Stardock has dropped the ball via Impulse

Forcing people to sign up to "Impulse" after asking a treasure trove of personal questions has made me a non supporter of your products. Last-night my wife wanted to try out the free version of Deskscapes for XP. After jumping through hoops to join Impulse we find that the Dream's did not work with her XP, so we went to various Stardock forums and found others with the same problem, but they got no support at all. We tried the Impulse upgrade option and even that was frustrating.

After all this drama, we decided to rid our PC of Impulse, I used "Your Uninstaller Pro" for this action and for some reason it started deleting other programs unrelated to Stardock. Now I'm pissed. Not only was crucial software deleted including IE, but when I clicked Impulse it said I need to log on to the site to uninstall, but most of it is already UNINSTALLED.

 

This spyware, add ridden software is STILL on my PC and I want it off. Stardock customer sevice is piss poor at best and no relevant info can be found on the internet. Can someone give me a direct link to uninstall Impulse????

 

Shame on you guys.

 

On a side note, I tried out the Beta version of Fences and put it on my laptop, now I get a pop up saying I need to join IMPULSE to get the non beta version. There's no way in hell i'm doing that to another one of my PC's, so I told myself I could deal with the pop-up. Well, as soon as I tried to re-name a Icon in a fence, the fence kicked the icon out. YOU DON'T EVEN GET THE BETA FUNCTIONALITY.

 

What a joke.....

 

I joined this forum to let my rant be heard and to complain about the direction Stardock has taken.

 

12,375 views 21 replies
Reply #1 Top

If you want to uninstall something on XP, the appropriate method is Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs. Running third-party software to do so is a recipe for trouble.

Reply #2 Top

i was under the impression that deskscapes (dreams) only works on vista.

Reply #3 Top

Dreams do work on XP.  You have to have the right codecs.  Some dreams can have issues especially with nVidia video cards. (See the forums).  Asking for help in a decent manner gets you  much further than making accusations by the way.

Reply #4 Top

My 3rd party uninstaller worked just fine before this.

 

Since you work for Stardock, lead me to the direct Impulse "uninstall" link please, surely you must know the link?

 

When MS embraced Stardock, it seems there have been a treasure trove of failures within the company.

 

You guys need to hit the reset button, even though you have great products, us fans of Stardock feel like 100% pure un-cut sh*t for the lack of support.

 

This will catch up to you and your sales will fall like wounded ducks, perhaps that's not Stardocks agenda :X

 

And let's not talk about "3rd" party, Stardock has a very advanced 3rd party system that remains on your PC after deletion.

 

 

Reply #5 Top

I am sorry you encountered problems with Impulse.

From the description it sounds like "Your Uninstaller Pro" became confused and thought the IE files were part of Impulse.  Why this is I cannot say.

The normal way to remove Impulse is to use the Impulse uninstaller which is listed under Add/Remove programs.  As I understand it, the Microsoft guidelines suggest this is where it should be rather than an entry in the Startmenu.

What 3rd party system remains on your PC after deletion?

Reply #6 Top

Since you work for Stardock, lead me to the direct Impulse "uninstall" link please, surely you must know the link?
End of quote

angus 1949 made no claim of working for stardock...or does anyone who disagrees with you work there?

Neil is 100% correct. I'll bet if you read your Uninstaller Pro's disclaimers you'll find something like, "This software is just great...but if it screws up, we didn't do it and we don't know you and don't owe you anything."

Reply #7 Top

angus 1949 made no claim of working for stardock...or does anyone who disagrees with you work there?
End of quote

 

believe he was talking to GreenReaper

GR = 17:31:56

BM = 21:08:07

 

less than 4hr apart -

sometimes replies pop in whilst typing a response....

 

I know, I'm that slow....

Reply #8 Top

Why on earth would someone use a 3rd party uninstaller in XP?  Isn't that what Add/Remove programs is for?  :-"

Reply #9 Top

I've found 3rd party uninstallers and registry cleaners to be an accident waiting to happen. They may work a few times but they will eventually bork your system. I've also found most have disclaimers warning you of such right before you allow it to happen.

Sorry to hear that you had trouble but in Stardocks defense, I've had nothing but positive experiences with every one of their products that I've used. I did have the need to call their support line once and found their support department to be the finest I've ever had the pleasure to use.

Reply #10 Top


Forcing people to sign up to "Impulse" after asking a treasure trove of personal questions has made me a non supporter of your products. Last-night my wife wanted to try out the free version of Deskscapes for XP. After jumping through hoops to join Impulse we find that the Dream's did not work with her XP, so we went to various Stardock forums and found others with the same problem, but they got no support at all. We tried the Impulse upgrade option and even that was frustrating.

After all this drama, we decided to rid our PC of Impulse, I used "Your Uninstaller Pro" for this action and for some reason it started deleting other programs unrelated to Stardock. Now I'm pissed. Not only was crucial software deleted including IE, but when I clicked Impulse it said I need to log on to the site to uninstall, but most of it is already UNINSTALLED.

 

This spyware, add ridden software is STILL on my PC and I want it off. Stardock customer sevice is piss poor at best and no relevant info can be found on the internet. Can someone give me a direct link to uninstall Impulse????

 

Shame on you guys.

 

On a side note, I tried out the Beta version of Fences and put it on my laptop, now I get a pop up saying I need to join IMPULSE to get the non beta version. There's no way in hell i'm doing that to another one of my PC's, so I told myself I could deal with the pop-up. Well, as soon as I tried to re-name a Icon in a fence, the fence kicked the icon out. YOU DON'T EVEN GET THE BETA FUNCTIONALITY.

 

What a joke.....

 

I joined this forum to let my rant be heard and to complain about the direction Stardock has taken.

 

End of quote

 

 

agreeed

Reply #11 Top

It amazes me how polarizing Impulse has been.

Personally, had no issues with it. Use add remove next time.

Reply #12 Top

Personally, had no issues with it. Use add remove next time.
End of quote

Same here. It works perfectly. Updates all my programs, downloads without any problems, doesn't interfere with anything, doesn't use any resources, it even looks ok now that horrible green colour has been banished. So exactly what is the problem?

I'm curious as to why all the people complaining have high user numbers. The cynical amongst us may think it's Steam users joined just to bash Impulse - I'm not like that though ;)

Reply #13 Top

I can't understand people's issues with Impulse. I installed it, set it to NOT run all the time, and just use it to update my Stardock software, which it does with no fuss or drama at all. Lots of people have far worse 3rd party software on their systems and don't even realise it.

No one really complained when the software was called "Stardock Central", and let's face it, Impulse is just an upgrade of that with a few extra abilities.

I've been using Stardock products for around 10 years now, (look at my user number.....) and have rarely had a problem.

I am running Vista on a system that shouldn't be running Vista, and the only Stardock product that has given me any trouble is Dreamscapes, which really doesn't like my crappy hardware. But I don't bitch and complain. I just don't use it, and uninstall it using the proper method. (why the hell are there 3rd party programs to uninstall software??!!, just uninstall stuff normally and then run CCleaner to clear out the registry entries!)

What makes all this drama even worse is, people are complaining about FREE software!!!  Sheesh!

Get a grip folks.............. B[]

Reply #14 Top

I can't understand people's issues with Impulse.
End of quote

I see a couple different groups involved........

Those who purchased their first Stardock app and don't need a host program for it. They haven't used Impulse yet and are wary of it. They don't understand that all programs use an installer and most are invisible. They also don't understand that they can uninstall it right after installing their purchased software. Once they get over the initial "WTF" and use it they're OK.

The second group is made up of those who don't read everything or don't comprehend what the've read. They go to the product page where it says that an item requires Impulse, they purchase the item and are then astonished to find out that this thing called Impulse is what they get in the email. Same as the above group....once the shock wears off and they see that the Product page did say Impulse was required they're OK.

Another group (definitely the most vocal) is the freeloader group which only wants the "free" products with no strings attached with the invisible installer built in. They will tell you how this is what will keep them from purchasing any Stardock products when the reality is they would never buy any to begin with.

Reply #15 Top

Let me make a note:

Do not create multiple accounts in order post.  They will all be deleted and IP banned.

 

 

Reply #16 Top

Quoting Island, reply 15
Let me make a note:

Do not create multiple accounts in order post.  They will all be deleted and IP banned.

 

 
End of Island's quote

 

LOL, I wondered if that was what was going on.  A lot was quoted to simply say "Agreed" to and move on.

Reply #17 Top

Very naughty! Kinda destroys any credability.

Plus talking to yourself is the first sign of madness ;)

Reply #18 Top

Plus talking to yourself is the first sign of madness
End of quote

But I talk to myself all the time....

 

 

 

Bloody hate the answers though....;)

Reply #19 Top

There isn't a problem for me
If you talk to yourself quietly.
But if you talk to others,
Like sisters or brothers,
who aren't there, away I will flee!

Reply #20 Top

I get a lot of useful answers talking to myself.  It's only madness if the voices are inside your head and not your own on the outside simply making thoughts outload.  Just wear a fake phone headset in public.:grin:

Reply #21 Top

The lunatic is in my head
you raise the blade,
you make the change,
you rearrange me 'till I'm sane
you lock the door
and throw away the key
there's someone in my head
but it's not me...