoretically increases the volume of their sales. That alone offsets a lot of the decrease in price to a great degree. Corel is practically alone in doing this.

Affinity Photo (cheaper than PSP), PhotoDirector (Cheaper than PSP, and Often on Sale), Photoshop Elements (Often on Sale), ACDSee ("Perpetually" on Sale), Xara Photo & Graphic Designer (Cheaper than PSP, Often on Sale), etc.

None of those companies waste as much HDD space, screen real-estate (places in RAW Camera Lab, Brushes Menu, etc.), or blatantly hijack users' machines, by default, to Advertise to them.

The only offender (that is a major consumer media software company) that I can think of that even comes close is MAGIX, and you can completely disable everything by simply... "Uninstall Connect" via Add/Remove Programs.

The same can be said for Video Editors and Illustration applications. Corel is the only company, that I've brought software from, who uses this tactic - especially in such an aggressive, user-hostile manner.

This was not advertised as "Freemium" or "Adware." when we pay for PSP, we expect the interface to be as clean of these things as Photoshop CC, Affinity Photo, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer, GIMP, PhotoDirector, etc. etc. etc. etc. I can go on for days.

If the problem was as you stated it, then more commercial software would be adopting it, but this simply isn't the case. Corel has adopted it, for themselves, because they simply do not care.

[LeviFiction]

@iNate - my response was very specifically in response to hartpaul. And in that response I basically agreed with you. Though more in a "I suppose" sort of way than a "I know" way.

Corel bringing the price down should have theoretically increases the volume of their sales. That alone offsets a lot of the decrease in price to a great degree.

Which pretty much matches my much longer response

But you would have to compare when the price went down and when ads were brought in. The fact that the software is now cheaper may not have anything to do with the ads but with the market. It's entirely possible that the extreme price of PSP used to be one of the problems and by lowering the price they gained more entrants to the software than they otherwise would have. Making up for lost revenue in price by volume. Ads just became a bonus.

I would like to point out, though, that every time I complain about a half-assed addition to their software I get the same spiel. "We don't have the same money as other outfits so we can only do so much each year." They are arguing that they aren't making a ton of money off of PSP even at volume. I don't know what the truth is, I can only go by what I'm told and what I cynically choose to believe.

I pointed out in the second paragraph that there are two possibilities, that ads actually do them good hence why they keep investing in trying to get it working for themselves, or that it doesn't do much but they are greedy.

All of what I said was, again, in response to hartpauls' suggestion that we should pay a higher price to remove ads. I simply acknowledged that I do not know why Corel feels the need to advertise as it does. I made no claims that it was reasonable or right, just that they might have a reason to continue.

And, I ended it by pointing out that for me simply turning off the checkboxes is enough. For me PSP does not continue to download messages when I have messages turned off. The only messages in my messages folder are the ones I didn't bother to erase. And all of those came from when I first installed PSP and include a bunch of default messages like "Can't connect", "Your trial has expired", and "Thank you for registering."

Now hey, maybe the fact that I never have any issues with their advertisements is because of a bug. Maybe I'm the only one who isn't' constantly nagged and harassed by PSP (again beyond the brush pull out) because of a fluke. Then again maybe that's how it's supposed to work. The default is evil and bad, I agree, but, for me at least, turning it off works and that's how we're told it's supposed to work. No need to even uninstall anything. When it's turned off, it's off.

I have in no way argued that it's a good thing. That they are right to do it. Or that we should accept it. I simply argued that we don't know if the ads are doing them any good or if they are just being assholes. The fact that others aren't doing it irrelevant to why Corel has deicded to give it a go and why they continue. It is not itself proof one way or the other of their motives. I also agreed that other software is superior in a lot of ways to what is offered by PSP. So, I'm not sure why you needed to call me out for what is mostly a post in agreement with you.

[JoeB]

I'm with LeviFiction on this, except for one thing. I don't feel that most - or indeed any - of the software mentioned in the original post is superior to PSP overall. Each might have features that seem better for some people's requirements and workflow, and each of them may differ in which feature might fit those categories for any specific individual.

I don't know any of them that provide all of the features that are provided by PSP as well as the almost infinite customization of the workspace that PSP provides, plus the easy scripting/script recording that makes that customization even more useful for each individual user's workflow. And a 10.00 or even 20.00 difference in some prices likely doesn't mean much given what I've just said. JMHO, obviously, but a strongly held one.

And don't even talk to me about Photoshop Elements which, like Photoshop, virtually forces you to adopt your workflow to their interface, rather than making it easy for you to adjust the interface to match your individual workflow.

[bruce1951]

I know I shouldn't comment here because I'm no longer a regular user of PSP. I do read the forums and help others where I can. I like to keep in touch with what PSP is up to.

Re the pop up ads.
I get no pop ups at all. I put this down to a few simple steps. First I followed all the suggestions on these forums. Second I NEVER EVER use PSP while connected to the internet. And finally I found a 'better' editor that I now use 95% of the time. (Way more features. Much more powerful. Way less system requirements. Cheap. And no popups). The reasons I shifted away from Corel/PSP are numerous, bloat, popups, price and many personal annoyances.
It seems that Corel have a few boffins that follow the penny counters advise. Corel seems out of touch with user requirements. I guess they see the forums just as a bunch of 'nerds' with fring requirements. What Corel fails to see is that the forum users are their unpaid sales staff. If the forum users are unhappy that sentiment is passed on on other forums and to potential new users.

Don't get me wrong. PSP is still a great editor. It's still value for money. But with a few 'minor' changes it could be way better.

bruce

[wpslo]

Every time an add pops-up it doubles my determination to never
buy another Corel product.

[JohnB]

I'm still getting popup ads. I've communicated with PSP agents, before, and none of their answers worked to permanently stop the ads. I can click on Help > Message Preference, and I find the options are unclicked. I presume this is to stop the ads but it doesn't work for long.

I go into the Corel folder, as I was advised, and deleted the Messages folder, but each time I use PSP, it creates the Messages folder again. Then occasionally, after shutting PSP down, there is a large popup ad waiting for me, urging me to upgrade to PSP 2019. It was only this summer that I upgraded to PSP 2018. I don't see anything in 2019 that's worth paying another $49.95 for.

Apparently, the new creation of the Messages folder is written into the PSP program. This is wrong, and it needs to be stopped. I should have the option of ASKING for ads. I should have to opt in, not opt out.

I have programmable buttons on my keyboard, one of which now enables me to go immediately to the Corel folder and delete the Messages folder after I've shut PSP down. I note that deleting the Messages folder creates another problem if I click on Help > Message Preferences. It locks the program so that a blank window opens and I have to do the three-finger salute - Crtl-Alt-Del to shut it down.

[MarkZ]

In the last couple of weeks there has been a deluge of emails from Corel, the same ads over and over about great deals. Yes, at the very end there is a link to unsubscribe but does that mean I would not hear about worthwhile offers in the future? Corel should display some common sense, repeat a promotion once or twice but realize that very quickly potential customers are turned off and walk away from the company. Who are the #%$^ who think this is positive?

[royphotog]

I found this thread when I was googling a way to stop windows pop-ups about Video Studio. I did use it, have it on my system but to get pop-ups just about every time I run windows is just ridiculous. As one of you said, every time I see that dam pop up it makes me want to never use video studio again. I have moved on to Davinci resolve for my video editing. Much more advanced video editor and for what I do it's free.

[floyd_steinberg]

Yes, these Pop-Ups are absolutely annoying. I mean, I already paid for your software, buying updates every now and then, so can you please stop that? Windows 10 displays other messages in that area, too, so opening ads there is kind of offensive.
That said, I've tried many other freeware editors and programs in the $100 price range and both Video Studio and Paint Shop have the best user interface and feature list for that price. The first thing DaVinci resolve did was crashing my machine

[[Mike]]

I just came here to vent about the pop-ups.

I have messages and updates disabled and I keep getting an occasional pop-up about an upgrade to PSP 2019. The last one was a discount of 65%! Maybe if I wait long enough, the update will be free?

As a matter of fact, I had purchased the upgrade some time ago, but eventually got a refund, because of the broken crop tool...

Part of me wants to log a ticket about these damn pop-ups, but the other part of me can't stand the idea of another Corel support experience. Cleanup tool this and reinstall that... and never an actual solution.

[JohnB]

I have done all that I was advised to stop the ads, and still I get an ad when I shut the program down

There is a folder for Corel, labeled 'Messages.' I was told to delete it, by a Corel agent. I did that, and it came back. In fact the Messages folder is re-created every time I boot up PSP 2018. To counteract this, I programed a keyboard function button to take me straight to the Corel folder where I can quickly delete it. I should not have to keep deleting the folder.

Choosing the option to not receive messages doesn't prevent it because the messages folder keeps being refilled with more ads. Despite deleting the Messages folder each time I boot the program, every so often when I shut it down, up pops an ad on my desktop, wanting me to upgrade to 2019. However, the ad isn't completed; it has the Window and a few words on it, and the only way to get rid of that is the three-finger salute - Ctrl-Alt-Del, which brings up the Task Manager to shut PSP down.

No user should have to keep going through this and having unwanted ads shoved at us. If I wanted to upgrade to 2019 I know how to do it, I don't need to keep being reminded. Until I know that Corel has properly dealt with the ad problem, I will not upgrade.

I had a ticket issued, and found what a pain it was. The Corel agents do not know how to defeat the ad pop ups. None of their advice worked. There is only one way and that is for the programmers to unprogram ads, and make it so that we have a real choice.

[LeviFiction]

JohnB - With PSP closed. Try deleting the Messages folder, and then create a new empty Messages folder and set it to read-only.

[ehume]

. . . There is a folder for Corel, labeled 'Messages.' . . .

Where is the folder located?

[Ken Berry]

Have a look at C:\ProgramData\Corel\Messages.

[Kathy_9]

Where is the folder located?

Mine is located C:\Users\Kathy\AppData\Roaming\Corel\Messages