Coming changes to the Windows Secrets newsletter

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INTRODUCTION

Coming changes to the Windows Secrets newsletter

By Tracey Capen

Back in mid-October, I wrote the Windows Secrets would be going through a number of changes. Next week, we’re launching Windows Secrets 2.0, an update of your favorite newsletter with a new format and expanded coverage. Here’s what’s changing.The full text of this column is posted at

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.

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Thanks for the clear information about the changes. I’ll go have a look at the supersite, as I haven’t been there before so it’ll be interesting to trawl through there (I hope!).
One ball that seems to have been dropped from your article though, concerning mobile technology, is the Windows Phone platform. I’m a WP user and wouldn’t want to go back to Android, and certainly wouldn’t want to voluntarily enter Apple’s ecosystem either (been there, tried that, and I’m out of there). Would you please consider making the Windows Secrets or SuperSite app available on the Windows Phone platform too? Without a WP app, the other apps would be useless to me.
Thanks for considering this.
Paul

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Guess it won’t be a big issue for me, the free subscription I used to get hasn’t shown up the last couple of months.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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I have read it again, but cannot find what the future holds for my “lifetime” subscription, which lasts until 2207-07-11 – heaven forfend that this should be an accurate estimate of my lifetime.

The fact that this has been obfuscated suggests that the answer may be unattractive, i.e. that Penton publications group is going to be looking for more money from me. Please, though, just spell it out!

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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Don’t worry, you’ll have 200 years to sort it out, approx.

I have read it again, but cannot find what the future holds for my “lifetime” subscription, which lasts until 2207-07-11 – heaven forfend that this should be an accurate estimate of my lifetime.

The fact that this has been obfuscated suggests that the answer may be unattractive, i.e. that Penton publications group is going to be looking for more money from me. Please, though, just spell it out!

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Hate to be pessimistic, but this looks like a lot less for more money demanded.

Only time will prove this to be a true assessment of not.

BTW: I too am a WP user, and note it’s lack of support which surprises considering the “Windows” basis of the newsletter

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We are finalizing our decisions about lifetime subscriptions. Penton policy regarding those subscriptions has not been fully worked out. But our current understanding is that lifetime subscriptions should be good for up to five years from the contribution date. We’ll publish everything we know about them when we have all the details.

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We are finalizing our decisions about lifetime subscriptions. Penton policy regarding those subscriptions has not been fully worked out. But our current understanding is that lifetime subscriptions should be good for up to five years from the contribution date. We’ll publish everything we know about them when we have all the details.

Does that include a Dr Kevorkian Special in 2021 ?
:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I’ve been a lifetime subscriber for several years … I don’t even remember how long….

I am really angry that you will not be honoring the promise made when I purchased the lifetime subscription. I’m sure there are many of us in the same position, probably thousands.

Perhaps a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the subscribers who are harmed by the proposed new policy would help you rethink your position. I’m an attorney – not a litigator, but I know plenty of them, a few of whom are technology addicts since the ’80s as I am, and I’m sure at least some of them might well be more than happy to do well by doing good holding your feet to the fire.

What’s worse, the lifetime subscribers were your most loyal – the ones who laid out money when Windows Secrets needed it and supported Windows Secrets growing into what it has become. I’m willing to bet that if you don’t honor the lifetime subscriptions fully, you will lose over 3/4 of the lifetime subscribers.

Is that really what the new owners want? Sometimes, when prices increase, revenue actually decreases. That even happens with taxes: those who can (which in this case is every single subscriber), tend to leave if they don’t like the increase.

I knew that something bad was up behind the scenes when Woody Leonhard cut his ties and the windows secrets lounge was no longer linked on “Askwoody.com”. I’ve known (in the ether) and followed Woody’s work since the early days of Windows and its programs, beta tested various software and had many educational and enjoyable exchanges with him in the various test fora in the ’90s. He wouldn’t walk away lightly, and he was very discrete about why he left, but now we know.

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I have read it again, but cannot find what the future holds for my “lifetime” subscription, ….

Of course it could be Windows Secret’s lifetime, and now it has been reborn as 2.0. Just teasing. Change sucks.

edit: I see that Penton is currently giving you 5 years to live.

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Hello everyone,
Please feel free to write to me directly at kathleen.atkins@penton.com if you have concerns about the changes at Windows Secrets. We editors and writers don’t get to decide the financial and legal definitions of lifetime membership nor the pricing of subscriptions. But here is an answer I wrote to a subscriber who sent me an email earlier today, and I hope it answers some of your questions, too:

“Thank you for your email, which I have forwarded to my boss, Tracey Capen, and to Penton management.
Tracey remains editor in chief and I remain associate editor of Windows Secrets; likewise, most of our writers will continue to write for Windows Secrets. We hope to serve our readers as well as we possibly can, as always.

We editors and writers don’t own Windows Secrets, of course. We hope the business decisions that Penton has been making in regard to Windows Secrets result in its good financial health and capacity to continue serving you well for a long time. I hope you continue to be happy to receive and use the newsletter in these new circumstances. We are grateful for your support.”

Best, Kathleen Atkins

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Hello everyone,
Please feel free to write to me directly at kathleen.atkins@penton.com if you have concerns about the changes at Windows Secrets. We editors and writers don’t get to decide the financial and legal definitions of lifetime membership nor the pricing of subscriptions. But here is an answer I wrote to a subscriber who sent me an email earlier today, and I hope it answers some of your questions, too:

“Thank you for your email, which I have forwarded to my boss, Tracey Capen, and to Penton management.
Tracey remains editor in chief and I remain associate editor of Windows Secrets; likewise, most of our writers will continue to write for Windows Secrets. We hope to serve our readers as well as we possibly can, as always.

We editors and writers don’t own Windows Secrets, of course. We hope the business decisions that Penton has been making in regard to Windows Secrets result in its good financial health and capacity to continue serving you well for a long time. I hope you continue to be happy to receive and use the newsletter in these new circumstances. We are grateful for your support.”

Best, Kathleen Atkins

Thanks Kathleen.

With regard to the sentence that I’ve bolded, could you please confirm which writers will no longer be writing for Windows Secrets, as that is pretty essential information when deciding whether to continue subscribing (especially at an increased rate).

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Thanks for your kind and professional reply. It it obvious that some subscribers are upset. I’m not. My subscription dates back to the original LangaList. I have increased my contribution progressively over the years, and currently pay $24/year. I based my contribution on what I was paying for PC World and PC Magazine subscriptions. I have long since discontinued my subscriptions (of course, PC World is defunct) because they became irrelevant. Not Windows Secrets, however.

My questions about the change:
1. Will we have continued access to the Windows Secrets archive?
2. Will we have continues access to the LangaList archives?
3. Will the Windows Secrets Forum continue to operate?
4. Will we be able to communicate with the editors and writers as we have in the past?

I hate to see that the free articles will be gone. I’m afraid that the Windows Secrets free articles might be lost in a flood of articles on WinInfo. I often sent links to the free articles to friends. I have no idea how many subscribed to Windows Secrets because of their introduction to the excellent articles that could be found.

Wishing you (and us) good luck in the momentous and uncertain future.

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Thanks for your kind and professional reply. It it obvious that some subscribers are upset. I’m not. My subscription dates back to the original LangaList. I have increased my contribution progressively over the years, and currently pay $24/year. I based my contribution on what I was paying for PC World and PC Magazine subscriptions. I have long since discontinued my subscriptions (of course, PC World is defunct) because they became irrelevant. Not Windows Secrets, however.

My questions about the change:
1. Will we have continued access to the Windows Secrets archive?
2. Will we have continues access to the LangaList archives?
3. Will the Windows Secrets Forum continue to operate?
4. Will we be able to communicate with the editors and writers as we have in the past?

I hate to see that the free articles will be gone. I’m afraid that the Windows Secrets free articles might be lost in a flood of articles on WinInfo. I often sent links to the free articles to friends. I have no idea how many subscribed to Windows Secrets because of their introduction to the excellent articles that could be found.

Wishing you (and us) good luck in the momentous and uncertain future.

Thank you for your clear and kind email, lien.
1. Yes, subscribers will continue to have access to the Windows Secrets archive.
2. Yes, the LangaList articles that are part of Windows Secrets archives will be available as always.
3. Yes, the Windows Secrets Lounge (the forums) will continue to operate.
4. Yes, you will be able to communicate with the editors and writers as you have in the past.

Thank you very much for your good wishes.
Kathleen

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Well while I understand all of these changes for the reason’s that are obvious I’m not a fan of this. When independent entities start combining forces for the betterment of all it often often doesn’t work out the way people hope it will. Getting combined into a large business, while hoping for the same independence, often doesn’t happen. These decisions are made primarily for monetary reasons. I’ve been a paid member for years here and will continue to, this is a great place. Hopefully these changes will be smooth and not veer into something that gets away from the original intent, from Langa to Secrets to…..

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Well while I understand all of these changes for the reason’s that are obvious I’m not a fan of this. When independent entities start combining forces for the betterment of all it often often doesn’t work out the way people hope it will. Getting combined into a large business, while hoping for the same independence, often doesn’t happen. These decisions are made primarily for monetary reasons.

Agree

I’ve been a paid member for years here and will continue to, this is a great place.

No decision on this, yet, depends on the deal.

Hopefully these changes will be smooth and not veer into something that gets away from the original intent, from Langa to Secrets to…..

Again, agreed

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What’s most important to me are the forums, but it’s not clear to me where they are going to land. I see newsletters , tips and tutorials, etc., etc are to be a part of Windows Secrets 2.0, but what about The Lounge? Will the forums and all the messages stay? Those items are important to me running three different versions of Windows.

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Really? 25.00 Strong arm or nothing? I have been a loyal reader and subscriber for years; you should stick to the current subscription policy. As much as I love the column at 25.00 I will be gone. You guys have a great thing going.
Don’t mess it up. Sorry to hear about it, I guess I’ll be doing a little more TechNet reading instead. 🙁

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It ‘seems’ the base subscription rate will be $25/yr. Honestly, not really happy about that. I’ve been subscribing for years at the ‘suggested contribution’ and find the content most worthwhile at that rate. Now that a ‘corporate colossus’ has the reins, I’ll probably have to continue my education elsewhere. In all candor, the only real value I found here that I couldn’t find anywhere else was Susan Bradley’s report on Windows updates to ‘avoid’ for a while. Saved me endless hours of repairs. So… if you can split her column off I’ll gladly ‘contribute’ for just that!

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The changes to Windows Secrets include moving to twice-a-week publishing and a new format that will make it easier to view the newsletter on mobile devices. Sending out newsletters more frequently will let you, our readers, receive interesting information sooner — if breaking news comes out on Thurday afternoon, you won’t have to wait a week to get it!

Twice a week will be too much for me. I take the time to read all of current Windows Secrets now because of the bi weekly timing. I doubt I will make it such a priority twice a week.
Also, I certainly don’t expect breaking news from Windows Secrets, I expect in depth articles. I get breaking news from news sites, not newsletters.

That said, Windows is no longer part of a closed ecosystem. Many Windows users also carry Apple and Android tablets and phones. Linux is finding its way into many common networking devices such as routers and network-attached storage. So we’ll also broaden our coverage of the entire personal-computing environment —

Are you kidding me? You’re going to cover apple, linux, etc? Are you going to change your name to Computing Secrets? I will wait and see what these changes look like, but I don’t like what I’m hearing.
I’m sure you will find out in the long run if these changes increase or decrease or customer base, or revenue, or whatever measure you use. Your subscribers will vote with their feet (and wallets).

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What about those of us who paid the one time fee a number of years ago for a life-time subscription? I would expect that you would still honor that, but you don’t mention it. Please let us know. Thanks.

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What about those of us who paid the one time fee a number of years ago for a life-time subscription? I would expect that you would still honor that, but you don’t mention it. Please let us know. Thanks.

Good business ethics dictate that Windows Secrets honor its committment to lifetime subscribers. Are you or are you not?

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I’m most bothered by the set subscription rate. I’ve been paying what I thought was reasonable for the content that I used, but not all content is useful. This is particularly true now that the focus is on Windows 10, and I plan to stay with 7 until I get a new PC, perhaps as late as 2017.

I think I have some time left on my subscription, so I guess I’ll be able to evaluate whether I want to pay more. (Right?)

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I appreciate the advance notice. Thank you!
I’ve been a Windows Secrets reader for several years and have been a paid subscriber for the past 4 or 5 years. While I’m not an advanced user nor a technology fanatic, I have been working in the computer/software industry for many years. Of your proposed changes, the only thing that concerns me is bringing other operating environments into the process. I would guess that many (most) of your readers subscribe because of the excellent Windows coverage and have little or no interest in the other environments. Please don’t clutter up Windows Secrets with articles about the other environments.

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What will happen to the links in previous emails? Since they’re redirected from the windowssecrets website to the actual link, I’m afraid all those links will no longer work.

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These changes appear to me to be a calculated move by the Penton Corp. Obviously, a large number of current subscribers, (free & <$25 contributors), will not be subscribers going forward. They calculate that there will be a sufficient number of $25 (or more) subscribers to make up the loss. I fear that this calculation is fundamentally flawed.

The one common element that has drawn us to WS for many years is the focus on the Windows OS. With the dilution of focus going forward by including Android, IOS, Linux, "all things internet", the interest of many subscribers will wane. There are many, many other sources of information for these extraneous interests. Losing focus will hasten the departure of the coveted $25+ subscribers.

I find the arbitrary $25, $39 & $59 subscription levels confounding. I wonder what we have access to now that will not be available if I subscribe to the "entry-level" $25 annual fee? More corporate miscalculation?

I have a feeling that the current editors are being held hostage as well through this transition. This is not their idea of how to manage a newsletter.

I have some time left before my subscription is up for renewal. Here's hoping Penton is listening.

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Hi!

Just thought I’d mention the AV I use, since it doesn’t try to install anything except itself: Emsisoft Anti-Malware. I like it, but I have and have had unusual demands from AV software.

There’s no free version, but there is a trial period, and with the loyalty discount it’s not very expensive. It generally gets good grades in all categories on AV-Comparatives. It never nags.

There’s also something called Emsisoft Internet Security which I haven’t tried. The same AV with a firewall attached.

They also have a good free newsletter on security problems, which you can sign up for without any connection with their software, I guess, and they don’t spend too much time on it blowing their own horn.

On a related topic: It sounds crazy, but I have been spammed by Panda. I had to give them an email address to download trial software, which I uninstalled shortly afterwards. I kept getting advertising emails from them, and they ignored unsubscribe requests. I’m far from the only one, of course. Check your favorite search engine.

Good luck.
C.

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I can’t complain because I only paid $5/year. BUT I think the articles were really good. I just didn’t use most of them…just read them to stay up to date on it. I guess if I use a google filter for google news I can find most of them in one place FREE instead of paying WS $25/year.

It kind of reminds me of our government problems. Instead of cutting costs…ie authors and their demanding cost.(ie govt employees) you increase TAXES…the price of subscriptions. Fortunately in this case I can choose NOT to pay the tax. 🙂

I will ride out my subscription. I am really amazed that you have decide to DUMP the lifetime subscribers after 5 years. They bought and paid for a product and you have decided to do the only word I can think of that applies to them…STEAL from them. Hummm…is that too strong?

I should be quite and nice. Politically correct. I can’t believe I am now thinking like Trump would…and say you’re fired! Or ‘I’ll be back when the new management comes in’. Meaning you guys will probably drive a really great product into the ground.

Ok finished with my soapbox. I guess you have reached the Lorenz curve…the 80/20 rule. 20% of your customers provide 80% of your funding so you’re culling the other 80% that don’t fund you enough. Who knows?

We’ll see where it goes..

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Having seen the first few iterations of the new Windows Secrets Newsletter format, I am not seeing Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch column. Has it been discontinued, or am I missing something?

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Having seen the first few iterations of the new Windows Secrets Newsletter format, I am not seeing Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch column. Has it been discontinued, or am I missing something?

Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch column will continue as usual. Her most recent column appeared last week in the January 14 issue. Here’s a link to it:
http://windowssecrets.com/patch-watch/a-deadline-for-obsolete-ies-and-windows-8/

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Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch column will continue as usual. Her most recent column appeared last week in the January 14 issue. Here’s a link to it:
http://windowssecrets.com/patch-watch/a-deadline-for-obsolete-ies-and-windows-8/

Thanks Kathleen, you are correct, and in me (quickly) scanning the last couple newsletter emails, I missed it.

I have perfect vision, but the font for the column titles (i.e. “Patch Watch”, “LangaList Plus”, etc.) in the Newsletter are tiny. Smaller than the article titles for each column. Maybe those could be made slightly larger. I will look closer next time.

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I have perfect vision, but the font for the column titles (i.e. “Patch Watch”, “LangaList Plus”, etc.) in the Newsletter are tiny. Smaller than the article titles for each column. Maybe those could be made slightly larger. I will look closer next time.

My latest Newsletter had blank spaces where links were. I only recognized these by doing a ‘Control-A’, which highlighted these.
I agree wholly with Travasaurus in Post #165 above. Another sub not being renewed.

Alex

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WS overall has done a fine job of providing clear, accurate, and concise articles; however, there have been problems. Several months ago one columnist described a method for checking the security of one’s network. I spent an afternoon trying to use this method without success. In checking the lounge, I learned that the method didn’t work with laptops–why didn’t the columnist mention this? Why didn’t the columnist ever answer forum comments?

Patch Watch is excellent, and I appreciate all Susan does. Susan unfortunately doesn’t always keep us posted on questionable patches. Several readers commented on this toward the ends of last year.

Wouldn’t it be good for columnists to check the lounge to see if they neglected or omitted something? Since there’s a lot of work in preparing PatchWatch, could Susan get some help?

Hopefully, WS can continue being independent under the new ownership, and writers will check the completeness and accuracy of their columns. :confused:

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I can’t think what difference a Laptop would make to network security; could you post a link to the article concerned?

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Several months ago one columnist described a method for checking the security of one’s network. I spent an afternoon trying to use this method without success. In checking the lounge, I learned that the method didn’t work with laptops–why didn’t the columnist mention this? Why didn’t the columnist ever answer forum comments?

:confused:

I can’t think what difference a Laptop could make to network security; could you post a link to the article?

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I can’t think what difference a Laptop could make to network security; could you post a link to the article?

This link http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//151097-Putting-Wi-Fi-router-s-security-to-the-test/page3 will take you to the lounge discussion. Look at the responses from about 33 to 43.

These responses pointed up the problems attempting this with a laptop, and also the limitations of the approach given in the article. Surprisingly, Fred never provided any other approaches in subsequent articles. (Surprising to me because his columns are usually excellent.)

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Trev,

For another example of inaccurate or incomplete information, go to link http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//174329-Windows-Secrets-ultimate-security-tools-list?p=1044319#post1044319 and look at responses #3 and #4.

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Trev,

For another example of inaccurate or incomplete information, go to link http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//174329-Windows-Secrets-ultimate-security-tools-list?p=1044319#post1044319 and look at responses #3 and #4.

Thank you, but I’m not looking for examples of inaccuracies, they are inevitable occasionally…
I still can’t understand the reference to Laptops in your previous criticism; the article was about wi-fi security in routers…

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Thank you, but I’m not looking for examples of inaccuracies, they are inevitable occasionally…
I still can’t understand the reference to Laptops in your previous criticism; the article was about wi-fi security in routers…

Did you go to the link I provided in #264 and then read the responses I referenced.

Yes, errors do happen; however, it would be nice if columnists would make corrections when errors are pointed out.

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Have no problem clicking on the Archive page to see all the articles. Heck, like this a heck of a lot better than a huge email. 🙂

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Have no problem clicking on the Archive page to see all the articles. Heck, like this a heck of a lot better than a huge email. 🙂

Except some of us paid for delivery of a newsletter, not a bunch of links. As if – a newspaper you paid for started showing up in your driveway with nothing but headlines and web urls for you to go to in a browser. We paid for a newsletter, not links to pages.

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I’ve enjoyed Windows Secrets for years. I wasn’t pleased with the last merger but it turned out just fine. This new endeavor sounds like it’s too much money(for me) and too many issues covering too many topics. I’ll really miss LangaList and Patch Watch.

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ppascoe, we still publish both LangaList and Patch Watch, with the same frequency as always. Here’s a link to Fred’s most recent LangaList, (published in Tuesday, February 9 issue: http://windowssecrets.com/langalist-plus/what-maintenance-do-solid-state-drives-require/
And we’re presently editing Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch to be published this evening for the Thursday, February 11 issue. Look for it in your Windows Secrets newsletter tomorrow morning–or on the Windows Secrets website tonight.

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For a number of reasons not worth going into here, I’ve been unable to read my Windows Secrets newsletters.

Finally got some time today…only to find all these changes. There is SO much change in so much of our lives, that one more – in the tech letter I’ve counted on since 2002 – is upsetting.

Running a small business means once a week is often more than I want. Twice a week will be impossible.

Like many here, your losing your independent status is not a good thing for your readers; ditto, your inclusion of so many more systems than before.

Also like many readers, being forced to pay a set subscription for something I happily paid a voluntary fee is very off-putting.

Guess I’ll wait until my payment reminder comes up before final decision, but I am not happy and very disappointed.

A loyal reader and Lounger,

Linda

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It is truly a crying shame what they’ve done to a once-great little monthly computer newsletter. Literally destroyed, right before our very eyes…

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Given the increase in price, the watering down of focus and the continued ignoring of Windows phones, I find it highly unlikely that I will resubscribe once my existing sub runs out.

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Okay – long time subscriber, first time poster here.

What about those of us who made a generous lifetime subscription payment the first time the newsletter changed?

Do we get grandfathered in, or does loyalty no longer matter?

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This long time lifetime subscriber is also not happy with the fact that this corporate goliath is apparently going to disregard our previous lifetime payment and now charge subscribers yearly for the same or similar information that would have been received under our lifetime subscription. Loyalty means nothing to corporate 1,000 pound gorillas.

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What about those of us who made a generous lifetime subscription payment the first time the newsletter changed?

Do we get grandfathered in, or does loyalty no longer matter?

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Will existing subscritions will be honoured until they expire? The current cycle of the newsletter is perfect for me and it’s difficult to see how you’ll fill a twice-weekly issue with really useful and relevant Windows information without having to pad it out. Additionally, I don’t have a Mac and I don’t use Linux and have no plans to move to either so articles about them would be of no interest to me – it is Windows Secrets, after all. The beauty of the newsletter has always been that it specialised in all things Windows and, although most of the information it contains was usually also out there somewhere else on the Internet, it was just more convenient to have it all well-written and in one place. In spite of your claims to the contrary, I agree with some of the other comments that this seems as though it will be a watered down version at a higher minimum cost. Big business strikes again! Whilst I’ll definitely give the new version the benefit of the doubt, I can’t help thinking that I’ll probably also look elsewhere for my Windows fix when my subscription comes up for renewal. Why not have a poll and see how many subscribers actually want what you’re proposing at the price you’re asking?

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I too will become a member of the free version too when the changes comes.. I could afford the $10 US I paid for the subscription , but as a pensioner, and with our dollar tanking, I will not become a $25 paid member ..
It’ll just be another forum I used to belong to when it was free or by donation, but bought out and fee based . Not only did their focus change, but they priced me out of their subscriptions .

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I too will become a member of the free version too when the changes comes.. I could afford the $10 US I paid for the subscription , but as a pensioner, and with our dollar tanking, I will not become a $25 paid member ..
It’ll just be another forum I used to belong to when it was free or by donation, but bought out and fee based . Not only did their focus change, but they priced me out of their subscriptions .

+1
$10 was ok for many years. Maybe $15 would make me jump, but w/ a whole new format,( SuperSite for Windows newsletter: WinInfo Daily UPDATE) eehh I will pass. I am thinking the #s will not work for them. The biggest reason for me was the patch watch but that has proven to be so sloppily maintained it is more of a nuisance than a help most months. Ciao’
:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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These changes are not appealing to me, including that I don’t need twice weekly newsletters – usually a high frequency emails approach is the prompt for me to “unsubscribe” – As interesting as Windows stuff is, I’d never keep up with that schedule given other priorities. Plus, the wording about existing paid subscribers like myself is rather vague. The $25 fee mentioned I can afford, but seems too high nonetheless. When the price for something makes me pause and wonder, “Is this worth it?” well, that’s not usually a good sign. It’s unclear whether or not existing subscription time frames will be honored. I’m easily on the fence about re-upping a paid subscription, leaning toward “not.”

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Hi Tracy – Thanks for the news update. Unlike some of the other respondents, I would welcome more Linux articles (possibly a sister publication?). As a “semi-pro” user of both Linux and Ubuntu, I have found the Windows Secrets articles particularly useful, because pitched to my level of expertise. Most Linux/Ubuntu resources I have found assume a higher level of software savvy than I have or can probably attain at age 75.

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I, too, have a lifetime subscription and would like to have that honored.

A newsletter every two weeks about WINDOWS items or other matters that connect with Windows is perfect for me. Twice a week is WAY, WAY too much and will likely have way too much fluff to fill the content needs.

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There might be some consideration, but the “agreement” was with the previous company, not Penton.

Wouldn’t it be more correct to say that Penton acquired WS with all its rights AND obligations? You can’t just take the rights and walk away from the obligations.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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Wouldn’t it be more correct to say that Penton acquired WS with all its rights AND obligations? You can’t just take the rights and walk away from the obligations.

Depends on the sale contract, I guess, but typically the obligations are taken on by default, but that can be eliminated via contract. If they don’t honor it for lifetime, you can sue the original owners as they’re not providing the lifetime (lifetime of whom, you or the newsletter/company?) you paid for so you should get a significant portion of what you paid back. I’m not a lawyer, but I’d think a percentage based on what you paid, how long ago and estimate time you will live.

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Yes, that is correct. Both assets and liabilities are part of the acquisition. A lifetime subscription could be viewed as a liability and therefore a legal obligation on the part of Penton.

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Wouldn’t it be more correct to say that Penton acquired WS with all its rights AND obligations? You can’t just take the rights and walk away from the obligations.

Yes, that is correct.

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I, as well as many others, have been receiving WS newsletters since Brian first started it up quite a number of years ago. I started out with the free newsletter and then moved on to paying a “donation” for the full newsletter and have enjoyed/learned many things from a useful publication. I also liked being able to save the newsletters ( which I understand will be a thing of the past with the changes ). Brian seemed to have a love of helping people with the intricacies and dangers of windows OS.
When Brian turned it over and got out of the newsletter it’s still been a useful publication. That being said, I can see that the merge into “Big Business” will force a new objective onto the newsletter, more money. I understand the concept but I can’t say that I agree with the direction and results of WS decisions.
To justify going from a “donation” to a higher “fee” there will be more subjects covered, which in my personal view may not be worth the money. To each, his own as they say.
There are still a few unknown’s such as will the lounge stay the lounge or will it become “MyITForums” on Winsupersite since WS will eventually become a sub-section of that site.
Not sure what I am going to do yet but I have a feeling that I will fade away into the sunset with this major change. I will just have to see how it plays out. I guess we’ll see if the big increase in “fees” will pay off for Penton.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Hope the money that was paid to the owners of Windows Secrets was worth all the bad will this is creating for those that bought a lifetime subscription. A really poor move within a group that saw itself as a community. From a fellow business owner, let me advise you that a better way to satisfy your financial goals would be to increase your number of customers, rather than screwing the ones you already have.

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So my $8/year payment is no longer enough, huh? Will Windows Secrets 2.0 be 3 times as good? 3 times more content?

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I think any lawsuit based on “I’m not getting my lifetime subscription to the Windows Secrets Newsletter like they said”, is ridiculous.

He may win based on some of the frivolous lawsuits I have seen on the news over the past few years. 😀

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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One ball that seems to have been dropped from your article though, concerning mobile technology, is the Windows Phone platform. I’m a WP user and wouldn’t want to go back to Android, and certainly wouldn’t want to voluntarily enter Apple’s ecosystem either (been there, tried that, and I’m out of there). Would you please consider making the Windows Secrets or SuperSite app available on the Windows Phone platform too? Without a WP app, the other apps would be useless to me.
Thanks for considering this.
Paul

Were Android or iOS apps even mentioned?

Tracy Capen addressed the reasoning for articles on other platforms and technologies in the October 1st, 2015 newsletter…

http://windowssecrets.com/introduction/windows-secrets-celebrates-issue-500/

You mean, “But just as Microsoft is adapting to a multi-platform world, so too will our stories.”?

Not much of a reason!

I think any lawsuit based on “I’m not getting my lifetime subscription to the Windows Secrets Newsletter like they said”, is ridiculous.

Why?

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Well for me it is not worth 25 dollars but I’m sure for a lot of people it will be. Will be interesting how well they do in the future.

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The rise in cost will still represent decent value for me based on the fact that I follow Susan Bradley’s advice keenly and disregard most other things as they’re not on my agenda, but whether the increased frequency will mean anything worthwhile is debateable, and I’m certainly not interested in subscribing to news releases rather than in-depth articles.

I guess it’s all a sign of the times, with this sort of change not being brought about for the benefit of the customers. They simply end up with the choice of staying around or moving on when the arrangements they’ve grown used to and like get changed for someone else’s benefit. These days the customer rarely gets a look-in!

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I’ve been a paying subscriber for a number of years, having followed Fred Langla here. I truly believe you are one of the best resources for Windows. Windows Secrets has saved me countless hours and made me appear much smarter to my work colleagues than I deserve. I’ve referred so many people to you. I read your announcement and my immediate reaction is that I’m filled with trepidation – that the end is near. I hope not. I think $25 is a bit steep considering the amount of free information available. But will I pay it? Probably, given that I have just updated to Windows 10 and I need to learn more. At this point though consider yourself on probation. You better be worth 25 bucks. :o:

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Out of curiosity I tried to subscribe to the WinInfo Daily Update at Supersite. With both the option to subscribe on the home page and that in the ‘Newsletters’ page it failed since it goes via ad servers which are blocked in my MVPSHosts. So it looks as if it will be heavily ad subsidised and since most of the articles in the newsletter will now be just links to the site I suspect it will be the same there. If so I shall be leaving in protest.

It remains to be seen how it will work out and how they will handle existing subscribers, in my case paid until the end of this year, but it doesn’t look good at the moment.

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Bye.

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I hope they don’t mess with the Windows Secrets Forums. We have a very good thing going here; I’d hate for them to mess it up.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I hope they don’t mess with the Windows Secrets Forums. We have a very good thing going here; I’d hate for them to mess it up.

Jim Phelps – yes, in Spades, let’s not lose what we have here.

You and all the other guys (mainly?) with orange coloured VIP handles (and many other regulars) take endless time and trouble to answer questions from those of us less knowledgeable than you are, with never-failing courtesy, humour and clarity. With only occasional failures, WSL is one of the most respectful, and generally “nicest” forums (fora?) to which I belong. Take a bow!

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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There might be some consideration, but the “agreement” was with the previous company, not Penton.

This is one hell of a response to members who have supported the Windows Secret site for years, both those who purchased what they thought was a life-time subscription, & those of us who “donated” yearly!

I would have thought that when you purchased WS, you bought it “warts & all”, not just the subscription base that took years to develop as a faithful readers’ group. I really doubt that WS will continue to survive in a manner that will even remotely resemble what it is now, or once was! I am among those who for years now have contributed to the paid version for several reasons; 1) was that I felt that I received fair value for my contribution, 2) that I hoped that those types of payments would prevent what has just happened, what appears to be a complete sell out!

Now, you plan to offer an expanded version as a justification for the subscription price? I don’t think so… My paid subscription has nearly a full year to run, but my patience & interests most likely will not! Thanks but no thanks!

jmknbsc

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This is one hell of a response to members who have supported the Windows Secret site for years, both those who purchased what they thought was a life-time subscription, & those of us who “donated” yearly!

I would have thought that when you purchased WS, you bought it “warts & all”, not just the subscription base that took years to develop as a faithful readers’ group. I really doubt that WS will continue to survive in a manner that will even remotely resemble what it is now, or once was! I am among those who for years now have contributed to the paid version for several reasons; 1) was that I felt that I received fair value for my contribution, 2) that I hoped that those types of payments would prevent what has just happened, what appears to be a complete sell out!

Now, you plan to offer an expanded version as a justification for the subscription price? I don’t think so… My paid subscription has nearly a full year to run, but my patience & interests most likely will not! Thanks but no thanks!

jmknbsc

jwoods, as far as I know, is neither a Penton employee or a Penton spokesperson. His opinion is just that, his opinion.

Kathleen Atkins is the Newsletter Editor, so her post above carries the weight of her position. She stated what may happen, although not in a definitive manner. I suggest that you leave your doubts and questions here, but you can also do as you could always have done: use the email address from which the newsletter is sent to voice your opinions, express your concerns or ask for clarification.

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No…no, it isn’t.

Considering you were probably underpaying…for how long?

It’s personal choice, pay or don’t.

Easy peasy.

Hey jwoods; if you are a carry-over to the new site as a spokesperson, your arrogance & demeaning responses to other posters is sure as hell not going to win WS any new members let alone keep many of us onboard! I never thought that I’d see a site that had earned such good will & acceptance go to hell in a hand-basket so quickly, & you seem to be, or at least you think that you are, their poster boy. Great sales pitch…NOT.
jmknbsc

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Correct on all three.

There is also the Contact Us link…

https://windowssecrets.com/contact/

I would not advise using the Contact Us link. It is handled by the Lounge staff members and all we can do is refer any voiced opinions to Kathleen, so subscribers may as well contact her directly.

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(Ampersands removed).

The newsletter email address From contains Windows Secrets , which is the same as Send us an email on the Contact Us page…

1. Send us an email:

Letters to the editor, questions for contributors, or comments about articles should be sent to editor at windowssecrets.com.

If you have any subscription, payment, or newsletter delivery problems, please send email to customersupport at penton.com.

What is the correct email contact address to use?

The email address is correct, so that can be used (of course, the email Kathleen posted just now can also be used).

However, the Contact Us page also has a contact form. The submission of that form is posted in a private Lounge area and is handled by whoever is available from the moderation team. If the issue is about the newsletter, then we usually email Kathleen ourselves to let her know about the contact. Thus, it’s just faster to use the email address directly.

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	INTRODUCTION Coming changes to the Windows Secrets newsletter
	By Tracey Capen Back in mid-October, I wrote the Windows Secrets would be going through a number of changes. Next week, we’re launching Windows Secrets 2.0, an update of your favorite newsletter with a new format and expanded coverage. Here’s what’s changing.

---

The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/introduction/coming-changes-to-the-windows-secrets-newsletter/ (opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

[/tr][/tbl]

Dear publisher and dear authors of Windows Secrets Newsletter,

Beeing an old (76yrs) but longtime (since 1959) computer user, programmer, organiser,
your free newsletter in the last years was an important source of help and knowledge
around Windows-PCs.
I still advise a group of equally old computer users, help buying hard- and software,
installing and upgrading OS and programs without charging them. It is a kind of
unpaid business – so I need free resources. But I also need not to frequent inputs,
really focused on the most important issues.
So one newsletter a week was quite good for me, possibly one a month could be sufficient.
I will try your new offer, maybe I will have to cancel, if there is to much coming in.

You did a good job, many thanks – maybe think about a free offer only once a month.

best regards
Ulrich B.Noelpp, retired Medical Physicist
Berne Switzerland

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I’ve been a paid subscriber for years, and have no problem with the new format and subscription model.

I don’t expect the newsletter staff to work for free.

Business environments change all the time. Rate increases happen all the time.

See post #27 for the current definition of “lifetime”.

Again, personal choice.

I read post #27. Words have meaning. Lifetime does not mean 5 years. Lifetime means for the lifetime of the subscriber in that context. When I made a lifetime contribution to WS, it was a good faith effort on my part. WS should negotiate the terms with Penton to keep its prior committment to lifetime subscribers. To do less demonstrates a bad faith effort on the part of WS.

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I wonder just how many lifetime subscribers there are (were?) to WS. For all the bad feeling this is producing, it might be wise of the new owners to just grandfather them in.

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I read post #27. Words have meaning. Lifetime does not mean 5 years. Lifetime means for the lifetime of the subscriber in that context. When I made a lifetime contribution to WS, it was a good faith effort on my part. WS should negotiate the terms with Penton to keep its prior committment to lifetime subscribers. To do less demonstrates a bad faith effort on the part of WS.

Alternatively, “lifetime” means for the lifetime of the product or service. In this case it is clearly intended that the product/service will continue, and so therefore should the lifetime subscription – for as long as that remains the case.

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I’m just curious what happens to this forum? If I understand correctly it is actually not part of the Windows Secrets site so is not part of the purchase. If true, will it be allowed to remain associated with WS? Will it be allowed to have the name? Do the owners wish to have some input into this?

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I’m just curious what happens to this forum? If I understand correctly it is actually not part of the Windows Secrets site so is not part of the purchase. If true, will it be allowed to remain associated with WS? Will it be allowed to have the name? Do the owners wish to have some input into this?

There’s so many names shown it’s hard to tell who’s on first, who’s on second, etc.
43180-WS

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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From Berton: “There’s so many names shown it’s hard to tell who’s on first, who’s on second, etc.”

Who’s on First.
What’s on Second.
I Don’t Know’s on Third.

/Sorry, I had to do it.

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From Berton: “There’s so many names shown it’s hard to tell who’s on first, who’s on second, etc.”

Who’s on First.
What’s on Second.
I Don’t Know’s on Third.

/Sorry, I had to do it.

No problem. I would have done it but couldn’t get my File Allocation Table/index to locate in my storage area and bring it forth.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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I’m just curious what happens to this forum? If I understand correctly it is actually not part of the Windows Secrets site so is not part of the purchase. If true, will it be allowed to remain associated with WS? Will it be allowed to have the name? Do the owners wish to have some input into this?

The forum was purchased with the rest of iNet holdings, so the forum does belong to Penton.

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The forum was purchased with the rest of iNet holdings, so the forum does belong to Penton.

Good

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“Copyright Penton” and “Powered by Penton” suggest to me that this forum is Penton’s to do with as it wants. WS is basically Penton now although the switch just hasn’t been completed yet.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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So, are the kids still going to be supported? I think I might be answering my question, as I don’t see any photo at the bottom of the most recent newsletter.

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Coming changes to the Windows Secrets newsletter
How about the readers that signed up long ago for Lifetime Subscriptions to Windows Secrets? Do we now have to pay more? I remember I bought a Lifetime membership to an airline Travel Club in the 1980’s. When that airline went under, so did my “lifetime” membership. I guess it meant their lifetime, not mine.

By Tracey Capen Back in mid-October, I wrote the Windows Secrets would be going through a number of changes. Next week, we’re launching Windows Secrets 2.0, an update of your favorite newsletter with a new format and expanded coverage. Here’s what’s changing.

---

The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/introduction/coming-changes-to-the-windows-secrets-newsletter/ (opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

[/tr][/tbl][/QUOTE]

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Well the first issue has arrived, can’t say I like it at all. The plain text version of the email is badly format and hard to read. The HTML part is better but with huge grey areas where I haven’t downloaded the remote graphics. You have to, as it says, log in to see all of some of the articles online which is a pain. Early days, but if it is like this I may well be asking for a refund for my remaining 10 months of sub.

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I have been a paid subscriber for a number of years. My main interest is the monthly Patch Watch articles plus occasional use of the forum. Some of the other newsletter articles are interesting but the information can usually be found elsewhere if necessary. So as I see it, I’m going to get eight newsletters a month instead of four, only one of which is of definite actionable importance to me for the maintenance of my small home network. What chance of a ‘Patch Watch only’ subscription? No doubt some folk will say that’s worth $25/year on it’s own, but that’s not the point – my gut feeling is that a lot of subscribers will be lost due to the ‘take it or leave it’ hike, and those remaining will have to take up the slack. Surely it’s better to pitch the subscription lower, or have a 2-level subscription, with a larger subscriber base, than lose numbers and, above all, goodwill?

Win10 22H2 Pro, MBAM Premium, Firefox, OpenOffice, Sumatra PDF.

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I renewed my paid sub last month and am content to see how things developed. As a couple of posters mentioned, it is the writers who matter, and the type of article. I too am concerned that the twice-a-week schedule implies a switch to more news as opposed to in-depth “how-to” articles (e.g., Langa’s). It is the latter that is not readily available elsewhere on the Internet.
The other editorial decision is about the scope of the newsletter. There have always been occasional items about Android or Linux or whatever. It is useful to have information about how to fit our windows computers into the mobile world. However, if the scope gets broader but the depth becomes shallower than I think the newsletter will fail.
Many people think that real news and information should be available free, whether it is general news or something specialized. Good writing needs to be paid for and I am happy to do it.
Ken

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I seem to have received the full text of the articles in my e-mail – no need to click through to the web site – although the introduction says that they’re not there. Hopefully this ‘error’ will continue in future.

Still waiting to find out with certainty what will happen to my lifetime subscription. I seem to recall the original terms were something like ‘your lifetime or the newsletter’s, whichever is shorter. There will be a partial refund if the newsletter lasts less than five years’.

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I seem to have received the full text of the articles in my e-mail – no need to click through to the web site – although the introduction says that they’re not there. Hopefully this ‘error’ will continue in future.

Still waiting to find out with certainty what will happen to my lifetime subscription. I seem to recall the original terms were something like ‘your lifetime or the newsletter’s, whichever is shorter. There will be a partial refund if the newsletter lasts less than five years’.

Not sure if I have received the ‘free’ version rather than my normal paid one, but at the end of each article there is a link identified ‘more’ (to
http://app.info.pentontech.com…) which has to be used to see the rest of the article online (and you have to login, with a different password to that for the lounge). There does seem to be more content but to access it seems quite a rigmorole. The text version of the email has even less content with most of it via remote links.

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I don’t have a ‘more…’ link. The articles finish with the ‘Feedback welcome’ box and then the voting buttons and the one sentence biography of the author. I must be special 🙂

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I don’t have a ‘more…’ link. The articles finish with the ‘Feedback welcome’ box and then the voting buttons and the one sentence biography of the author. I must be special 🙂

I’ve just received my spam summary and I see what’s happened. I was sent two copies of the newsletter: one in the old format from the old sender address (Editor@WindowsSecrets.com) that contained full articles and then a second one in the new format from the new sender address (windowssecrets@enews.windowssecrets.com). The second one was caught in my spam quarantine, but it has the truncated articles with links to click to read the whole thing.

I must be really special to be sent two copies of the newsletter 🙂

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I’ve just received my spam summary

Thanks. I thought the newsletter was starting today, but didn’t see it. Indeed it was in one of my spam folders. We will see Thursday if I got it permanently out and to my email box. Penton’s servers must have made a list.

Not much of a newsletter, but then the first few issues usually aren’t until editors and publishers say “since we have so much room why don’t we….”

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Sorry to see you make this decision of going to a paid only plan. I was a paying subscriber for many years and let my subscription lapse. I continued to view the free subscription as it was winding up in my email box. Alas I won’t be taking out a paid subscription. Sorry. I did find it a bit ironic in that the website winsupersite.com is familar to me as I use to visit it frequently to read a Windows column by a former columnist, Paul Thurrott who wrote a Windows column there. He has now moved on to be more independent as will I.

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What’s the difference between the $25, $39 and $59 subscription levels, if any?

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One difference about the way the WS Newsletter was presented online, relative to the previous format, I’m hoping will turn out to be an oversight rather than a deliberate design decision.

Up until last week, the e-mail circular had a Newsletter tab near the top, below which “This Issue” was pre-selected. Clicking on “This Issue” would take you to a Web page showing all of the articles in that issue of the newsletter, both paid and free (like here) and in their entirety.

This morning’s newsletter, however, lacks both the Newsletter tab and the “This Issue” link. There is a “View Online” link at the very top, which takes you to a Penton preview page.* Here, though, you cannot see the whole articles — an additional click on “More” is required for each and every article.

But wait, I see a link that promises to let me “See the full newsletter”. Clicking on that takes you to this page (http://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/seven-ways-to-breathe-new-life-into-an-older-pc/?elqTrack=true), where you can see the paid content — but not the free content.

Still hoping to find a single page where I could read ALL the content without resorting to additional hunting and clicking, by some now-forgotten process I ended up on the WS Home page, which displayed headlines for both the free and paid content. Hoping that clicking on the overall one for the newsletter (“Seven ways to breathe new life into an older PC”) might take me to the whole newsletter, I did that and arrived on this page. Still no full display of the content. Scrolling down to the end, I see a box that lists only the paid content (in contrast to the same spot in last week’s newsletter, which lists both the free and paid content) but offers a link to “Show all articles on a single page.” All articles? On a single page? Yay! So of course I clicked on it, as this is what I’ve been looking for all along.

I landed on this page, where I’ve already been during this adventure. The free content is not shown there.

So here’s my question (and suggestion): is there no longer any way to view all of the newsletter’s contents in one page? Is this deliberate, or an oversight?

Here’s hoping that it’s simply an oversight, because today it was a chore to read the Windows Secrets newsletter. What used to be a simple read-through session, today was a time-consuming hunt-and-peck for bits and pieces of the newsletter scattered here and there. Never mind that you can no longer read the whole newsletter right on your e-mail client — apparently you can’t read the whole newsletter anywhere!?

Please make some way to view the whole newsletter in a single page and requiring no additional clicking.

(*) Mods: I am not sure if there is any pesonally identifiable information in the long string of characters in the URL.

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(*) Mods: I am not sure if there is any pesonally identifiable information in the long string of characters in the URL.

Nope – none 🙂

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It seems the only way to access the whole news letter is to ignore the e-mailed extract and to go to the Windows Secrets page online and select the “Newsletters” tab (and log in if you want to see the full, paid version) and then choose the newsletter you wish to read. The full letter then opens. What a hassle; and you now have to pay more to enjoy this hassle!

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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(*) Mods: I am not sure if there is any pesonally identifiable information in the long string of characters in the URL.[/SIZE]

There is no need for that, you need to be logged in to read the full articles.

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Rather than pick nits, and give a general comment instead, it is this : there’s no longer any point to your mailed newsletter. The latest one (14 January) has no content. Just links to the online version. Value for money and convenience just went toes up.
There’s a zillion online help sites that do as much as the scaled-back, passive Windows Secrets does now.
When it’s renewal time, I’ll pass. And that’s not a maybe : that’s definite.
Three thumbs and four toes down !

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+1:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Please use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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is there no longer any way to view all of the newsletter’s contents in one page? Is this deliberate, or an oversight?

Tracey Capen’s piece about the changes said that very soon WS will be paid content only, ie no more free articles–those wanting free are encouraged to visit WinSuperSite iirc.

So I assume easy access to only the paid material is deliberate.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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All, we the admins, moderators, and VIPs of the Lounge have no input and no control over the newsletter. All content and policies are entirely up to Penton. While we understand the angst and anger about the changes some of the posts have bordered on being unacceptable according to our Rule #11.

As I posted before please use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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Sorry, I will NOT be renewing my subscription. The new email newsletter looks totally false and unauthorative and I hate having to click more links to see what I have paid for.

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Hi all, I am a long time WS subscriber. Before you do anything else, please do yourself a favor and -> using a non-personal computer or phone <-, completely read IF <- you don't mind such sharing for your email account (disposable email addresses anyone . . .) and many computer machine id's data for their "web beacons" and and "clear" 1 pixel web beacons and want to see the future home of Windows Secrets, the "winsupersite", you may visit it on the Penton.com web site. Normally, I would give the link but not this time. Once sent, you cannot undo the data transfer to Penton you will be providing on viewing their website. And I expect that all of us might as well consider the old WS statement re: Privacy and non-sharing to be "null and void". The current WS FAQ has the link to the Penron "Privacy" terms. The very last new website connection I need now is another one which spews my computer data. Perhaps, a good use for perhaps an old junk pc machine for the new Windows Secrets publications 'whatever' and other problematic sites. Opinion of this subscriber: realizing that many of the old writers will still be contributors (subject to Penron approval), much of the old positive "spirit" of the founders and long time "customer centric" supportive attitudes are already gone. May these past WS experiences that brought many of us into WS rest in Peace in our memories. Cheers!

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Hi all, I am a long time WS subscriber. Before you do anything else, please do yourself a favor and -> using a non-personal computer or phone <-, completely read IF <- you don't mind such sharing for your email account (disposable email addresses anyone . . .) and many computer machine id's data for their "web beacons" and and "clear" 1 pixel web beacons and want to see the future home of Windows Secrets, the "winsupersite", you may visit it on the Penton.com web site. Normally, I would give the link but not this time. Once sent, you cannot undo the data transfer to Penton you will be providing on viewing their website. And I expect that all of us might as well consider the old WS statement re: Privacy and non-sharing to be "null and void". The current WS FAQ has the link to the Penton "Privacy" terms. The very last new website connection I need now is another one which spews my computer data. Perhaps, a good use for perhaps an old junk pc machine for the new Windows Secrets publications 'whatever' and other problematic sites. Opinion of this subscriber: realizing that many of the old writers will still be contributors (subject to Penton approval), much of the old positive "spirit" of the founders and long time "customer centric" supportive attitudes are already gone. May these past WS experiences that brought many of us into WS rest in Peace in our memories. Cheers!

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I read today’s (Jan 12) newsletter before I read the Jan 7 newsletter. I was startled to see the new look and thought “what the hell has happened here” as I read on. I did not like the look and wondered what will happen as WindowsSecrets and the new year move along. When I saw the Powered by Penton logo at the bottom of the newsletter I was somewhat sad, maybe disappointed is a better word. I think that takeovers and mergers almost always seem to be a huge negative after the shakeout occurs. Negative for the employees affected and the resulting product. I hope I’m wrong regarding the WindowsSecrets newsletter. I also started with the free edition and then became a paid subscriber because of the value of the content that I received. Time will tell what I’ll do as this shakeout continues. I want to stay and support this valuable source of “Everything Microsoft forgot to mention”. Based on seven pages of comments to this point in time the majority of readers are not satisfied and the “over 400k” readership may slip some. Tracey, Kathleen, Fred, Susan, Lincoln, et all. I’m pulling for this huge change to work out for you as well as for us in the field. But I’m also worried that WS is now “Powered by Penton”.

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Sadly, it’ll be goodbye from me. Do not like the new-look email. Certainly don’t want it twice a week – adding to a stuffed inbox.

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I find it interesting… almost 24 hours since I posted my thoughts about the now “Powered by Penton”, WS newsletter. Comments have not gone past page seven. I spent a few minutes looking at the seven pages and the location of readers that posted their thoughts. Absolutely impressed at the world-wide following this publication attracts! And that’s from those that supplied location on this one thread! That’s all. For now, signing off.

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Sadly it will be goodbye from me, a paid subscriber. I do not like the new email letter. It smacks of a corporate production, not to be trusted and forcing you to click on links to see content and no doubt adverts and other nasties. I certainly don’t want it twice-a-week joining an already stuffed inbox. As others have said, there’s plenty of other sources to find windows tips/secrets.

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I have not recieved todays newsletter. I had to sign in to my account and then send an e-mail to request a link to have this sent to me. Still waiting for link more than 1 hour 20 minutes later. The is a backwards step. The old system of clicking the re-send link, which was responded to almost right away, was the best and correct way. It was user friendly. Now! it is insulting to the reader to have to send an e-mail NOT to get the mail sent BUT to get a link to [re]send or in my case just send it for the first time. Please do NOT try and say this is for security reasons

Do I like the new newsletter NO!

Why? My way of reading the newsletter was to download a copy onto both my laptop & my tablet. I always read the security patch right away [on PC] but at least 60% of the time the rest of the letter was read on my tablet when out and about and when updateing [windows] on my desktop. At some of these times [because of location] there is normally no internet connection. This will no longer be possible. So effectivley I will not be able to read my newsletter at a time suitable to me. I will have to either not read it or pick a time forced on me [when I have internet access].

Even though money is tight for me my first action after being notified about the changes was to upgrade to the second subscription package even though my renewal is not until August. It now looks like I will be cancelling my subscription before that. Change is inevetable but in this case it is definately not made for the readers benifit. I have been a reader since the days of the Langa List and thought is was that good that I went the paid route with it. Now I will have to start looking for something that cares about suscribersreaders welfare. 😡

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Do I like the new newsletter NO!

Why? My way of reading the newsletter was to download a copy onto both my laptop & my tablet. I always read the security patch right away [on PC] but at least 60% of the time the rest of the letter was read on my tablet when out and about and when updateing [windows] on my desktop. At some of these times [because of location] there is normally no internet connection. This will no longer be possible. So effectivley I will not be able to read my newsletter at a time suitable to me. I will have to either not read it or pick a time forced on me [when I have internet access].

I, too, read my newsletters offline, partly when travelling in areas with no internet access (and there are many such areas in the U.S. and Canada), but also because my plan has a data-cap and reading everything online is just not an acceptable solution.

Additionally, I am one of those who will put off Windows 10 until I have no other choice. So the most useful part of the newsletter recently has been Patch Watch. That alone is insufficient reason to continue my subscription. I’ve been a Fred Langa fan since the early days of the LangaList, but much of his focus is also turning to W10.

From my perspective, the new subscription approach totally ignores readers in my situation. Each additional GB per month, or part thereof, of data is $20. Paying that to see irrelevant images or videos is just out of the question.

I was sad when Fred Langa moved to WS, but continued with a subscription donation of varying amounts depending on my circumstances because his column, at that time, was worth it.

I’ll also add my name to the list of those who are less than thrilled with the Penton privacy policy. [A reading of the article at The Consumerist might be of interest in this regard: http://consumerist.com/2016/01/13/3-common-misconceptions-1-important-truth-about-privacy-policies/ ]

I’m not sure why, but I’m also feeling saddened, rather than angered, by this change in direction of the WS newsletter.

It was a good run while it lasted,

–George

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How much did the lifetime subscriptions cost, anyway? I am always reluctant to even consider “lifetime” products because businesses can fail, be merged or acquired, bring in new management who might declare that the “lifetime is over”, or in the case of software, become irrelevant or abandoned by the developer, etc.

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Since Penton is going to renege on their obligations to lifetime subscribers, I’m going to renege on Penton (and Windows Secrets). I followed Fred Langa here. If Penton is as high-handed with staff as they are with readers, I expect Fred will soon depart and start his own newsletter again. I’ll be happy to pay Fred directly, but not one cent to Penton. We lifetime subscribers had an executory contract with WS that was unilaterally terminated by Penton upon acquisition of the franchise. Penton’s behavior is shameful and unethical. They can eat my shorts!

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@kc27 (He asks, “How much is life time …)
I paid US$200 for life time.
If divided by 5-year = $40/year! Hah! They got me!
Break-even point is $200/$25 = 8 years.
Life time buy is based on trust.
Advice: Don’t trust. Pay as you go.

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I guess if you already had 5 years into a lifetime plan then getting another 5 years on top of that might ease the pain. I paid $25 because I felt the newsletter gave me that much value. However, Windows Secrets did have a certain David vs Goliath (big media) charm in its original incarnation. Here is an interesting article about those earlier times.

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Well, I’ve had my latest newsletter, with the excellent Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch column. The rest can go hang, I either know about it or can find out elsewhere if/when I need to. The ‘Hitchhikers Guide’ is IMHO somewhat patronising – “We’ve received lots of feedback and support from you this week, along with many questions. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.” (But we’ll carry on just as we planned, spamming you twice a week with extraneous stuff). I’ll repeat my request for a paid for Patch Watch newsletter once a month. Otherwise I can’t see me renewing when my old subscription expires.

Win10 22H2 Pro, MBAM Premium, Firefox, OpenOffice, Sumatra PDF.

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Just seen in today’s newsletter.

>Unfortunately, we can no longer honor lifetime subscriptions purchased over five years ago. When current lifetime subscriptions reach their fifth-year anniversary, we hope you will accept one of our resubscription offers.

I think you mean “will no longer honor”, rather than “can”. The agreement for a “lifetime” subscription was my lifetime or the newsletter’s. I’m still alive and the newsletter still exists so this move is you choosing to break an agreement that I made with you in good faith. I will not give you any more money because you have chosen to default on our agreement.

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Your point that the use of “can” is inaccurate is absolutely correct. The new owners have made a CHOICE not to honor the obligations of the previous owners.

Without having seen the documents surrounding the acquisition (and without knowing the form), it’s not clear to me as a mergers & acquisitions lawyer for over 30 years how the obligations of the lifetime subscriptions were handled in the transaction(s). In most transactions, regardless whether the form is an asset sale, merger, stock sale, etc., the obligations of the seller are assumed by the buyer. Sometimes, specific liabilities are excluded, and the seller indemnifies the buyer against them. So, what’s happened here is not clear – did the buyer negotiate an exclusion for the liability associated with the lifetime subscriptions? That would mean that while third parties would still proceed against the buyer, the buyer would look to the seller to pay the cost of any lawsuit or any judgment. That would mean the sellers intentionally sold us all down the river, betting no one would do anything about it.

The alternative is that the issue was not discussed and the liability passed to the new owners, who have cynically decided no one will try to enforce the obligation, since each individual has so little at stake. Of course, that’s why class action lawsuits were invented. There are lawyers who make their entire livings by bringing class action lawsuits against entities that figure no one will do anything because the cost of asserting their rights is too high individually.

I note that Penton, the new owners, is a privately held company, owned by Wasserstein & Company/MidOcean Partners — an investment banking firm and a private equity firm. Windows Secrets is pretty small beer in the whole scheme of things for the ultimate owners, but you can bet that some mid-level executives bonus (or perhaps even continued employment) depends on better monetizing (as the phrase goes these days) the intellectual property which Windows Secrets represents.

If it’s expensive enough to kill the lifetime subscriptions, they won’t. If they think it’s cheaper to kill them, they will.

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I’m sure it would include some sticky issues in a class action lawsuit when including crossing state lines and using credit cards. Master, Visa, Discover and American Express can be a bit touchy when services paid for are not provided to their card holders.

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Well number 2 has arrived. OK, Tracey has answered some of our questions but seems pretty unsympathetic to many of the comments on here. What is very clear though is that the ONLY way to read the newsletter is online as the emailed version has a very small amount of the content in it. Those who want to read it in places where they have no internet access are out of luck. I see no reason why they could not have the full content in the emailed magazine especially as from next week it will only be sent to paid up members.

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Who thought it was a good idea to make article authors’ names very light grey on a white background in the new newsletter emails?

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When I link out to: http://windowssecrets.com/introduction/coming-changes-to-the-windows-secrets-newsletter all of the text below the poll – those actually explaining the changes – is greyed out.

That alone leaves me with a very bad feeling about Penton and the “new” Windows Secrets. Most people don’t have time in their lives for any additional BS. This is BS and Penton/Windows Secrets et al are now being thrown overboard…

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Just got the email today about the new daily newsletters, but it said I’d be notified when my current free newsletter would end – which I have yet to receive.

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The fonts are too small and not dark/bold enough. The old newsletter was so much easier to read. I know you are trying to hop on the “go light” bandwagon like android/google products etc. but it is not good. Bad enough that the newsletter has a narrow fixed width and any figures/pix included with it are too small to be meaningful, but the lighter, thinner, and perceived smaller, font makes it even worse.
Don’t think I could be enticed into paying for something that is worse and harder to read than the old newsletter. Changes/fixes are needed to make the new newsletter “saleable”.

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A lifetime sub is just that. Let’s see how long this goes on when all the lifers are dead… Easter happened once. Thanks for the memories of a very good, very helpful NEWSLetter.

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This is a sad time for me. I have followed Fred Langa for many years as he went from one association to another. I got involved with early computers many years ago, in 1963 in the US Navy, and have been involved in many ways since. When Fred went with WS, I found a way to indulge my interest with an informative newsletter once a week. Thursday became a day to renew old ties and enjoy useful information. I retired years ago and had to cancel my paid subscriptions to everything; magazines, newsletters, etc. Expenses must be controlled closely when on a limited fixed income. Even though access to WS info was limited on a free subscription, it was still informative and useful. From what I saw of the latest issue, info in the free version is nothing but a little bait. Tell as little as possible to make you want to buy more. Now it appears there is no useful info from the free version so if you don’t or can’t pay for a subscription, then go away. It looks like that’s what I’ll have to do. I’m sorry to see you go.

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I’m ok with some of the changes. I’ve paid for my subscription for several years and believe the current pricing is fair for the value I get. What I do not care for is not including the full text of the articles in the email. I find that it discourages me from reading the full article and is there for the benefit of the producer rather than the reader.

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Way to go Windows Secrets…

You took the last remaining tech newsletter I actually pay for and turned it into the type of garbage I skip over.

By the way, it is a newsLETTER. Emphasis on “LETTER”.

If you send me an email that forces me to go to a website that then forces me to sign in, it IS NOT a newsLETTER anymore.

I want to open my email and read my newsLETTER. I DO NOT want to have to then open a browser and I DO NOT want to then have to log in. You know I have a subscription, and you are sending me an email with a link to the website. Just send me the darn newsLETTER.

And let’s get real here. If you’ve already generated a newsLETTER page, turning that into an email should take one of your web interns all of about 30 minutes. Or you could just code it properly from the get go and have both versions render simultaneously. So I don’t buy the “cost” argument. Again, YOU’RE ALREADY SENDING OUT THE EMAIL WITH THE LINKS ANYWAY???

So, I’ll probably click the link from time to time and see what’s going on, but come 2016 when my current paid subscription expires, unless someone over there takes a step back and really evaluates what this newsLETTER used to be and how to get back there, I WILL NOT be renewing. If I have to go to the web to read it, I might as well just go to the other tech websites I already go to without the hassles you’ve introduced.

And screwing over your lifetime members??? That’s just wrong. When the conglomerate evaluated this newsLETTER for takeover, part of the due diligence should have been to identify the existing lifetime membership and understand that maintaining that was part of the deal. Quite frankly, anybody paying out more than a year with this new entity should think twice.

A once loyal reader,

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I agree 100% with this post. I am a long-time lifetime subscriber. My account profile page still says “You have a lifetime subscription.” I expect Windows Secrets (or whatever it will be called in the future) will honor its obligations and commitments. It is an outrage that the new editors and ownership have unilaterally redefined “lifetime subscription” to be “5-year subscription”. For me, since I have been a lifetime subscriber for more that 5 years, this means “no subscription.” How the editors can justify this is beyond me. Not a happy camper.
Jon

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How the editors can justify this is beyond me. Not a happy camper.
Jon

I too agree with everything said here. When my ‘lifetime’ subscription expires I’m very unlikely to pay. I don’t like the format but could live with that (even if its stupid to have to log in to read a ‘newsletter’!), but dishonesty should not be rewarded and changing the terms of my lifetime subscription unilaterally is simply dishonest and unethical.

I don’t know what consumer laws are like in the good ol USA but in Australia where I am such an action would be jumped on by the competition regulator as illegal. You purchase a company with contracts, then you purchase the contracts and my lifetime subscription was a contract. I paid an amount up front and Windows Secrets agreed to provide the newsletter for as long as it existed.

Very sad day indeed.

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Use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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Use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.
Joe

how about contacting [voting] with our feet?

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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how about contacting [voting] with our feet?

You have that option too.

Joe

--Joe

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ah, man, i forgot to add my smilie in my earlier post

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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I tend to agree with the comments regarding “user-friendliness” of the new “newsletter”. I understand the reasoning for the change, but to be honest, I don’t like it! Opening the letter and reading it in my mail is the kind of user-friendliness I am used to and like.

And whilst I fully understand the practicalities involved in trying to verify member’s true capabilities to afford the new subscriptions, it is a fact that (in my own case, for example) the South African Rand/US Dollar exchange rate has made even the new lowest rated subscription very expensive here in South Africa (for example, the Windows Secrets News Letter now costs me more than my annual subscription to the “hard copy’ version of Scientific American!!!!)

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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It is really too bad. Woody and Fred usually provide thoughtful content. Oops, no more Woody. I guess the talent knows when to leave too!

I’d be curious… How many positive messages do you think the “editor” has received so far, if any? No need to answer; I think we all know where this is going. But perhaps in a moment of clarity some decision maker over at Penton might realize they just threw away whatever value they think they paid for when they acquired Windows Secrets.

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All, we the admins, moderators, and VIPs of the Lounge have no input and no control over the newsletter. All content and policies are entirely up to Penton. While we understand the angst and anger about the changes some of the posts have bordered on being unacceptable according to our Rule #11.

As I posted before please use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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I’ve mainly subscribed over the last couple of years for Susan Bradley’s excellent Patch Watch, although I found some of the other newsletter articles interesting enough to read through them in the emailed newsletter from time to time. In its present truncated form, however, I see the newsletter primarily as a prompt for me that there is a new Patch Watch to read on the website, and it seems unlikely that I’ll see enough of the other articles to be drawn to them.

I don’t know what the different level subscriptions relate to, but if for the base rate of $25 I can continue to get Patch Watch and Susan continues to write it, then I shall doubtless continue even tho’ I’m being asked to pay double the current price in return for a reduced quality newsletter service. I happily admit that Patch Watch remains good value at that level. However, if that service became over-priced as the only item that interests me, or Susan were to discontinue it, then there’d be no reason for me to subscribe at all.

I don’t mind change, but why does it always have to be for the worse?

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I’m being asked to pay double the current price

It may be more than that; it depends on how you do the computation. Not all that long ago, the paid version had ‘pay whatever you want’ pricing. I assume that that meant as little as a dollar a year, and that the management was depending on the quality of the articles to persuade people to voluntarily pay more.

Thanks.
C.

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It may be more than that; it depends on how you do the computation. Not all that long ago, the paid version had ‘pay whatever you want’ pricing. I assume that that meant as little as a dollar a year, and that the management was depending on the quality of the articles to persuade people to voluntarily pay more.

Thanks.
C.

I understand that, however in my case I was quoted $12 per annum which is what I’ve been paying, hence my reference to $25 being double the price – approximately, of course :)!

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Well it didn’t take long, my verdict is in on the new newsletter, I don’t like it! So far. Here’s why …..

In the “old” days when decisions were taken in smoke filled rooms one could always blame poor decisions on someone smoking the ‘wrong’ tobacco. Metaphorically speaking, what were you all smoking? Now I understand a profit has to be made, it’s a business after all and we all enjoy eating and having a roof over our heads but …….

It’s not the content, it’s the way that the newsletter is delivered and the tracking that upsets me most. I want to be able to read it off-line, short snippets just don’t hack it and if you’ve ever been in an area with dodgy access you’ll know that relying on the cloud is bad news. Why, oh why, do companies seem to think that the internet is freely available to everyone everywhere? I guess many people read the newsletter on the morning commute, will they have to sign in again after every tunnel?

Because I now don’t get the full articles I can no longer store away the content locally and use my own search engine to find things at a later date. I often think to myself “I read something about this subject some months or even years ago” and I could use the search engine to find it on all sorts of keywords, and it doesn’t have to be in Windows Secrets either. Now I can’t do that! I’ve already found a semi work-a-round but it isn’t as good as having the whole original newsletter. I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO SIGN IN TO YOUR SITE TO DO A SEARCH!!!!! In fact it just won’t happen.

I also read that Penton have redefined the word “lifetime”. That really sounds like a snide Microsoft tactic. Thank goodness I don’t have a lifetime subscription otherwise I would be hopping mad. A very, very, very poor show! Can you legally do such a thing? Presumably, yes, but these kind of actions destroy the trust that has been a cornerstone of Windows Secrets.

I think much of the change is marketing/money based. When I look at the links to each article the data in the code leads me to assume my reading is being tracked. I REALLY, REALLY HATE THAT! It’s unnecessary and the sort of deviousness that I have come to expect from Microsoft, Google and others. Not Windows Secrets! Perhaps an idea for a future article would be “How Windows Secrets track you and what we know about you”. What next? Should we expect ‘targeted ads’? Will you be selling the email database? If ‘lifetime’ has been redefined will the statement “All subscribers are covered by our Ironclad Privacy Guarantee” suffer the same fate?

It all seems to be going a bit corporate. I will try to enjoy the content until my subscription ends. Windows Secrets has been the ONLY newsletter I subscribed to but just now renewal is in jeopardy.

Should the strapline be changed from ‘Everything Microsoft forgot to mention’ to ‘Everything Microsoft/Google/Linux/Apple et al forgot to mention (and Penton too)’.

I don’t like what I am hearing and reading so far. I hope common sense prevails otherwise this may be a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Don’t listen to the marketing people, sometimes change isn’t the best thing. There is an old saying “if it aint broke don’t fix it”. Was it broken or did you break it?

Think on guys, think on …………..

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Use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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Perhaps an idea for a future article would be “How Windows Secrets track you and what we know about you”.

That would be a GREAT article! I hope it’s in the “free” section. (If there is one.)

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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That would be a GREAT article! I hope it’s in the “free” section. (If there is one.)

I think that “free” left as WS entered the Penton building, LOL.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I also read that Penton have redefined the word “lifetime”. That really sounds like a snide Microsoft tactic.

Yes.

Thank goodness I don’t have a lifetime subscription otherwise I would be hopping mad. A very, very, very poor show! Can you legally do such a thing?

No.

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I think much of the change is marketing/money based. When I look at the links to each article the data in the code leads me to assume my reading is being tracked.
…
It all seems to be going a bit corporate.

Yes indeed, Penton has all the trappings of the corporate world, it even went thru one of those scam-like bankruptcies around 5 years ago.

Your reading is indeed being tracked. Now many publications and sites track your reading for good reasons–eg what articles soared or tanked this week, which site pages are never visited, etc. So tracking isn’t bad per se, altho of course many like you just don’t like it anyway.

Penton is the other kind of tracking. A couple of years ago they made the move to sell their subscriber info directly, that’s many millions of people’s info. So it’s a reasonable assumption that the Windows Secrets subscriber list has already been meshed into this project–for which a whole separate division was founded.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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A couple of years ago [Penton] made the move to sell their subscriber info directly, that’s many millions of people’s info. So it’s a reasonable assumption that the Windows Secrets subscriber list has already been meshed into this project–for which a whole separate division was founded.

On the subscription preference page it still says: “We will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever.”

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Penton is the other kind of tracking. A couple of years ago they made the move to sell their subscriber info directly, that’s many millions of people’s info. So it’s a reasonable assumption that the Windows Secrets subscriber list has already been meshed into this project–for which a whole separate division was founded.

Yeah. I wondered. That’s why I changed my WS account address this weekend to my “junk” delivery email address. There’s no point in saving any WS “newsletters” any longer, and I’ll definitely be leaving when my current subscription expires, so “into the abyss” it is henceforth directed.

“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?“

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I note that the Windows Secrets Subscription Preferences pages still shows the Privacy Policy that states:

[*]We will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever.
[*]We will never send you any unrequested e-mail, besides e-mail communications regarding the Windows Secrets Newsletter, newsletter updates, or announcements for new products or services we might develop.
[*]All unsubscribe requests are honored immediately, period.

If that policy changes, we must be given advance notice, and a chance to “immediately, period.” unsubscribe.

I remain very unhappy with the changes to the newsletter (now merely a digest) and the dishonoring of the lifetime subscriptions. Bad faith all around from Penton.

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Sadly, after spending the better part of an hour reading these myriad posts I will have to add my voice to the chorus of all the other thoroughly disgruntled subscribers (and now former subscribers) of this once-great newsletter. As have many others here, I go back to the earliest days of Brian Livingston, Fred Langa and Woody Leonhard; I too, faithfully followed them and eventually ended-up at Windows Secrets from its earliest inception. I started out as a free subscriber but rather quickly became a paid one because of the decent and largely useful content contained in the newsletter. I always made my most generous contribution on a yearly basis, even though I’m bombarded with free offers of IT industry newsletters and trade magazines on a near-daily basis. However, the change of useful delivery format combined with the price-gouging sum of $25.00 (and up) is just too much to bear, especially in this day and age of shrinking work hours and stagnant wages; that’s more than I used to pay for print publications like PC World, PC Magazine and the like, for God’s sake! I was happy to make my yearly contribution and I felt that I got commensurate value out of it but these Penton cretins have quickly and neatly priced me right out of the market, and something tells me that I’m far from alone. They are cutting off their nose to spite their face and will soon see the fatal error of their ways when this really nice little publication tanks along with the great contributing writers who helped make it what it was after all these years. If by some miracle they have a change of heart and revert to their original game plan then I’ll be only too happy to jump back on the bandwagon, but not before; it is simply not feasible given the current economic climate. So “until we meet again Windows Secrets”, here’s hoping you recognize the folly of your current direction before you cease to exist; the rats already appear to be abandoning your sinking ship in droves…

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Sadly, after spending the better part of an hour reading these myriad posts I will have to add my voice to the chorus of all the other thoroughly disgruntled subscribers (and now former subscribers) of this once-great newsletter. As have many others here, I go back to the earliest days of Brian Livingston, Fred Langa and Woody Leonhard; I too, faithfully followed them and eventually ended-up at Windows Secrets from its earliest inception. I started out as a free subscriber but rather quickly became a paid one because of the decent and largely useful content contained in the newsletter. I always made my most generous contribution on a yearly basis, even though I’m bombarded with free offers of IT industry newsletters and trade magazines on a near-daily basis. However, the change of useful delivery format combined with the price-gouging sum of $25.00 (and up) is just too much to bear, especially in this day and age of shrinking work hours and stagnant wages; that’s more than I used to pay for print publications like PC World, PC Magazine and the like, for God’s sake! I was happy to make my yearly contribution and I felt that I got commensurate value out of it but these Penton cretins have quickly and neatly priced me right out of the market, and something tells me that I’m far from alone. They are cutting off their nose to spite their face and will soon see the fatal error of their ways when this really nice little publication tanks along with the great contributing writers who helped make it what it was after all these years. If by some miracle they have a change of heart and revert to their original game plan then I’ll be only too happy to jump back on the bandwagon, but not before; it is simply not feasible given the current economic climate. So “until we meet again Windows Secrets”, here’s hoping you recognize the folly of your current direction before you cease to exist; the rats already appear to be abandoning your sinking ship in droves…

Ditto.
What he said. :coffeetime:

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Add me to the voices of lifetime subscribers who are disappointed with the changes in Windows Secrets Newsletter. I’m disheartened both by the plan to eliminate the lifetime subscriptions and by the changed format for the newsletter to a digest. 🙁

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Sadly, after spending the better part of an hour reading these myriad posts I will have to add my voice to the chorus of all the other thoroughly disgruntled subscribers (and now former subscribers) of this once-great newsletter. As have many others here, I go back to the earliest days of Brian Livingston, Fred Langa and Woody Leonhard; I too, faithfully followed them and eventually ended-up at Windows Secrets from its earliest inception. I started out as a free subscriber but rather quickly became a paid one because of the decent and largely useful content contained in the newsletter. I always made my most generous contribution on a yearly basis, even though I’m bombarded with free offers of IT industry newsletters and trade magazines on a near-daily basis. However, the change of useful delivery format combined with the price-gouging sum of $25.00 (and up) is just too much to bear, especially in this day and age of shrinking work hours and stagnant wages; that’s more than I used to pay for print publications like PC World, PC Magazine and the like, for God’s sake! I was happy to make my yearly contribution and I felt that I got commensurate value out of it but these Penton cretins have quickly and neatly priced me right out of the market, and something tells me that I’m far from alone. They are cutting off their nose to spite their face and will soon see the fatal error of their ways when this really nice little publication tanks along with the great contributing writers who helped make it what it was after all these years. If by some miracle they have a change of heart and revert to their original game plan then I’ll be only too happy to jump back on the bandwagon, but not before; it is simply not feasible given the current economic climate. So “until we meet again Windows Secrets”, here’s hoping you recognize the folly of your current direction before you cease to exist; the rats already appear to be abandoning your sinking ship in droves…

Have to agree with this, I’ll be leaving when my subscription expires.

WS has been great over the years, shame it’s ended this way with some firm taking it over just to make a fast buck

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All, we the admins, moderators, and VIPs of the Lounge have no input and no control over the newsletter. All content and policies are entirely up to Penton. While we understand the angst and anger about the changes some of the posts have bordered on being unacceptable according to our Rule #11.

As I posted before please use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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I’ve never had any problems after any Windows Updates, but acknowledge some have.

For that I don’t feel the need to pay someone the Stirling equivalent of $25 and from previous threads, Susan Bradley’s blog or whatever, is often out of date with previously advised updates put on hold without a Go follow up.

I click on each update – click on More info to check that it applies and isn’t Telemetry or Win 10 related then check its box for inclusion.

Some may be content to pay the increased charge to have someone hold their hand, but with regular system images – I think I’m covered on that.

I’ve only ever had the free version, but for a good while have found very little of interest in it and for me, a daily newsletter may start to take on the form of spam if it just has stocking fillers in it to flesh it out, which will have me reaching for the Unsubscribe button rather going for the paid for one.

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This is my first – and probably last – time on the site, and in the Lounge. I’ve already expressed my displeasure via the Contacts page.

I followed Brian here from the old print publication days. I even recall corresponding with him via snail mail a few times (prob’ly 25 years past lol). Think about that …taking pen to paper and buying a stamp lol.

I registered today specifically to publicly express my unhappiness with the changes.

I’ve no time nor inclination to link through from a twice weekly email (seriously …what were you thinking, Penton), that some stupidly short-sighted and inane corporate-shirts revenue wonks – having totally misread what loyal WS readers and proud nerd subscribers (of over a decade) will tolerate – to what will undoubtedly morph into another ad-centric website …just to read about tech that I can easily and quickly search for as I need, when I need.

WS was convenient, and I felt a degree of loyalty to some writers, and the concept, simply based upon past history.

But all things come to an end.

I have no desire to participate in yet another click-bait website.

(Good lord, I had to refresh the page a half dozen times to struggle past the ad scripts to edit my reply. And I’m supposed to accept this as the new normal? – I think not lol.)

Penton? – Big mistake.

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Shame on Penton, shame and shame again.

Not for beginning to charge for the newsletter, which I don’t like but do understand, in today’s market.

The shame is for the treatment of “lifetime subscribers”. I’m a lifetime subscriber three times over, two inherited from merged newsletters and the third I paid for. How dare you now define “lifetime” as “the first 5 years after you pay”. That penalizes long-time subscribers even more than recent ones!

I’m not saying any subscription should be free forever. I’m saying that lifetime subscribers deserve a very big discount, as a reward for their investment in WindowsSecrets. I think $10/year would be fair for lifetime subscribers, basically just the cost of handling the subscription. Anything more is fraud, plain and simple.

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I finally got an e-mail [this morning – more than 24 hours] with a link to the latest newsletter. LO and behold it does not supply link to an e-mail but to the website. This is NOT what I paid £35.00 [ish] – approx 50$ -a year donation for. I paid for a newsletter NOT access to a website to read the info in it [the supposed newsletter]

I responded to the e-mail I recieved from customer support at penton and informed them that when my present subscription comes to an end [at beginning of August] I will not be renewing it.

Like a lot of folks I followed Fred Langa to Windows Secrets and I would sign up to try an get a monthly newsletter from Susan. A big part of the blame must lie with WS as they MUST have known EXACTLY what was going to happen to the newsletter. There should be an option to recieve the full newletter by e-mal or the abrieved information about the newsletter which in my opinion can no longer be classed as a newsletter.

The e-mail address for their customer support is customersupport@penton.com and I suggest that folks mail them and inform them of your displeasure. It will not make them change their minds or attitudes but it will let them see our displeasure.
ErnieK

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I’ll be happy to pay Fred directly, but not one cent to Penton.

Exactly. Me too,

In all nine pages of reactions, has there been one of praise and support? The message seems loud and clear, Windows Secret has been busted.

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It was interesting to read that a number of subscribers like to read the (paid) version of the newsletter offline. Since the very beginning of Windows Secrets I have been archiving the e-mails in an Outlook PST file folder, and using one or more e-mail search tools (which have changed over the years) to find things of immediate interest (obviously frequently at a date far removed from the newsletter’s original distribution). This has worked well for me. But now it will serve absolutely no purpose to archive the e-mails, since they no longer contain the full text of the articles. But obviously I could navigate to the web site and view the entire text of all articles for any specific date and then use the web browser’s “Save [As]” facility to save the machine-readable HTML document in a folder somewhere, and then use a different search tool (in the future) to search those files.

However, the process does not work. Note that I said it does not (even) work! Yes, the files are saved (by IE, Chrome, or FireFox), but neither one of those three browsers can (or will) then actually exhibit the saved web page (no matter which web browser was used to save it originally).

In addition, for what used to be a 100 to 200 KB e-mail, the size (on disk) of the saved HTML version of the smallest of the currently-thus-available three newsletters (512, 513, and 514) is 2 MB (to be precise, 2,022,080 bytes), which is an order of magnitude larger! Looking at the saved file, most of it is not actual useful text or images, but JavaScript files and other useless (from an archive perspective) junk.

This is not an improvement — even if it were actually made to work. But, the plain truth is that it simply does not work. Currently, there is apparently no way for a subscriber to archive the machine readable content of any Windows Secrets newsletter. The ten-fold expansion of space required to do so is irritating, but that will probably be a lost cause. Regardless, it simply does not work.

If this BUG is not fixed, I will join the group of lost subscribers. I hope the technical folks at Penton will acknowledge that this is a BUG. Some web sites think the INability to save web pages for future (offline) reference is a FEATURE.

We shall see.

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It was interesting to read that a number of subscribers like to read the (paid) version of the newsletter offline. Since the very beginning of Windows Secrets I have been archiving the e-mails in an Outlook PST file folder, and using one or more e-mail search tools (which have changed over the years) to find things of immediate interest (obviously frequently at a date far removed from the newsletter’s original distribution). This has worked well for me. But now it will serve absolutely no purpose to archive the e-mails, since they no longer contain the full text of the articles. But obviously I could navigate to the web site and view the entire text of all articles for any specific date and then use the web browser’s “Save [As]” facility to save the machine-readable HTML document in a folder somewhere, and then use a different search tool (in the future) to search those files.

However, the process does not work. Note that I said it does not (even) work! Yes, the files are saved (by IE, Chrome, or FireFox), but neither one of those three browsers can (or will) then actually exhibit the saved web page (no matter which web browser was used to save it originally).

In addition, for what used to be a 100 to 200 KB e-mail, the size (on disk) of the saved HTML version of the smallest of the currently-thus-available three newsletters (512, 513, and 514) is 2 MB (to be precise, 2,022,080 bytes), which is an order of magnitude larger! Looking at the saved file, most of it is not actual useful text or images, but JavaScript files and other useless (from an archive perspective) junk.

This is not an improvement — even if it were actually made to work. But, the plain truth is that it simply does not work. Currently, there is apparently no way for a subscriber to archive the machine readable content of any Windows Secrets newsletter. The ten-fold expansion of space required to do so is irritating, but that will probably be a lost cause. Regardless, it simply does not work.

If this BUG is not fixed, I will join the group of lost subscribers. I hope the technical folks at Penton will acknowledge that this is a BUG. Some web sites think the INability to save web pages for future (offline) reference is a FEATURE.

We shall see.

I just saved the latest newsletter in .MHT format (Palemoon with the UnMHT extension but you can do similar with other browsers). 1.3MB file with everything in it and looks pretty similar to the original. The original 200kB emails were such because they did not contain the graphics, those were stored remote and downloaded when you opened the email (lazy html).

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I just saved the latest newsletter in .MHT format (Palemoon with the UnMHT extension but you can do similar with other browsers). 1.3MB file with everything in it and looks pretty similar to the original. The original 200kB emails were such because they did not contain the graphics, those were stored remote and downloaded when you opened the email (lazy html).

Worked for me too!
:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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The computing world is full of disappearing “lifetime” subscriptons, Malwarebytes to name but one. I got in there, too, while it was still “lifetime”. Windows Secrets, presumably, was happy at the time with their “lifetime” subscriptions to start with, though they also retired theirs when too many people had bitten their hands off, recognising great value when they saw it.

I am a trustee of a charity that has far too many non-contributing life members, but, apart from abolishing the class of “Life Member” there’s nothing that we can do about it. We exhort them to stump up from time to time, and the decent ones do.

Then, along comes Penton, and finds it inconvenient that the “thing” that they have bought has an inconvenient number of “lifetime” members. And, what do they do? They deem my lifetime to be five years from sometime, whenever. I shall be 70 this year, and my parents both lived past 95. Following the principle that one inherits the lifetime of one’s parents, I have a quarter of a century to be a pain-in-the-neck to Penton.

I like the idea of engaging my credit card issuer in the idea of a service paid for and not delivered. It’s not the money, not a lot to me, and, even less, in the overall scheme of things, to Penton. If they bought WS with such a thin margin, and the rump of non-contributing “lifetime” members really is a problem to their outcome from the acquisition, then shame on them for doing such lousy due diligence. Rather, it’s the principle, and the way they obfuscated the issue, thinking they could get away with it.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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Windows Secrets might not have been profitable with the lifetime subscription and the name-your-own-price model. Maybe that’s why it has changed ownership twice in the past 6 years. Can there be that many lifetime subscribers where it would be financially harmful to the publisher to say: “starting in January 2016, whatever you initially paid for your “Lifetime” subscription will be divided by $15, that number will be added to 2016, and that will be your new subscription end date?” That way those who bought a lifetime subscription from the previous Windows Secrets owners, would be paying less than the new minimum yearly price charged by the new owners.

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I am a subscriber, but not a “lifetime” one.

Windows Secrets, when offering their lifetime subscription deal, took a calculated risk that it would be worth their while. At the same time, the subscribers to the offer made a similar judgement; they didn’t know how long WS would be around, or what the future content quality would be, but coughed up in good faith.

This current move by WS (or Penton if you like) is unconscionable; if they persist in this line, they won’t be getting any more of my money.

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Like WmBlair I normally arcive the mails by year in Thunderbird. I have had to save the latest so called newletter as a word document [Office 2010 saved as a 97-2003 document and cut and pasted from website] with a total size of 152kb. I left the formating as was but did reduce the size of the graphics and headers for the articles.

This is not ideal and I do not know if it is allowed either but this was a one time action after seeing references above to saving as an HTML doc and, out of curiosity, decided to try and save as a word doc. To be able to carry this with me on my tablet [for reading off line] I will now have to go the hassle of transfering it. As for archiving as word docs I would have to save each doc in a numerical naming system which would be more and more bothersome as time goes on.

I should not have to do this. I paid for an e-mail newsletter and I am most definately not getting that now.
No not ideal
ErnieK

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I am another subscriber (not lifetime) that does not like the changes I see coming. I will plan ahead (to get my Windows info fix) and as part of that planning I intend to make a list of alternatives to WS. I know of a couple of sites that have useful info but do not seem to have the intimacy of the WS lounge. I would solicit fellow WS subscribers and loungers to offer alternatives.

I know of several good sites but have yet to make a decision about a replacement:

http://www.infoworld.com/blog/woody-on-windows/

http://www.sevenforums.com/

https://www.thurrott.com/

http://winsupersite.com

Does anyone have other suggestions??

:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I should not have to do this. I paid for an e-mail newsletter and I am most definately not getting that now.

What we’re getting isn’t a Newsletter it’s what’s commonly called a Digest – one might have thought that an IT Publishing outfit would know that.

I like to save Newsletters to my tablet and read off line. Google hasn’t wi-fied my local riverbank nor is there a phone signal. That’s why I like to read there – no interrupts. Now I have to f**t-a**e around an get the full text of the ‘newsletter’ up on my browser and snip it to something like ON or EN and force it to synch to the cloud, then synch that to my tablet.

What took 1 minute now takes at least 5, and many more keystrokes, screen taps and mouse clicks and waits.

Technology ecosystems should make life simpler, but the geeks seemed determined to make it more complex.

BR

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Technology ecosystems should make life simpler, but the geeks seemed determined to make it more complex.

In this particular case ‘the geeks’ are, in my opinion, blameless and as much victims as all subscribers to Windows Secrets. I suspect you really meant to write ‘the suits seemed determined to make it both more complex and expensive’.

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There is a lot of ranting in the forums on the new “newsletter” (read “website”) format, and I tend to agree with it all. But that’s the publisher’s prerogative, to publish in whatever format they want. It may be a stupid move, but it’s their right to be stupid.

But cancelling lifetime subscriptions–that’s a completely different matter, and deserves its own thread. That’s not just stupid. It’s unjust. It’s cheating. It’s fraud on the part of the original publisher, and theft on the part of the new publisher.

Here are questions/statements to which I’d like the responsible people to answer:

1) When the publisher(s) of WindowsSecrets offered lifetime subscriptions, did they do so knowing that they were lying, that they would be breaking their promise in the foreseeable future?

2) If Penton can’t afford to honour lifetime subscriptions, the right and just thing to do is to refund the payment. Penton should have figured that into their purchase price when they bought the company.

3) How many lifetime subscriptions are there? Are we talking a hundred, a thousand, or what?

I’m not a lifetime subscriber. I just feel outraged that some corporation would treat people so dismissively.

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Aside from the outrage of this, my next biggest regret is that Fred Langa gets tarred by being associated with these people. I’ve been reading his articles for at least two decades, and he is a fine, decent, honest, and extremely helpful person. It must sicken him to be part of this.

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I’m not a lifetime subscriber. I just feel outraged that some corporation would treat people so dismissively.

I am a lifetime subscriber, so thank you for speaking out on our behalf. I haven’t seen this announcement myself yet, I guess it’s waiting in Thursday’s news”letter”.

This is what corporations do, look at how Apple and Adobe have milked their customers for decades–they old truism “If they can, they will”. Outside of tech, need I say more than banks…?

I expect Windows Secrets will be fully closed soon, and paid subscribers migrated to the same content under a new name. Or some similar trick to invalidate the existing contracts–Penton did a scammy bankruptcy some years ago, so I’m sure their lawyers know how low they can go.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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I know exactly how the Windows Secrets lifetime subscribers feel. It was/is the same feeling I got years ago when a popular file compression tool was sold. The 100-user “Lifetime” purchase I had was suddenly discarded … made worthless. I switched to 7-Zip and never looked back.

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Please use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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All, we the admins, moderators, and VIPs of the Lounge have no input and no control over the newsletter. All content and policies are entirely up to Penton. While we understand the angst and anger about the changes some of the posts have bordered on being unacceptable according to our Rule #11.

As I posted before please use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Joe

--Joe

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I was put off sevenforums when I saw the thread ‘Access denied’!

An issue with these is that Woody’s and Paul’s sites are what was called single point of failure (now of expertise). I was ask going to suggest AskLeo but that has the same issue.

sevenforums is, well, just for one OS (or is there a eightforum or tenforum?)

winsupersite is also owned by Penton with all that might imply.

All of this, of course, isn’t a comment on how good they may be or not.

David, it’s a good idea to ask for people’s favourites, we might all learn something.

Perhaps also, we could form our own website. However that would cost money and…..

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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As Joe said in a related thread:

All, we the admins, moderators, and VIPs of the Lounge have no input and no control over the newsletter. All content and policies are entirely up to Penton. While we understand the angst and anger about the changes some of the posts have bordered on being unacceptable according to our Rule #11.

and:

Please use the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to let the editor know your feelings.

Thread closed.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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I am/was a lifetime subscriber. I’m sorry to hear that I’m going to die in somewhere around 5 years. I was really hoping to be able to travel more when my wife retires. Such is life. 🙂

I must conclude that any company that sees no problem not honoring past commitments will have no problem not honoring future commitments, either. So, be very wary about sending this company new money for any subscription period. Part way through the period, who knows, maybe your “yearly” subscription will only be for 4 months.

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Solution: Windows Secrets = Time Warner !! :o:

Just got the TW most recent bill and after an entire page of them extolling their never-ending attention to innovation (oh, how I have grown so to hate that word!), they will be summarily hiking monthly internet rates a whopping 50%. Yes, Five-Oh per cent.

Luckily, as for WS, my subscription runs out in Jan. 2017 so I can enter rehab and go on a slow withdrawal. Have been a subscriber since 2003 (not Lifetime, though!) so I do suspect I have received my “money’s worth”.

Remember: the rich have ALWAYS run the show. We are but bit players despite all they say about the ‘customer’ coming first. First to the guillotine, methinks… :cheers:

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Thinking on it, I kind of suspect that Penton purchased WS thinking they were getting – or could turn it into – Experts Exchange.

If my speculation is close to true they really didn’t have a clue as to what Windows Secrets was …and I have serious doubts about the success of their Master Plan.

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Being a “lifetime” subscriber, I would like to complain about the new format of the newsletter everyone mentions here, but I can’t as I did NOT receive it on the 14th. NOTHING. So I contacted the new customer service at Penton. They said to read it online. No, you miss the point. I did NOT receive the newsletter. So they emailed me the link to the online newsletter. You can see where this is going. Such a shame. We need to get Woody and Susan to start their own newsletter. I sure don’t need twice a week when all I want is Susan’s twice a month. Well if I ever get the newsletter…

Cheers!!
Willie McClure
“We are trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in just a little bit, we are going to get there.” Alex Trebek

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Being a “lifetime” subscriber, I would like to complain about the new format of the newsletter everyone mentions here, but I can’t as I did NOT receive it on the 14th. NOTHING. So I contacted the new customer service at Penton. They said to read it online. No, you miss the point. I did NOT receive the newsletter. So they emailed me the link to the online newsletter. You can see where this is going. Such a shame. We need to get Woody and Susan to start their own newsletter. I sure don’t need twice a week when all I want is Susan’s twice a month. Well if I ever get the newsletter…

Woody already has started his own newsletter: https://www.askwoody.com/

Well, it’s a website, not a newsletter. But it’s free.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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We need to get Woody and Susan to start their own newsletter.
..

Yes, yes. Let’s start again, personal. I hate corporate and all its slime.

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Sorry, I do not like the new newsletter.

How do I get my subscription fee refunded?

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Regrettably, despite my having followed JoeP’s advice elsewhere in posts dealing with this topic, the Editors of the new Newsletter have not done me the courtesy of replying to e-mails I have sent them regarding the Newsletter. This prompted me to start a new post in The Lounge in an attempt to get a decent response that we can all read.

It seems strange to actively discourage loungers from commenting on the new Newsletter in the lounge (note how many posts on the topic have been locked), when it was the Lounge that advertised/published the intended changes. Surely this is a legitimate invitation to members to respond?

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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Regrettably, despite my having followed JoeP’s advice elsewhere in posts dealing with this topic, the Editors of the new Newsletter have not done me the courtesy of replying to e-mails I have sent them regarding the Newsletter. This prompted me to start a new post in The Lounge in an attempt to get a decent response that we can all read.

It seems strange to actively discourage loungers from commenting on the new Newsletter in the lounge (note how many posts on the topic have been locked), when it was the Lounge that advertised/published the intended changes. Surely this is a legitimate invitation to members to respond?

The newsletter editor does read the posts here, as you can infer from her replies in the thread. That means this thread is a sure way to get read by those in charge of the newsletter.

You should also consider the possibility of the number of emails sent recently to be big enough to cause a delay in replying to everyone. I am not saying it is, as I have no knowledge at all about it, but it does look like a strong possibility.

The Lounge is the Lounge. It is not the newsletter. Yes, there is some relation, but that relation, posting wise, is to restricted to the WS Columns forum, so that’s where issues related to the newsletter need to be addressed, not elsewhere (of course, both the Lounge and the newsletter are owned by Penton).

If it is likely that the editors had no direct say on the subscription related decisions. What we can guarantee is that the Lounge staff had no say at all, so it doesn’t make sense to post on the Forum Feedback forum about something we have no responsibility about or influence over. So, we are not trying to prevent anyone to voice their feelings about newsletter changes. We are just trying to ensure that:

1. We don’t get posts that won’t be read by those who they are directed to.
2. We don’t get the additional burden of having to moderate posts about issues we can’t do a thing about.

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I have to say I found this week’s newsletter a profound disappointment, thin in both style and content, and exceedingly irksome in its inability to be read as a complete newsletter.

I’ll see my subscription out, but if this complete mess of a transfer continues without at least some degree of reversion to what made WS such a worthwhile site then that will be that.

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I did have a response from Kathleen Atkins within around 24 hours of my email to the editor, yes the emails are read and replied individually. But obviously with the volume it may take time. Thanks for the comments Kathleen, they were helpful although they didn’t change my views on the new changes.
As for yesterdays newsletter, I also found it disappointing with very little in the way of real content. If having it twice weekly means there is nothing to put in it I would be happier to go back to weekly. As it happened I could only have a quick scan of it as I was getting my emails to my laptop after an abortive update to W10 on the main computer put it out of action (now back on Windows 7 after quite an effort, where it will remain….). So not having my WS password available I could only read the curtailed email version, only read the real thing today.

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For those of you who are waiting for me to answer your emails, I’m sorry about my delay in answering. You can imagine that your thoughts about the recent changes in the Windows Secrets newsletter’s format, subscription policies, publishing schedule, and other changes are reflected in many emails and postings from your fellow subscribers. I have not yet been able to answer every email or post, but I have read every one of them.

To address just one issue right now, the new format of the newsletter and the related ease (or not) of getting to Windows Secrets articles: we can make that better, and we will. I can’t give you a date for changes, but fixes are in development. Quite frankly, we, too, liked opening the newsletter and seeing the whole thing there. We, too, archived copies of the newsletter on our local machines. It’s extremely doubtful that we can give all that, exactly, back to you, but we are working on restoring ease of use by different means.

By the way, a large part of the reason for the new format has to do with the limitations of our publishing platform. To be cost effective, media companies typically standardize on one platform for their various publications. Windows Secrets’ previous owner migrated the newsletter from proprietary code to its standard WordPress platform – after many hours of custom coding in WordPress. So, too, Penton must now migrate the newsletter to the same platform it uses for its many other publications. That platform has its drawbacks and advantages. For example, the current publishing system and the abbreviated form of the newsletter should let Windows Secrets automatically reformat for smaller smartphone screens. Some of our subscribers are reading Windows Secrets on smartphones now.

As for another matter that irks many of you, the publishing schedule, let me assure you that you’re still receiving every week the same number of articles you received in the old-format, once-per-week Windows Secrets. They’re distributed differently—two to three articles per issue twice a week produces the four to six pieces per week that you were accustomed to receiving. Fred Langa is still writing LangaList Plus, as usual, and Susan Bradley is still producing the Patch Watch columns. Our other regular columnists continue to write columns. We continue to be very glad to work with all of them.

Just so you know, I continue to read all your posts here in the Lounge, too.

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As for another matter that irks many of you, the publishing schedule, let me assure you that you’re still receiving every week the same number of articles you received in the old-format, once-per-week Windows Secrets. They’re distributed differently—two to three articles per issue twice a week produces the four to six pieces per week that you were accustomed to receiving. Fred Langa is still writing LangaList Plus, as usual, and Susan Bradley is still producing the Patch Watch columns. Our other regular columnists continue to write columns. We continue to be very glad to work with all of them.

Just so you know, I continue to read all your posts here in the Lounge, too.

It’s good to know that Kathleen continues to read and post within the forum. Perhaps she can explain why we’re getting two ‘episodes’ each week covering only the same number of articles as previously, but in less accessible form, and paying more for it? Also perhaps comment on the possibility of getting access to Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch column only, on a (lower subscription) once/month basis? Like many others, I’m hoping things will improve, but making no plans to re-subscribe.

Win10 22H2 Pro, MBAM Premium, Firefox, OpenOffice, Sumatra PDF.

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Kathleen,

I’m glad you read the posts here in the Lounge, and that you have addressed, if unsatisfactorily, many of the concerns expressed.

However, you have not addressed the elephant in the room: the dishonoring of WS’s commitment to the lifetime subscriptions.

It really can’t cost much to honor them, since I would bet that you will lose well over 3/4 of the lifetime subscribers once you start trying to charge them for what they already bought and paid for.

Does Penton really think it can convert former lifetime subscriptions into new paid subscriptions?

Is the ill will generated by the action really worth it for Penton?

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How many subscribers to WS?

Was over 400,000 last time I recall seeing a figure.

I recall a market research study that said only between 5-10% of angry customers make their feelings known. The rest just go away.

Yes, that’s a general ‘truism’ for general consumer behavior. However, tech consumers like us are known to be less shy about making our thoughts and feelings known.

Kathleen, … you have not addressed the elephant in the room: the dishonoring of WS’s commitment to the lifetime subscriptions.

I would like to add my appreciation of your presence and responses here, Kathleen. I trust you will let us know asap if you become aware that Penton intend to, or actually do, break any more written agreements between Windows Secrets and its paying customers or free subscribers.

…why we’re getting two ‘episodes’ each week covering only the same number of articles as previously, but in less accessible form

Speculation based on many years in internet marketing and online publishing, and generally watching those industries and the ‘player’ companies:

We’re getting 2/week because that doubles the opportunities to “interact” with us–eg track our activity, show us ads in the ‘digest’, etc. Potentially quite a sizeable monetary gain.

The less accessible ‘read more online’ is to create a significant increase in the WS website traffic. If many more of the 400,000 subscribers were to click thru to WS site twice a week, and then some spend time in the other site areas like the lounge, you easily increase webpage visits by 1/2 to 1 million per week. That alone increases the ‘value’ of WS property, and of course there would also be significant revenue gain potential from offering deals and showing ads to these extra visitors.

Summary:
400,000 extra weekly email deliveries;
500K-1M extra weekly site page visits;
= a lot of extra weekly money to be made.
Plus whatever Penton will do to sell the subscriber list, assuming the “guarantee” against that which a couple of you mentioned, is worth the same as the guarantee to lifetime subscribers.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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The less accessible ‘read more online’ is to create a significant increase in the WS website traffic. If many more of the 400,000 subscribers were to click thru to WS site twice a week, and then some spend time in the other site areas like the lounge, you easily increase website visits by 1/2 to 1 million per week. That alone increases the ‘value’ of WS property, and of course there would also be significant revenue gain potential from offering deals and showing ads to these extra visitors.

There comes a point where the more ads you show, the less people will visit your website. There are certain websites I used to visit a lot, and whose content I really like reading. But the huge number of ads slows things down so much that it takes forever to scroll through a posted article. I therefore don’t visit those sites anymore.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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There comes a point where the more ads you show, the less people will visit your website.

It looks like Penton know this. I checked half a dozen of their sites [links at bottom of this page] and was pleasantly surprised at how few ads I saw–none at all in 3 of their forums. Of course, I have Adblock Plus installed–but that tends to leave blank parts of web pages, which I didn’t see.

Also, Kathleen said earlier that the editors are working at improving the accessibility of the newsletter content for us. So there’s reason to hope that we’ll be spared undue abuse or service deterioration, at least for the short term.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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We’re getting 2/week because that doubles the opportunities to “interact” with us–eg track our activity, show us ads in the ‘digest’, etc. Potentially quite a sizeable monetary gain.

The less accessible ‘read more online’ is to create a significant increase in the WS website traffic. If many more of the 400,000 subscribers were to click thru to WS site twice a week, and then some spend time in the other site areas like the lounge, you easily increase website visits by 1/2 to 1 million per week. That alone increases the ‘value’ of WS property, and of course there would also be significant revenue gain potential from offering deals and showing ads to these extra visitors.

All *paid* subscribers should install ad bocking. I have and see zero ads or tracking cookies. Ad revenue is acceptable for free content, but if you’ve paid then you should not also be subjected to ads.

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As for another matter that irks many of you, the publishing schedule, let me assure you that you’re still receiving every week the same number of articles you received in the old-format, once-per-week Windows Secrets.

I’ve held off saying anything because I’ve been too busy to really give the new format a fair shake. But, I’ll take the time to say now that I prefer the old schedule and format.

Admittedly, that’s mostly because I am used to it but also because having it arrive twice a month made it something “special”. Granted, it sometimes sat in the inbox for a couple days, but it always got a good reading and I would sometimes copy an article and stick it in my notes.

I had expected that having them come more frequent and be smaller would mean that I would get to them sometime that day, but that’s not what’s happening. Instead, they just sit unread in my in box, as if I’m waiting for there to be enough to make a full meal out of – funny thing that. I can’t explain it, it just is what it is. Perhaps they have lost their special nature.

As to having the full content on line, I still prefer the whole thing in front of me but I can get used to it and I imagine it’s a bonus for a lot of people who get mobile mail. HOWEVER, I would like to see a link on the email that takes me to a FULL version of the newsletter. Not one that merely regurgitates the content of the email so that I still have to click on through to get the whole article(s).

I’ve been a subscriber of one form of this newsletter or another going back to 2002 and Brian Livingston’s “Windows Manager” (had to look in the email archives to find that bit of history), so I’ve seen a number of changes; I can get used to this too. But at age 66 (with over 40 yrs of computer experience) I reserve the right to moan about changes.

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Good to know that our feedback is being read and inwardly digested, Kathleen, thanks for confirming that and indicating that some improvements are forthcoming. Many of us who have expressed concern over the changes have indicated that we’ll see how it goes until our subscription renewal comes along, so there is time for positive things to happen. I do think, however, that for some the availability of the whole of the newsletter without going to the website is likely to be critical.

I hate the whole concept of single platform publishing because it always means that those who use desktop computers have to experience massive dumbing down so others can access the content on a smartphone. That’s the single biggest cause of change to a whole host of sites I frequent and it’s a backward step in so many ways. My hope is that the day will eventually come when providers will recognise the folly of such an approach and instead move to a system of tailoring their services to the different needs of their customers across various platforms. Currently they believe that one size can fit all and that’s the way to maximise their market appeal, but it’s actually having the opposite effect and turning people away.

Thanks again for the detailed response Kathleen, and I’m glad you’ve been inundated with feedback as hopefully that will provide you with the ammunition with which to force through meaningful improvements.

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I hate the whole concept of single platform publishing because it always means that those who use desktop computers have to experience massive dumbing down so others can access the content on a smartphone. That’s the single biggest cause of change to a whole host of sites I frequent and it’s a backward step in so many ways. My hope is that the day will eventually come when providers will recognise the folly of such an approach and instead move to a system of tailoring their services to the different needs of their customers across various platforms. Currently they believe that one size can fit all and that’s the way to maximise their market appeal, but it’s actually having the opposite effect and turning people away.

There is absolutely no reason for things to be dumbed down because of smartphones. A careful design and a sensible implementation can be achieved without any need for dumbing down. If anyone convinced you otherwise, than that was a mistake and you were misled.

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There is absolutely no reason for things to be dumbed down because of smartphones. A careful design and a sensible implementation can be achieved without any need for dumbing down. If anyone convinced you otherwise, than that was a mistake and you were misled.

Glad to hear it, then the original format for the newsletter should be easily reinstated!

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I used to receive the full newsletter in my email. Now, it’s a pain in the mule to have to open my browser, sign in to a firewall, find my Windows Secrets passwords….

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I’m not sure if this is the correct place to post this. I received an email today, saying it was the January 21 edition of the newsletter. About 3/4 of the way down the page, there is a header “patch watch update on problematic update”. Then, it says “a quick note from Susan Bradley: read more”. The “read more” is a link. Clicking it does not bring you to a note from Susan Bradley. It brings you to an article dated January 20, by Tracey Capen entitled, “Updating issues and taking control of PC privacy”. Does anyone know how to find the “quick note from Susan Bradley”?

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Update to my (now closed thread): “Editors of New (Improved?) Newsletter Ignore Letters to Them. A sign of things to come?”

I have now received a detailed response (by personal e-mail) to my “issues” from Kathleen (in which she refers to the above closed thread ). Her response is very much appreciated (although it does, of course, not solve my concerns!)

Most of the content of Kathleens’ e-mail to me is contained in post #183 here: http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//173806-Coming-changes-to-the-Windows-Secrets-newsletter/page13

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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Is the ill will generated by the action really worth it for Penton?

How many subscribers to WS?

How many angry customers have posted in this thread or emailed the editors?

Penton might take the number of posts in this thread, multiply by 20, and get a reasonable estimate of the total number of angry customers.

Probably not enough to make any difference.

Nonetheless, I’m going away.

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I was a paid subscriber to the newsletter for about 5 years. I too am going away.
I tried to unsubscribe but they still kept sending it to me, so I just deleted that particular email address.

I figured it would be a waste of time to contact them about my dis-satisfaction of the changes, so I didn’t bother.

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I just noticed that of all threads listed on the first page of The Lounge: Windows Secrets Columns section, views for this particular thread pretty much dwarfs every other.

And checking back through a couple of pages into past threads, I seem to be seeing FAR less participation and page views since the change to the newsletter format.

I wonder if the Penton suits have noticed? Anyone in the capsule think of alerting Houston that maybe we have a problem here?

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I just noticed that of all threads listed on the first page of The Lounge: Windows Secrets Columns section, views for this particular thread pretty much dwarfs every other.

And checking back through a couple of pages into past threads, I seem to be seeing FAR less participation and page views since the change to the newsletter format.

I wonder if the Penton suits have noticed? Anyone in the capsule think of alerting Houston that maybe we have a problem here?

We in the capsule wouldn’t keep all this news to ourselves. So yes, as you say, we alerted Houston.

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We in the capsule wouldn’t keep all this news to ourselves. So yes, as you say, we alerted Houston.

Okay Kathleen, that made me chuckle.

…for the first time since I got that “new, improved” sadly-not-a-newsletter-anymore a couple of weeks ago lol.

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Bingo, Lugh. Kudos. :cheers:

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I use KeePass/KeeFox to save my login information. Before the ‘improved’ newsletter, I could go directly to the Lounge, and KeePass/KeyFox would do their thing. Now it appears that the Lounge goes through several intermediate websites (that look like they are advertising related) before the login page appears. This messes up KeePass/KeeFox, which think I have alread logged in–and I cannot login at that point. If I start by going to Windows Secrets, KeePass/KeeFox work as they should. Once logged in to Windows Secrets directly, I select the Lounge, and I am all set. But this is an extra step that I never had to do before.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I can live with the 2 issues/week. I just ignore the first one, and login weekly. Since I have been a paid subscriber for several years, I don’t have a problem with having to login–although it was easier when the Email I got let me click a link and I was already logged in. Sometimes technology ‘improvements’ forget about who the users are.

Harry

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Sometimes technology ‘improvements’ forget about who the users are.

Harry

It seems to me that the bigger the company, the smaller the customer.

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I’ve been holding back comment until any teething problems might have been sorted but basically the new format is rubbish. I do NOT want teasers and then links to a website. I want a newsletter in my inbox that I can read at my leisure – and often OFFLINE – remember that? Reading stuff when there is no internet connection? (And a single data charge?) I also like to file useful newsletters – not webpages. And no, I don’t want it dribbled out a couple of articles at a time. And if this rubbish is going to cost me $25 (USD I assume) they can go whistle. Pity. I’ve been a subscriber for over 8 years and until recently loved the useful, relevant and easy to access content.

Anyone from the newsletter reading this? Any chance of a change? Or will they wait until most subscribers drop off? Or does that not matter – is it just click bait for ads?

(OK – now read all 14 pages! Thanks Kathleen for your input.)

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… I want a newsletter in my inbox that I can read at my leisure – and often OFFLINE – remember that? Reading stuff when there is no internet connection? I also like to file useful newsletters – not webpages.

A simple solution to the ads, reading a full newsletter and saving the content for future reference is Firefox and three add-ons:

+ Adblock Plus https://adblockplus.org/en/
+ NoScript https://noscript.net/
+ Scrapbook http://www.xuldev.org/scrapbook/

I’ve been using these for Windows Secrets since, oh, ’bout 2003 and have a nice, little library of all the issues since then! Not that I”m using any of the stuff on WinXP right at the moment, but… :rolleyes:

So, when I get the newsletter — click on “Click to see the full newsletter online “, login to my account — LastPass does this automatically (the whole newsletter appears), right-click and “Save Page As…” Scrapbook option to save the whole newsletter to your private library.

Cheers! 😎

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A simple solution to the ads, reading a full newsletter and saving the content for future reference is Firefox and three add-ons:

Thanks for the tips. I use Pale Moon (Firefox variation) so I can access these add-ons. Two quick questions:
1. I wasn’t sure why you used the NoScript addon when you save these newsletters. Could you expand on that?

2. I looked at the Scrapbook website. That seems like an excellent way to accomplish the task. I read part of their User Guide, but it was not clear to me if one can Copy text from what Scrapbook saved to the Clipboard, from where it can then be pasted elsewhere.

Harry

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Sorry to interrupt anybodies thread, but this is the only location on the Forum where I can see to post. For THREE WEEKS IN A ROW I have not received the Newsletter!!!! The first week I contacted Penton and received an email with links to the first two new issues. The second week I waited to see if they corrected the problem, meanwhile I accessed them from my account at Windows Secrets. Now it is the third week with no Newsletter!!!! I contacted Penton again and await their reply. If they do not want me for a customer, I will comply with their wishes and unsubscribe from Windows Secrets.

Is anyone listening out there????

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Sorry to interrupt anybodies thread, but this is the only location on the Forum where I can see to post. For THREE WEEKS IN A ROW I have not received the Newsletter!!!! The first week I contacted Penton and received an email with links to the first two new issues. The second week I waited to see if they corrected the problem, meanwhile I accessed them from my account at Windows Secrets. Now it is the third week with no Newsletter!!!! I contacted Penton again and await their reply. If they do not want me for a customer, I will comply with their wishes and unsubscribe from Windows Secrets.

Is anyone listening out there????

The sending address has changed. Have you checked the spam folder?

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Sorry to interrupt anybodies thread, but this is the only location on the Forum where I can see to post. For THREE WEEKS IN A ROW I have not received the Newsletter!!!! The first week I contacted Penton and received an email with links to the first two new issues. The second week I waited to see if they corrected the problem, meanwhile I accessed them from my account at Windows Secrets. Now it is the third week with no Newsletter!!!! I contacted Penton again and await their reply. If they do not want me for a customer, I will comply with their wishes and unsubscribe from Windows Secrets.

Is anyone listening out there????

Try using the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to send a message to the editor. They usually reply promptly.

Joe

--Joe

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Try using the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to send a message to the editor. They usually reply promptly.

Joe

The best people to contact regarding delivery and subscription issues is at this email address: customersupport@penton.com. The Contact tab messages come to me, and I’m not the correct recipient of newsletter delivery-trouble email. When you write to customer support people, remind them that they might have heard from you before regarding delivery. You should also check your spam or deleted mail folders because as an earlier poster noted, your ISP might not recognize our new sending address. You should white-list it.

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I did contact ‘customer support’ at Penton. I use MailWasher, so I screen all my mail before I download it. My last email to them finally received their full and undivided attention. They globally unsubscribed my email address, therefore no Newsletter was ever sent. They just emailed that I am back on the active subscriber list. If no Newsletter arrives, I have phone numbers with which to contact them. I wonder how many other subscribers have had this happen or are still undergoing such shoddy treatment????

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1. I wasn’t sure why you used the NoScript addon when you save these newsletters. Could you expand on that?
2. I looked at the Scrapbook website. That seems like an excellent way to accomplish the task. I read part of their User Guide, but it was not clear to me if one can Copy text from what Scrapbook saved to the Clipboard, from where it can then be pasted elsewhere.Harry

I keep NoScript ALWAYS enabled so it helps in composing a ‘clean’ web page with no extraneous detritus from unwanted links.
Scrapbook saves a ‘replica’ of the web page to your hard drive, NOT to the clipboard. When you click on the Scrapbook entry in your library, it brings up a “file:///…/index.html” entry which renders the web page just as saved. You can cut and paste from it just like any other browser page.

Hope that helps!

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MartyHs:

Thanks for the info. I think I will start with Scrapbook and see how it works, before I go to NoScript.

Harry

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Lifetime Subscribers: We want to clear up any confusion regarding subscriptions for Windows Secrets Lifetime Subscribers. Your subscriptions are being honored along with your access to the newsletter archives. You will also have an opportunity to sign up for new bonuses and offers going forward.

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Lifetime Subscribers: We want to clear up any confusion regarding subscriptions for Windows Secrets Lifetime Subscribers. Your subscriptions are being honored along with your access to the newsletter archives. You will also have an opportunity to sign up for new bonuses and offers going forward.

Re: “clear up any confusion.” What confusion? There was no confusion at all. Kathleen, in your very own words back on January 14 you clearly stated Penton’s new policy, that “lifetime” meant a maximum of five years.

Let’s be honest here: this is a complete change of policy, not a little misunderstanding. As Penton’s representative, you should come out clearly and say, “We’re sorry. We made a mistake, and want to remedy that now.”

Will you be announcing this in the next edition of the newsletter? Right now, it’s buried deep in this forum which only a few people read; and also in an amendment to the January 14 newsletter– right, who’s going to read old issues?

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Lifetime Subscribers: We want to clear up any confusion regarding subscriptions for Windows Secrets Lifetime Subscribers. Your subscriptions are being honored along with your access to the newsletter archives. You will also have an opportunity to sign up for new bonuses and offers going forward.

So please explain why I get the nagging screen for money then?
I want the content I paid for with my Lifetime Subscription please.

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I’m glad to see that Penton heard the reaction of so many of your subscribers and determined to do the right thing.

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Lifetime Subscribers: We want to clear up any confusion regarding subscriptions for Windows Secrets Lifetime Subscribers. Your subscriptions are being honored along with your access to the newsletter archives. You will also have an opportunity to sign up for new bonuses and offers going forward.

I wasn’t confused before, but now I AM confused. It was pretty clear before: Penton was stiffing every lifetime subscriber (of which I am not one). Now they say lifetime subscriptions ARE being honored, but they don’t say for how long. Now that’s confusing. I really hate it when a company or a person can’t come out and say clearly what they mean. Are Lifetime subscriptions now back to being LIFETIME subscriptions or not? I think you are reversing a bad decision here, but the way you’re saying it, you’re not going to get due credit for it. Capen needs to come out and say clearly and loudly “Mea culpa, sorry sorry sorry! That was a bad decision on our part. Lifetime subscriptions do NOT expire, and thanks to everyone for their support.” Period.

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A simple solution to the ads, reading a full newsletter and saving the content for future reference is Firefox and three add-ons:

+ Scrapbook http://www.xuldev.org/scrapbook/

What version of Scrapbook are you using? It appears that anything newer than 1.5.11.1 may not be compatible with Pale Moon.

I also found Scrapbook+, which, per their description, appears to be compatible. And it claims to be faster, etc. than Scrapbook. Any experience with this one?

Harry

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What version of Scrapbook are you using? It appears that anything newer than 1.5.11.1 may not be compatible with Pale Moon.

I also found Scrapbook+, which, per their description, appears to be compatible. And it claims to be faster, etc. than Scrapbook. Any experience with this one?Harry

Harry… all I can say is, Keep Experimenting… that’s what I had to do!. I only have experience with Firefox — 13 years.

Marty

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I Or does that not matter – is it just click bait for ads?

Penton is a marketing company. Their business is advertising. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The content of this ‘newsletter’ is irrelevant to them. It’s the advertising space they’re selling. Just check their website.

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Penton is a marketing company. Their business is advertising. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The content of this ‘newsletter’ is irrelevant to them. It’s the advertising space they’re selling. Just check their website.

There’s more to it than that. Penton’s long history is as a trade publisher, and their properties still look to be mostly in the B2B sector. Of course, advertising is a big part of such an operation, but so are services like events and market intel. A major part of B2B success is finding contacts and leads who can influence company spending, so I expect that access to the subscriber list here could be worth more than any direct advertising.

In that context, Kathleen mentioned “an opportunity to sign up for new bonuses and offers going forward”, so it’ll be interesting to see what those turn out to be.

Penton’s ownership are straight out of the investment banking, equity, and mergers & acquisitions pools, so don’t expect any customer- or product-centric initiatives from the top. It’s all an abstract money game up there.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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Hi,

Ymmv, of course, but for me there two good ways to get regular info:
1. regular email containing a set of complete articles (like old WS)
2. RSS feed notifying of individual articles (like v. many websites)

The new WS method is less usable than either of these – neither fish nor fowl.

But if we are to stick with the new method, please make some changes to improve it:
1. increase the font size for body text
2. provide links to the previous and next newsletters on each newsletter page

JPL
(paid subscriber since 2006)

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Penton is also into software. I’ve been getting SPAM E-Mail for several days advertising Easy Duplicate Finder special offer and noticed the source so I checked.

Bottom of the page:
iNet | Penton | 1166 Avenue of the Americas | New York, NY 10036
Think I’ll be staying with the older version I have installed.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Folks, you do realise that you have control over what emails you receive from Penton, yes?

Berton, I could have unsubscribed you via the (deleted) URL you posted, this implies that it wasn’t spam at all, it’s something you opted into, or didn’t opt out of.

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The E-Mail became SPAM to the filter on my E-Mail service when it quit being sent from http://www.webminds.com which I do have whitelisted but no longer get.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Well, fix your whitelist, spam filter and your Penton subscriptions 😎

Creating a whitelist is great – but you have to keep it updated.

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I’m done. No longer makes sense for me to pay. There are too many other sources of equivalent info for free on the web with no more advertising than you are forcing upon us by moving to the web. The only attraction for me of WS Newsletter and the only reason I was willing to pay was the fact that I did not need to open a browser to be bombarded with advertising. Everything was easily read and easily archived, easily searched right in the folder I created for it in my email account, all with minimal advertising.

Now the only searching for info is via your website and if I am not online, there is nothing, unless I take the time and make the effort to cut and paste text, or print to PDFs and save every article of interest. The idea of an actual newsletter provided by email was the attraction. I was originally a recipient of Infoworld and a follower of Brian Livingston. I used to clip articles and keep them in an actual file folder for reference. I’ve been a subscriber since Brian moved the newsletter to email when he parted ways with Infoworld. I have retained my emails since 2010 when I shutdown my last XP machine!

Your new ownership apparently is more concerned with strong arming a minimum fee and ensuring a steady stream of advertising income than providing what we originally felt was worth a subscription fee. There really is no compelling info you provide for my needs that I cannot search for and find multiple sources for free – PC Mag, PC World, Infoworld, Cnet, ZDnet, a gazillion blogs and of course Microsoft and the other manufacturers, AV test sites, etc. In fact, looking back, I have not actually been able to apply much of what I’ve been reading recently. The majority of win 10 articles have been behind my own learning curve. I based my payment on the actionable knowledge I got specifically from the newsletter. It has been dwindling since win 7, my primary OS, is quite mature now and there is little new to learn. I skipped win 8/8.1 and only run win 10 on a test machine for which I have found most of my questions answered via the insider info. I plan to stay with Win 7 so I’m seeing less value to this e-mag. If I’m going to be using a browser, I might as well just follow the links to free info via those I follow on Twitter or Facebook.

I guess you’ve accepted my payment and have not billed me for a differential since I paid less than the $25 back in Oct. I’ll run out my subscription and give this the benefit of time to prove its value, but initial feelings are that this will be my last subscription. Finally, it is one thing to change for improvement sake, it is another to promote change hidden behind a blatant grab for greater profit.

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From Jan 28 Newsletter, received today?

A special note for Windows Secrets lifetime subscribers

Tracey Capen

An important clarification for those who’ve supported Windows Secrets with a lifetime subscription. We want to be clear that your subscriptions are fully honored. We apologize profusely for any confusion regarding your subscription status. As always, you’ll continue to receive the weekly newsletters and have full access to the Windows Secrets newsletter archives. However, if you’re feeling generous, we hope you’ll consider new offers and bonuses going forward.

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I want my two cents worth here. I can accept the changes, as the content is still much the same. Some of the complaints here resonate with me, some don’t. My beef: If I have to go to the website, then it should be easier to get to the paid content. Saving cookies doesn’t seem to work. I still have to sign in the next time. So the drill is get the newsletter, use a link to get to the site, sign in, and then I get dumped in a general page, not to the newsletter. It’s a hassle, and it’s a twice a week hassle. Penton can drive me to the website all it likes, as I block all ads and scripts. I’ll pay the fee, but there’s no money to be made from me otherwise.

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Agree wholeheartedly with rgellman (228) & Richard (230) who could not put it better. Sums up my feelings exactly. Thanks

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Agreed with Bobjacq.

“Obfuscated” was the key word in my first post (#5) in this thread, and, three weeks later, I still find obfuscation in what Tracey and others write. Richard (#230) presses for clarity. So, I suspect, do many others, amongst whom myself! Why is it so difficult?

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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It seems clear to me that what Tracey meant is that lifetime subscriptions do not expire! There is no other meaning to it, otherwise it would just be making an already bad situation worse.

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It seems clear to me that what Tracey meant is that lifetime subscriptions do not expire! There is no other meaning to it, otherwise it would just be making an already bad situation worse.

Agreed, and that’s not clarifying earlier confusion, it’s reversing the previous decision to limit lifetime subscriptions to 5 years. Why can’t they just be honest and open about that?

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Agreed, and that’s not clarifying earlier confusion, it’s reversing the previous decision to limit lifetime subscriptions to 5 years. Why can’t they just be honest and open about that?

I think they were honest and open. Maybe they didn’t choose the clearest of ways to convey it, but I don’t think they can be blamed for lack of honesty or openness, even with the original decision – it was clear then, that lifetime subscriptions would be valid only for 5 years after their beginning.

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I think they were honest and open. Maybe they didn’t choose the clearest of ways to convey it, but I don’t think they can be blamed for lack of honesty or openness, even with the original decision – it was clear then, that lifetime subscriptions would be valid only for 5 years after their beginning.

I agree the original decision was announced in an open and honest way, it was completely clear. My point is that they appear to have reversed that decision and instead of saying as much, they’re claiming the new decision is simply a clarification of earlier confusion when in fact it’s a complete reversal. That’s all assuming I understand the latest announcement correctly and that they have indeed moved from a 5 year limit to a genuine lifetime limit.

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It seems clear to me that what Tracey meant is that lifetime subscriptions do not expire! There is no other meaning to it, otherwise it would just be making an already bad situation worse.

That’s my reading of it too, but long experience of publishing newsletters, policy statements and clarifications etc, has taught me too well that you have to communicate very clearly, simply and explicitly to avoid confusion–and that’s quite difficult to achieve. Anyway, I’m glad to see this reversal of the previous decision, kudos to whoever fought our battle in Penton land.

I’d also like to add to those defending the editors here, I’ve seen no reason to believe they’re deceiving us, they’ve had a fine record up to now in my view. Long may that continue.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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I have been steaming over the new newsletter. What moron decided the font size? If you can’t bring back a font size we can read comfortably, then I will cancel my subscription. To many hands in the kitchen doesn’t always produce a good product.

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Interesting the “Lifetime Subscribers: We want to clear up any confusion regarding subscriptions for Windows Secrets Lifetime Subscribers” link is not working for me today. The other links are.

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Interesting the “Lifetime Subscribers: We want to clear up any confusion regarding subscriptions for Windows Secrets Lifetime Subscribers” link is not working for me today. The other links are.

Exactly the same for me, four days later. Has that important link been broken all this time? I PMed Kathleen about it, so hopefully it’ll be fixed soon.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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Exactly the same for me, four days later. Has that important link been broken all this time? I PMed Kathleen about it, so hopefully it’ll be fixed soon.

I am having one heck of a time asking Lugh a question. This never happened before.

Please tell me what PMed means. Thanks.

PS
I also hope Patch Watch continues in
its present form.

WS has never given me a virus in contrast to
some other sites. Thank you!!!

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Once subscription finished, so will I be with WS. I’m also now going to unsubscribe from this thread as basically it’s getting a repetitive mantra – unhappy, unhappy, unhappy readers. And my inbox full of emails notifying me that somone else has replied to the thread …….expressing the same.

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Lesson: Once a person or organization loses credibility, it is something that is very hard to get back. When a person or organization puts forth an initial statement or policy, that is an indicator of their motives and how they operate.

If, in your personal life, someone were to renege on an agreement and then reverse themselves only after strong public censure of their actions, what does that tell you about that person’s basic underlying integrity?

At this point, Penton is in a position of a lack of trust. That trust will be difficult, if not impossible, to ever earn back. One ethical solution would be to form a new federated company to run Windows Secrets, with a totally seperate management team, insulated from the parent company. Additionally, all management personnel should be required to participate in quarterly ethics training. New corporate ethics guidelines regarding business decisions should be established and enforced with a zero-tolerance for noncompliance. I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, and I’ve lived it. It is the only way to earn back customer trust, and it will take a long time. Without the customer, what do you have?

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Dear Tracey Capen and Kathleen Atkins,

Thank you, and Penton, for listening to me and many others about honoring a “lifetime subscription”.

That said, don’t make stupid statements that there was “confusion regarding your subscription status”. There was no confusion. You said clearly and plainly that lifetime subscriptions were no longer lifetime, and would be honored for only 5 years.

Stop digging a hole deeper than already crushes your bone-headed decision, and start treating your subscribers with more dignity and humility. Thank you.

BTW, I am not a “lifetime” subscriber.

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Dear Tracey Capen and Kathleen Atkins,

Thank you, and Penton, for listening to me and many others about honoring a “lifetime subscription”.

That said, don’t make stupid statements that there was “confusion regarding your subscription status”. There was no confusion. You said clearly and plainly that lifetime subscriptions were no longer lifetime, and would be honored for only 5 years.

Stop digging a hole deeper than already crushes your bone-headed decision, and start treating your subscribers with more dignity and humility. Thank you.

BTW, I am not a “lifetime” subscriber.

I don’t agree with the characterization of “stupid” and “bone-headed” with regard to the two staffers as I believe they are neither. Relax jmcafee – breath deeply and slowly. But I do agree with the intent of the post and the change to honor lifetime subscriptions as lifetime. How this could have SO easily been avoided…

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Lifetime subscriber (for over ten years) here but never entered this forum… But I joined to post this after receiving yet another spam from Penton. And I’ll never read WS again. Penton was the company that quickly drove the excellent Boardwatch magazine into the ground years ago and represents all that is wrong with publishing. Even worse than the “new” format is the Penton-induced spam I’ve started to receive. All of the WS editors are complicit and all have lost all credibility with me.

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All of the WS editors are complicit and all have lost all credibility with me.

It’s just possible that some (most?) of the WS editors don’t like the “new” way either; but their choice is either to do their best in the new environment, or quit their jobs.

Have you ever had a job that you didn’t like? Perhaps you got a new boss who made everyone’s life miserable. Did you immediately quit your job in protest? I doubt it. But you probably started looking around for a new job, and you didn’t leave the bad job until you found something more to your liking.

I’ll bet that is what is going on with some / most of the WS editors.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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It’s just possible that some (most?) of the WS editors don’t like the “new” way either; but their choice is either to do their best in the new environment, or quit their jobs.

Have you ever had a job that you didn’t like? Perhaps you got a new boss who made everyone’s life miserable. Did you immediately quit your job in protest? I doubt it. But you probably started looking around for a new job, and you didn’t leave the bad job until you found something more to your liking.

I’ll bet that is what is going on with some / most of the WS editors.

I quite agree with that, although I do hope that compromises can be found that will enable the old-style WS to survive under the Penton umbrella, and that the WS editors will feel able to remain. The reason that some of the commenters here are so forthright in their views is because they value the contributions of the WS editors very highly and have done for many years. If they thought little of WS they’d simply move on quietly.

I personally value Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch enormously and would hate to lose it. I hope it continues unaffected by the changes for a long time to come!

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“I personally value Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch enormously and would hate to lose it. I hope it continues unaffected by the changes for a long time to come!”

You, Tandor, and the many others who have expressed similar sentiment about Patch Watch seem to be a large number of subscribers. I’m there with y’all. I like to believe that Susan and any other staffers that assist her with Patch Watch, if there are others, are feeling very good about how much they’re appreciated for the difficult, time-consuming WORK that is involved in delivering the Patch Watch column.

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One of the reasons I continued to get WS newsletter was for Susans’ patch watch [as well as other good articles] and I sincerley hope that she decides to startup her own newsletter with this as I will miss is after my [existing] subscription ends as I will not be renewing it.

I am not a lifetime sibscriber but “lifetime” means the life duration of something or someone. Are they eventually going to say that lifetime ws only the lifetime of the newsletter in its existing form makeup?

Another quick point. Yet again I did not recieve todays news digest. When I went to the site to grab it I see it was sent out on and dated for MONDAY 1st Feb. No matter, I did not get it [either today or yesterday]. I got Thursdays OK so they have my address correct and no it did not go into my junk folder.

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Well my observations about the new changeover.

1. I haven’t noticed ‘obnoxious spam’ from Penton—maybe my ISP is blocking it, I’ll have to look someday. But to me a nonissue. Sorry to hear others are not so lucky.

2. I have not noticed really any changes at all. [There may be one exception, but I am not ready to blame Penton/WS just yet for an issue that occasionally occurs and may be linked to WS Forum visits, but it is too infrequent to tell if it is coincidence.]

I did think the articles in the newsletter being produced in the weeks since the change were rather weak (the exact opposite of what I would expect in a new rollout), but that seems to have either been coincidence or have worked themselves out in the last couple of weeks.

So to me the whole event has really been unnoticed.

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It’s my belief that with Penton, as a newsletter subscriber, you’re no longer the consumer; you’re the product.

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Then the question is: What is our shelf life?
:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Today’s Windows Secrets Newsletter arrived with virtually zero content. Nothing but a bunch of links. I generally will not click links in email. We want our content back … content that we are paying for.

Heck, in the subject line they even dropped the word “Newsletter”. What is this ‘Bait-and-Switch’?

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If you’re thinking you may not renew your subscription to Windows Secrets Newsletter but there are a number of articles / stories / how-to’s that you wish you could keep available here’s how to do it.
Open a wanted article or page. Right-click somewhere on the page and a context menu should appear. Select “Print” and a Print Dialog box should open. Near the top of the box on the left-hand menu there should be “Destination” and a “Change” button. Click on Change and select “Save as PDF”. Now the blue button at the top of the left-hand menu should say “Save”. Click on Save and choose where you want to save the document. It will save with all the text and graphics.

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I have been a paid subscriber to Windows Secrets Newsletter for several years. But I must tell you that the coming change to impose a $25.00 fee to continue my WS subscription is unacceptable. It was an interesting read while it lasted, but not worth $25.00. I understand the monetary motivations of the new parent company, but I am certain that I can find the information I require elsewhere, either for free or for a lot less than $25.00/month. I think you are making a mistake, and that you will lose many subscribers with this new policy. Thanks for the memories…

R.C.

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$25.00/month

It’s $25/year, fyi.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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I can see where there is some advantage to having the newsletter now appear on the website, e.g., the content can be accessed from one’s PC, tablet or smartphone. However, I really liked the old newsletter that came to my inbox regularly and did not require me to log onto the website. I’m curious as to whether there is any chance that the old totally self-contained newsletter will be brought back, perhaps as an option.

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I can see where there is some advantage to having the newsletter now appear on the website, e.g., the content can be accessed from one’s PC, tablet or smartphone. However, I really liked the old newsletter that came to my inbox regularly and did not require me to log onto the website. I’m curious as to whether there is any chance that the old totally self-contained newsletter will be brought back, perhaps as an option.

We’re having conversations about the possibility of publishing full articles in the newsletters again, but we must consider technical issues with the Penton publishing system. Not everything is equally possible in all systems.

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We’re having conversations about the possibility of publishing full articles in the newsletters again, but we must consider technical issues with the Penton publishing system. Not everything is equally possible in all systems.

Thanks for that update. That alone, if it comes true, would definitely push me to renew my subscription. Many of us have busy lives and just want the Newsletter in the Newsletter, without having to click links, log in on different devices, and futz around. Please continue working towards restoring the full newsletter. The efforts are appreciated!

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As many before, they fail… What was a GREAT Newsletter has become and sort of news webpages… I used to be able to get an E-Mail and have a great read, now I have to click, Browse, Login, Browse and read a couple of very short blurbs and have to close several windows… It’s no longer a secret..!! E-mailing gets no response and disclaimers galore on the forums about the complaints not getting read… What a shame..!!! Users getting USED..!

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Again, today, I did not receive a Newsletter. There was an email from “Windows Secrets”, but no “Newsletter” in the subject. Just an email full of links. Again, we are not getting a newsletter in our email as we have paid for. Time for some refunds if they are not going to deliver a “Newsletter”.

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Again, today, I did not receive a Newsletter. There was an email from “Windows Secrets”, but no “Newsletter” in the subject. Just an email full of links. Again, we are not getting a newsletter in our email as we have paid for. Time for some refunds if they are not going to deliver a “Newsletter”.

Mine always say “NEWSLETTER” next to the subject, and “Click to see the full newsletter online” directly below the subject.

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If you are not receiving the newsletter, contact customerservice@penton.com. Let them know right away. Tell them how many you’re missing, your email delivery address, and whether you have ever used other email addresses for the Windows Secrets newsletter. Also be certain to whitelist the new Windows Secrets newsletter Send address: windowssecrets@enews.windowssecrets.com

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PMed means sent a personal message (click on ‘Notifications’ at top right, then Inbox. Sending a personal message link is on the left.)

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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The Windows Secrets column has been going downhill real fast for a long time. Very rarely does it contain any useful information, just a rehash of the same old crap. It is not like the LangaList in the days of old when real issues were addressed. Now it wants us to pay $25? I don’t think so. I can visit almost any other forum on the internet for free, and get much better quality.

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Sorry, but I won’t be renewing my subscription. The site is now much harder to navigate, and the old maxim ‘if it ain’t broke….’. I have had to change password, hunt all over for where to post, and I’ve lost patience…

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Excellent that you are reconsidering and may be emailing the full newsletter again.
No Tuesday newsletter this week? The ‘twice a week’ didn’t last long…

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Excellent that you are reconsidering and may be emailing the full newsletter again.
No Tuesday newsletter this week? The ‘twice a week’ didn’t last long…

Presidents’ Day, if you read one of last week’s newsletters.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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Presidents’ Day, if you read one of last week’s newsletters.

But you have to read the email newsletter to see that bit. Because “Click to see the full newsletter online” doesn’t include Editor’s note. 🙁

So the full newsletter online isn’t quite full, and the email isn’t quite a newsletter; just keep clicking between the two to get the full story. :huh:

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Well mine lapsed before I had time to really evaluate to new format and I find I do not now have access to the ‘articles’ from when I had a subscription. Another down side to the new format…

:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I want to give you guys a chance to get it right. As it is now, it’s not what I expect or need. I enjoyed reading the full email newsletter while waiting on something. Never had a problem with it. I am not likely to click a link to see a full article. Also, I save the newsletters so I can go back anytime I want and search through them. I won’t be able to do that with only partial email newsletters.

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Not a fan of the change at all. And I have given it some time to see how it would work. Much preferred the newsletter. I got here only because I’d been a paid subscriber to the Langalist for many years and Fred’s content alone is worth the charge. But the new format is unfriendly, pushy and precisely the kind of thing I subscribe to newsletters to avoid. Subscription is up in May, not sure I’ll renew. I do wonder how many users will be left in a year’s time. Sad to see this happening.

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Issue 523 was posted on 2/17 and is half of this weeks newsletter. The other half, Issue 524, has yet to be posted and this is 2/20. I am a subscriber and have yet to receive e-mail notification of any Newsletters. I called Penton and was promised a rectification of the situation. Nothing has been done yet!!!!

Penton bought WindowsSecret Newsletter to eliminate the competition. Apparently, it is doing everything in its power to eliminate all the subscribers and bury the Newsletter. Looks like it’s well on its way to accomplishing its mission!!!!

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Penton bought WindowsSecret Newsletter to eliminate the competition. Apparently, it is doing everything in its power to eliminate all the subscribers and bury the Newsletter. Looks like it’s well on its way to accomplishing its mission!!!!

HammondMike,

Perhaps you’re right. There has been black printing over the pages of WS for several weeks now. The first time I wrote about to Penton about this, they responded quite quickly and asked me to send them a screen shot. This quick response impressed me.

I sent them a second message and attached a screen shot. This time they neither responded nor fixed the problem. To add insult to injury, Penton stopped sending me Windows Secrets this week. Given the level of service to subscribers of Windows Secrets, customer service is probably deluged with messages from subscribers to WS. Consequently, I don’t fault the people in customer service.

Perhaps I should write to someone else at Penton requesting a refund of my subscription. If your subscription will expire in a couple of months, base your decision on how Penton treats subscribers between now and then.

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Penton bought WindowsSecret Newsletter to eliminate the competition. Apparently, it is doing everything in its power to eliminate all the subscribers and bury the Newsletter. Looks like it’s well on its way to accomplishing its mission!!!!

HammondMike,

Perhaps you’re right. There has been black printing over the pages of WS for several weeks now. The first time I wrote about to Penton about this, they responded quite quickly and asked me to send them a screen shot. This quick response impressed me.

I sent them a second message and attached a screen shot. This time they neither responded nor fixed the problem. To add insult to injury, Penton stopped sending me Windows Secrets this week. Given the level of service to subscribers of Windows Secrets, customer service is probably deluged with messages from subscribers to WS. Consequently, I don’t fault the people in customer service.

Perhaps I should write to someone else at Penton requesting a refund of my subscription. If your subscription will expire in a couple of months, base your decision on how Penton treats subscribers between now and then.

Hello,
I sent this exchange to the customersupport@penton.com team, who can’t find an email from you. Could you please resend your complaint to them so that they can follow up? They’ll be expecting to hear from you at customersupport@penton.com.
Best, Kathleen

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Still not receiving a Newsletter, but rather a spammy email full of click bait. The emails do not even have the word “Newsletter” in the subject line of the email anymore.

I have complained twice, both to Customer Support and the Editor. I guess they don’t care about the customers and have no intention of delivering an entire Newsletter.

I guess it’s time to ask for a refund and cancellation. Maybe I should put that request on a webpage and send them an email containing a link to the webpage. Does anyone think that they would click links in an email?

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Still not receiving a Newsletter, but rather a spammy email full of click bait. The emails do not even have the word “Newsletter” in the subject line of the email anymore.

I have complained twice, both to Customer Support and the Editor. I guess they don’t care about the customers and have no intention of delivering an entire Newsletter.

I guess it’s time to ask for a refund and cancellation. Maybe I should put that request on a webpage and send them an email containing a link to the webpage. Does anyone think that they would click links in an email?

As I have mentioned in this thread previously, we are working on the problem of returning the newsletter to a full-text email. It’s a challenge to do that reversal on Penton’s platform. In the meantime, the best advice for a full-newsletter experience that I can give you is to white-list the newsletter email and click the link “Click to see the full newsletter online.” Just out of curiosity, why do you hesitate to go on to the Windows Secrets website? Over the years, subscribers naturally have gone on to the site to renew subscriptions or buy ebooks or change email addresses or other preferences even if they have tended to read the whole newsletter in email. Many subscribers go online to participate in the Lounge–you, yourself, do that. The Windows Secrets website and the Lounge are reputable online places, after all.

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As I have mentioned in this thread previously, we are working on the problem of returning the newsletter to a full-text email.

Thanks, we appreciate that. 🙂

Just out of curiosity, why do you hesitate to go on to the Windows Secrets website? Over the years, subscribers naturally have gone on to the site to renew subscriptions or buy ebooks or change email addresses or other preferences even if they have tended to read the whole newsletter in email.

No argument there, and those examples are fine. It’s just the concept of having to click a link for routine access to a “Newsletter” that was sold to the customer with the expectation that it would be delivered in-full via email. The click-to-read model breaks down if you want to take your newsletter with you after having checked your email and you’re not connected to the internet. I have a lot of digital products that I pay for on a subscription basis that are downloaded in-full and accessible on-the-go via laptop or other mobile device without a connection. Some are just downloadable PDFs, some are Apps, and some are email.

One idea for Penton might be to create a channel to deliver the Newsletter via an existing app like Zinio, Kindle, Google Magazines, etc. Or develop their own mobile app to which the the Newsletter would be affirmatively pushed to the subscriber in-full.

Anyway, not to get off-topic, and I understand your point. There’s probably some room out here for patience for some of us paid subscribers while Penton sorts this out.

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Ms. Atkins,

Thank you for your response. I just sent another message to Penton customer support and also emailed the WS web master. In my email to the webmaster, I asked that it be forwarded to you and I pasted a copy of my email to Penton.

For future reference, do you have an email address at WS? This would make it easier to send you a copy of my correspondence with Penton.

Best regards to you and your coworkers at Windows Secrets during what must be a trying time for you.

Charles

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Ms. Atkins,

Thank you for your response. I just sent another message to Penton customer support and also emailed the WS web master. In my email to the webmaster, I asked that it be forwarded to you and I pasted a copy of my email to Penton.

For future reference, do you have an email address at WS? This would make it easier to send you a copy of my correspondence with Penton.

Best regards to you and your coworkers at Windows Secrets during what must be a trying time for you.

Charles

Thank you, Charles. My email address is kathleen.atkins@penton.com. I should let you know that I’m an editor, not a member of the customer support team. But I can advise them in some matters, and I do pay attention to Windows Secrets reader concerns expressed in the Lounge.

Best, Kathleen

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Gene, which newsletters are you considering subscribing to?

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As the header says the subscribe option is not working when logged in. Unlike many I have not been saving Newsletters the last few years however I still had a few newer ones. I loaded an ‘Newsletter’ I received before my subscription ended and I got a subscription renewal page. Just for kicks I clicked renew and got returned to that same page. Nothing could get me passed that while logged in. I had no problem if I logged out!

Maybe Penton does not want all subscribers to renew after all! :rolleyes:

:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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What other news letters are available. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

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I finally realized I was not getting any emails when I go t a notice that this thread had a new comment.

I emailed customer subscription service and this is what I learned:
“Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting us. Your email address had become globally unsubscribed. I have added that back on to the active user list and you should begin receiving the email notifications again on Tuesday. Please let me know if you continue to have trouble.”

I did nothing to subscribe or unsubscribe, unless participation in this thread is grounds for “global unsubsription”. Well, at least now I’ll finally be able to decide if the new format is worth it or not.
—Dale

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I finally realized I was not getting any emails when I go t a notice that this thread had a new comment.

I emailed customer subscription service and this is what I learned:
“Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting us. Your email address had become globally unsubscribed. I have added that back on to the active user list and you should begin receiving the email notifications again on Tuesday. Please let me know if you continue to have trouble.”

I did nothing to subscribe or unsubscribe, unless participation in this thread is grounds for “global unsubsription”. Well, at least now I’ll finally be able to decide if the new format is worth it or not.
—Dale

This is the same result I had. Fought back and forth with Penton on not getting the newsletter email and finally after Kathleen piped in, I got this canned message. I assume Penton globally unsubscribed all lifetime members in hope they would just pay them more money to get back on the list.

Cheers!!
Willie McClure
“We are trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in just a little bit, we are going to get there.” Alex Trebek

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I assume Penton globally unsubscribed all lifetime members in hope they would just pay them more money to get back on the list.

I hope that is not the case. That would be highly unethical, and a despicable business practice.

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Well, it seems that if I am to follow all the rules, this is the only thread where I can comment.
If anyone really cared about our opinion, at least we would have been allocated a temporary (or permanent) Forum where we could at least start new threads to keep issues together.

I have been as troubled as many over the recent changes since Penton acquired Windows Secret. I sure hope that this brought some benefit to all at Windows Secret columnists and employess who worked so hard over the years to provide us with reliable, generally unbiased information with which to support our windows machines.
But, despite the issues, I had planned on renewing my subscription at the new base price. Fred and Susan’s columns are worth it, and even though quality and quantity has declined, there are often other worthwhile articles.

So, today I received my first renewal notice, clicked on the link and was taken to the renewal options. What first caught my attention was the “free” software that is included in the higher priced alternatives. I had never heard of these specific products, so I did a little research. All are from the same company, and none at least that I could find have ever made the recommended list on Windows Secrets. Why would these be seen as a value to those of us who have been following Fred since the Langa List’s independent days?

I almost decided to overlook this when I suddenly accepted the fact that things have changed in the past 15-20 years and we need to be cautious even on familiar territory such as Windows Secrets. I should read the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy before renewing.

The Terms of Service are as long or longer than Google’s and the Privacy Policy follows suit…. The Terms of Service essentially have you give up all your rights and ideas to Penton for their perpetual use and misuse with or without attribution. They are way to full of legalese but otherwise not a lot different from many other “free” service providers. Oh, but this is no longer a free service. Now we have the privilege of paying to provide Penton with information and ideas and they have the full right to profit from it as they see fit.
I didn’t like this any more than some of the other changes, but I rarely post and my ideas have no monetary value so I could live with that even though it is patently wrong.

Then I read the entire Privacy Policy and I suggest you all do the same.
I am attaching a image made up with text from two screens on this website: On the left is the “New” Windows Secrets and on the right is an existing remnant from better days.
43831-WindowsSecretsPrivacy

Oh, and Google who make billions by reselling our information obtained by offering superb free services do NOT provide IDENTIFIABLE information to third parties without our explicit consent.
Unless I am assured that this is another “misunderstanding,” my 15++ years of benefitting from Fred and later Susan Bradley’s wisdom and experience are over when my current subscription expires. I probably should just cancel my subscription now but I will need the next month to follow all the links in the Terms of Service and The Privacy Policy to do my best to get information removed before I can leave.

Thank you to all the Window’s Secret’s columnists and lounge members who have contributed so much over the years. I wish you well.

Graham

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Thank you to all the Window’s Secret’s columnists and lounge members who have contributed so much over the years. I wish you well.

Graham: You can still participate in the Lounge, even though you aren’t a subscriber to the newsletter.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Jim, I did not realize that, so really good news.
Thank you very much.

Graham

Graham: You can still participate in the Lounge, even though you aren’t a subscriber to the newsletter.

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I just looked at this thread for the first time, so a few mild comments…

1. I actually like the twice-weekly schedule. I tend to get over 1000 emails every day and WS is one I read in its entirety (at least until I determine I have no interest whatsoever in a given article). Cutting down the time on any particular issue is a plus (those 1000 emails, by the way, are after the spam filter does its things. Unlike a lot of folks in today’s society, I have a lot of interests.)

2. I’m not thrilled about having to go on the website to read, for the same reasons others have posted (can’t archive what I’ve paid for, nuisance factor, etc.). I’ll be looking forward to a solution to the email issue.

3. That said, I’m not thrilled at all that Penton is the new owner. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with them in the past, both as a subscriber and as a board member of an organization whose monthly magazine was published by Penton. In addition, having previously supported that industry, I’m thrilled about any company owned by venture capitalists. I won’t even get started on the privacy policy!

So why do I keep reading, at least for now? Because the articles are generally written in the right balance between “techie” and “luddite.” I haven’t been active on the hardware side for years, and was laid off from my software job (even that was data modeling and QA) in 2008. In other words, I need things in less-than-high-tech language but neither am I completely clueless. Unless the old Byte magazine is resurrected, WS is the best publication for my needs. (And yes, the information may be out there in other places, but I like having something to read regularly so I know about a potential problem before I’m looking for a solution — especially if the problem involves a trashed computer and I can’t get online to find a fix!)

Kathleen, you’ve really been put between a rock and a hard place. Thank you for being patient with all of us!

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How long does it take you to read those 1000 emails every day?

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Finally got my first newsletter email since 1/7/16 today… Boy, what a let down. I’ve had a lifetime subscription for many years (in 2007 I switched from many years of annual subscriptions to a lifetime one) and have seen a few changes from LangaList to Windows Secrets and now to this 2.0 steaming pile. Now I don’t even get the full newsletter via email and can’t maintain my offline archive. This is a BIG change and NOT for the better. Looks like the newsletter was purchased to be killed and force us to buy into a lesser product.

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Still not receiving a “newsletter”. Once again today all I received was an email full of a bunch of click-bait links. I paid for a “newsletter”. Was getting a newsletter. Not anymore.

The word “newsletter” does not even appear in the email ‘from’ label or ‘subject’ line anymore.

When will the “newsletter” be restored? We were told here a while back that someone was working on that. What’s the holdup? Subscribers are not getting what they paid for.

Get the lead out. Fix this. Before the next “newsletter” email.

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Maybe they should sub it out to the people doing it before Penton took it over. That would be a quick fix to the “no newsletter” problem.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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My subscription has apparently just run out. What I hadn’t realised is that not only can you not access each new ‘newsletter’ but… you also lose access to all the newsletters you previously had access to, i.e. years of them when I was a continuous subscriber.

My fault completely that I hadn’t been paying attention to the fact I would lose access to the content I had already paid for.

Does this make me want to re-subscribe to regain access to the content I had already paid for? Nope…

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Rick
Same here 🙁
I had not thought it through and was surprised.

Kathlen
Just a though, would not it be a good idea to offer to send blog update notices (aka newsletters) for free as the content is not available in them anyway? That way we can see what we are missing and be tempted to subscribe.

:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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@ wavy: Your suggestion is a good one–and I’ll pass it on.

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It seems that Windows Secrets has forgotten one basic rule: “If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it!”

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Well, this week I finally received a full version of the Newsletter, with a notification that the full format is back, versus just an email full of links.

I’d like to personally thank Kathleen Atkins here for “guiding” our feedback to Penton regarding this issue.

It is also sad news that it was also announced in the same Newsletter that Kathleen Atkins will be leaving Windows Secrets. So while we gained something, I fear we lost something worth much more.

Farewell, Kathleen. You will be missed.

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Best wishes in your new job, Ms. Atkins! Like Barker 13, I’d like to thank you for guiding our feedback to Penton. 🙂

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As a faithful past subscriber going back to the earliest days of Brian Livingston, Fred Langa and Woody Leonhard I faithfully followed them where I eventually ended-up at Windows Secrets, from its earliest inception. I started out as a free subscriber but rather quickly became a paid one because of the decent and largely useful content contained in the newsletter. I always made my most generous contribution on a yearly basis, even though I’m bombarded with free offers of IT industry newsletters and trade magazines on a constant basis. However, even with the recent change back to the full newsletter format (unquestionably a small step in the right direction), the price-gouging sum of $25.00 is still far too cost-prohibitive, especially with people in the Tech Industry losing their jobs daily to outsourcing and the stinking H-1b visa process as well as shrinking work hours and outright pay cuts; $25 bucks is more than I used to pay for glossy print publications like PC World, PC Magazine and the like which contained premium content! I was always happy to make my yearly contribution to Windows Secrets and I felt that I got commensurate value out of it but the money-grubbing bean-counters at Penton have priced me (and hundreds of other subscribers) right out of the market, as evidenced by the countless posts on this thread. They would be well-advised to go back to the old revenue model which essentially everybody could afford, or worst-case, price it at no more than $10.00 per year, which most of us could probably scrape-up if we had to. I daresay that their subscriber census would nearly go back to where it was before, save for the ones who (thanks to Penton’s shortsighted greed) were and are too alienated to reconsider. They simply cut their nose off to spite their face and will continue to hemorrhage subscribers until they see the fatal error of their ways as this nice little publication continues to sink (along with the great contributing writers who helped make it what it was after all these years). If by some miracle they have a change of heart (& exhibit some sound judgment) and revert to their original subscription scheme then I’ll be only too happy to jump back on the bandwagon, but not before; it is simply not possible given the current economic downturn and difficulty making ends meet these days.

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I’m not delighted at being asked for a set amount for the newsletter, but my main beef with this year’s changes was the requirement to go online in order to read the full articles. Now we can read the articles right on our e-mail client as before, and in my book that does count as an improvement.

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It’s not even necessarily about a “fixed amount” but rather the outrageously high amount that is being charged; it’s ‘way out of whack with what an online publication like this should cost. As I noted previously, there are many around today which are totally complimentary. The money-grubbing, price-gouging publisher Penton is totally out of touch with financial reality here…

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It’s not even necessarily about a “fixed amount” but rather the outrageously high amount that is being charged; it’s ‘way out of whack with what an online publication like this should cost. As I noted previously, there are many around today which are totally complimentary. The money-grubbing, price-gouging publisher Penton is totally out of touch with financial reality here…

Although I regretted the changeover as much as the next person, I’m really only seriously interested in the safety of the monthly Windows Updates and if my subscription goes up in September to $25 I shall regard that as very good value being roughly a dollar per Patch Watch. Any other articles that catch my eye represent a bonus. I must confess it isn’t clear in the site FAQ what additional benefits you get from the higher subscription rates, but I assume my subscription will be ok at $25.

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Good luck with that one. We’re still being “taken to the cleaners” here – they just didn’t know when to let well-enough alone. We have an old saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”. All they did was lose hundreds of otherwise very loyal and extremely longtime subscribers, all the while cheapening the value of the product. We (the alienated masses) out here keep hoping they’ll wise-up and return to the previous highly-successful (and affordable) model but so far Penton still has its head firmly planted in the sand. (I could’ve said somewhere else, but I refrained)

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I’ve decided to not renew. It’s no longer that important nor is it that uniquely informative. I started out getting a free subscription to the old Infoworld large format print publication back in the 90s when I took on IT Mgmt for our small company. At the time it actually looked like a newspaper, albeit a glossier version. I followed several of the columns. In fact I once received a gift from Bob Cringley for providing an industry insight he was able to use in an article. Brian Livingston was always a favorite. Anyway, in roughly 20 yrs, I’ve only found one or two Win patches to cause a problem with any of our systems, so that’s never been of much value. Any serious patch problems are normally highlighted by others so the patch watch is of little value to me. The biggest benefit was insight into the Win updates, to be able to both become proficient with the new OS quicker and to assist other users facing problems. The free security software reviews were helpful for my personal systems, but I also follow the AV testing sites. The Win tips and tricks were once quite helpful, but now I’m learning things faster just by investigating on my own or from reading other publications. I have been unemployed and have suffered through 2 major heart surgeries in the past few years. I no longer work in IT. I’m finding less and less value for the newsletter. If I have to use the web for details and further details from articles, then I might as well just use the plethora of free resources on the web and let this newsletter expire. I felt it was worth a $1/mo to help support Brian’s effort to keep it going. When he passed the torch, that fee was deemed acceptable and I deemed the value was still worth a fee. Now, it’s devolved and facing stiff competition. Even going to microsofts own forums can be just as useful, and many times more so. Sadly, I will not be renewing.

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