Taking it up a notch with v4.1

I am so proud to have v4.1 even planned this well. It is going to be here before we know it. Not everyone will be happy, as not everything in the huge task list will be taken care of. HOWEVER, there are some important improvements I have worked hard on:

• Direct process I/O priority control in Vista and above (already in beta)
• Default power schemes of anything, not just High Performance
• New multi-core optimizations (e.g. HyperThreading logical core avoidance)
• Improved inter-process communication, resulting in more accuracy with ProBalance event timing and state
• New update mechanism that shows changes since YOUR last update, not just the latest version's changes. It will also allow for validation to make sure your license is valid for the update. This will avoid any surprises.
• Decreased CPU usage even further (of both CPU and GUI), just when you thought it was impossible to get it any tighter ;)
• More improvements to the startup sequence and timing in Vista and above.
• Many fixes and general improvements.

I hope customers appreciate these improvements, and I will continue to work hard towards these goals. It is important for beta users to let me know of any bug they see, as I will try to get it fixed by the final release of v4.1.

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v4.09.08 beta - More I/O priority levels (for experimentation) and other beta fixes

As usual, I have to be very careful to maintain backwards compatibility with XP pre-SP2 and below. Everyone else has forgotten them it seems ;o. Anyway, the last few betas (only) weren't compatible, so I fixed that in this release.

I've also added new I/O priorities. Although they are reported to not be implemented in Vista SP0, I'm investigating if they were later implemented in any service packs or in Win7. Research on that is ongoing.

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v4.09.07 beta - Default I/O priorities now implemented

I went ahead and finished up the implementation of default I/O priorities in v4.09.07 beta. I did not add the configuration dialog yet, but context menu use is fine. I still do need to add them to the multi-selection process context menu as well.

Naturally, further beta builds are coming. I am VERY excited as v4.1 introduces some truly innovative features, of which this is just one. It further polishes up v4 final, fixing some minor bugs here and there. I would back-port some minor fixes, but it is hardly worth it since v4.1 will be here before we know it. It will also give people a break from updates.

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I/O Priority Control

Users have been requesting I/O priority control ever since Vista was released. I always give the same answer - the I/O priority is derived from the calling thread's priority, which is in-turn derived from the process priority class (base priority) that Process Lasso's ProBalance adjusts. In other words, the CPU priority becomes the I/O priority.

This is what Microsoft recommends - simply changing the CPU priority of the calling thread or entire process. That is why they provided no direct way to change it, and why you see no way to change it in the popular Process Explorer utility from SysInternals (now arm of Microsoft).

However, since users wanted the control to set the I/O priority, I have implemented it. Since all of Process Lasso is low-level code, it was a quick and easy implementation. You will be disappointed to discover though that there are only TWO usable levels. That's right, two. Either it is Normal or Very Low. Those are your only options.

UPDATE: It appears that support exists for High and Low as well, though I'm still determining if this support is only superficial, or if it was added at some point. I will report more later.

You might as well set the priority class to Idle to achieve the same effect most of the time, but in rare situations where you desire the CPU priority to be different than the I/O priority, I have facilitated this starting in v4.09.06 beta. In v4.09.05 beta I show the I/O priorities, and the next beta I will allow manipulation of them. This next beta is likely coming within hours.

I wrote more on this here: http://www.bitsum.com/pl_io_priority.php

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New low-level optimization further lowers CPU utilization

I've further optimized some of the lowest-level process management code that is embedded in both the GUI and core engine. This new optimization will save quite a few CPU cycles, though I've not yet benchmarked it to see exactly how many it will (on average).

Of course, I don't mean to imply it really matters at this point. Once you get to as little CPU use as Process Lasso already uses, further optimizations are just bordering on obsessiveness. Still, who knows, those few CPU cycles might matter to someone, some time. Now that CPUs aren't getting much faster, instead only breeding, CPU execution speed is as important as ever.

This will be available in v4.09.05 beta. I am making v4.1 the ultimate build of Process Lasso, then letting it sit for a bit. I wasn't satisfied with v4, though users seem to have been. It was a great improvement, but I have further I wanted to go. I'm taking it 'there' with v4.1. There are several fixes and optimizations, and quite a few very important new features coming.

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Process Lasso Pro Commercial Licenses sales switch exclusively to RegNow - Become an affiliate and maybe make a few bucks

I've used both PayPal and RegNow for orders, as often times one will accept and order and other won't. Using RegNow has its advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is a much higher commission fee. The advantage is YOU can make money selling these licenses. Simply sign up as an Affiliate and you can get cash for every person who you refer that eventually buys a commercial Process Lasso Pro license. Since some of those licenses can be expensive, if you sell one you are out to make a good bit of money.

To do this, sign up as a RegNow affiliate then request to be one of our affiliates. We've got the settings to automatically accept everyone (at this time, that may change to manual review if necessary for any reason). Their documentation will help you along, but from there basically their system takes over. They store a cookie on the user's machine that IDs you as the affiliate. So, whenever the user comes to buy and their server sees that cookie (even if it is 30 days later), it then gives you credit for the order, and pays you commission.

Starting January 1st the plan is to switch completely to RegNow and get certified in their affiliate network. In order to be certified you must have no other ways of ordering. Since there is no other way to order the commercial licenses as of now, I've already requested certification for them.

Don't wait. Sign up today. The switch may even occur early. It mostly depends on how sales go and if I can afford to switch earlier. All systems are ready for the switch.

As a side note to purchasers through RegNow, be sure to TRASH their 'Extended Download Service'. This is useless for my software. In other cases it may not be, but it is in my case. I've made a request that it be removed by default and the switch to RegNow is somewhat contingent on that. They said they would, so I'm sure they'll oblige me.

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BETA language woes being fixed in new upload

This problem persisted about 24 hours.

The actual cause was the addition of a particular string that managed to confuse my location utility with its escape characters (used to signify a special character is or isn't special). Anyway, I had a closing "somestuff\\" which a C programmer can see the problem in. My tool didn't check for the secondary closing quote. So, it wasn't the maintenance, it was this string being added that caused the problem. Now our RC utilities are more robust than ever though.

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Language lost in last BETA? No worries, fix coming soon

As I did some maintenance on our in-house resource localization utilities (few companies have these), a bug manifested and caused translations be partially or totally incomplete (English instead). Please forgive us this mistake. We took it off the beta update check notifier and will issue a new build ASAP. It being Christmas Eve we can't guarantee when it will be issued, but I intend to do it tonight. Nothing slows me down ;). Well, ok, a few things do, lol.

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New Portable Edition beta released, but we're gonna have to reform

I created a Portable Edition that uses a silent SFX archive to 'just run'. It extracts itself to the system temporary directory, runs, and is there. However, I believe there are better approaches (e.g. a simple ZIP of all the files) that may be more appropriate for many users. I really need to hear how people use their portable software to know what you need and don't need. Now is your chance to put your two cents in. The forum topic is here: http://www.bitsum.net/forum/index.php?topic=625.0

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New Portable Edition in final stage internal testing

The *next* beta release I'll have along with it a Portable Edition. It will be lean and mean, and operate with a single click. You can store your INI and LOG file on the flash drive. You simply run it. It's all done, I'm just debugging some final issues and testing the code. If I get it done tonight, I suppose I can make it a Christmas Present from Bitsum Technologies ;).

I've noticed other site(s) offering a portable edition of Process Lasso. I have not analyzed these editions. Be wary of them as they are not officially sanctioned Bitsum products. If the authors would like to contact me I can give them my own 'thumbs up', after reviewing their files. Until then, the user must assume any copy of Process Lasso put together by a third-party to be dangerous. It may be benign, and simply a helpful user, but who knows until it is looked at. Whether or not it will have any necessity after we officially release the Portable Edition is unknown. It depends on if this user-created edition is different in some way that might be appealing to a certain subset of users.

Our new, authorized and safe edition of Process Lasso Portable does NOT utilize U3 and instead 'just runs'. After some user feedback, we determined this the best approach, as we had no necessity for U3 anyway. If there are any U3 fans out there, now is the time to speak up ;)

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New update mechanism being coded

I'm working on a brand new update mechanism that will show the latest changes, but also allow you to validate your license prior to the update. This will let you know whether you are eligible for the next update, or would be reverted back to the free build. This will let our users know when their license has expired, instead of finding out 'the hard way'. Note that our registered users can download ANY OLDER VERSION from our Support area, so can always go back if this happens in the meantime. For give-away users no such option is available, but the give-aways were meant to be temporary. The product is very liberally licensed as-is. Please accept our token of allowing free use this long and know that we would give all our software away completely freely if we could.

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v4.1 beta coming - New logical core avoidance (avoid fake cores)

For HyperThreaded CPUs, the emulated/fake second core offers a fraction of the performance of a real secondary core. Even though Microsoft Windows CPU Scheduler is aware of these fake CPUs as of XP, it can not predict how demanding the next time slice can be. It can therefore throw a thread onto one of these fake CPUs and performance can be degraded. In some cases, a default CPU affinity to avoid these fake cores is ideal. I'm here to deliver ;).

You can already do this manually with default affinities, but it is nice to have to easy option. I'm releasing a beta version soon. I've made rapid progress on this. Another big new feature is making its way to v4.1 as well. I'll explain more in a later post.

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When almost free isn't enough

You know, if you've used my software you know I have liberal licensing. You know I'm nice, friendly, and try to provide good support. I make mistakes from time to time, but correct them to the best of my ability. Still, some people demand more. I would *love* to give Process Lasso Pro away totally freely, but then I'd have no place to live as I couldn't pay my rent. If you are one who just can't stand not having the Pro version, but can't pay $24.95 for it, then I'm sorry. I just don't know what else to say.

The Free Edition has all the most popular features and never expires. I don't know what the gripe is really. It just gets me down, ya know. I mean, it seems the more you give, the more people want. I give as much as I possibly can, and then some. If that isn't enough, then ... well, that's all I have to give ;o.

Thankfully, there is another user segment - the segment that buys licenses to help support further development of Process Lasso. To these customers I am truly thankful. Ask any of them and I think they'll tell you they were satisfied. Heck, if they aren't, I even offer a 30 day money back guarantee for home users. I've never had anyone take me up on that. I probably will as soon as I post this, lol.

Well, here's to v4.1 - which I am VERY eager to release as it has some COOL new features and improves the new inter-process communication framework so there are fewer 'lost packets' (if you will).

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Process Lasso enters China, Singapore, Hong-Kong, and Taiwan

Chinese, Taiwanese, Singapore, and Hong-Kong users check out our new presence at http://store.pchome.com.tw/pcsoft/S366117.htm .

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v4.00.28

This version is more minor GUI cleanup. It is not a mandatory upgrade, though as to not confuse people I will push it through the update checker after CNET picks up the build.

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v4.00.26 - Fixing a GUI bug seen in XP throughout v4

I had a user report a bug to me this morning that setting the default priority class via the process context menu caused the entire Process Lasso GUI to hang (deadlocked). I had another report of this the other day, so looked closer. Vista, OK. Win7, OK. XP, Not OK.

I did some testing and found it *only* happens in XP under *some* conditions. I won't get into all the details, but it existed since v4 went final. I am therefore issuing this immediate fix/update for this bug and pushing it out to users.

Now, hopefully, I can get back to v4.1 ;o. Stability of the code base is the utmost importance, so this had to be addressed first. This build is now available.

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v4.00.25 released

This build fixes some important quirks discovered by end users. It continues to refine the new v4 code base, readying it for v4.1. It also adds a new feature to allow per-machine instance count limits. Now, this must be properly configured. Specifically, an instance of the governor must be running with rights and config to manage all user processes, even if it needs its own dedicated config file. You could run it as a service, for instance.

Importantly, if you got any earlier build that had v4.00.25 as the text version number from the beta links, use the 'check for updates' function to get the proper build (or ensure you have the proper build). Here is the change log from v4.00.24 to v4.00.25:

• Fix.Installer: When starting with elevated rights in Vista+, the task configuration specified only to start Process Lasso and its core engine for users of the Administrators group. This is now fixed, changed to Users group so that Standard/Limited rights users also have it launched for them at login.
• Fix.GUI: Fixed 'Disable ProBalance when user is away for *other* amount of time' menu option (invokes config dialog now as it was supposed to)
• Fix.Installer: Installer wasn't remembering last install directory during quick upgrades
• Change.Installer: Switched installation directory storage (for upgrades) back to HKLM
• Change.GUI: Some minor improvements to activation procedure
• Change.GUI: 'Reset listview columns and sizes' now resets actions/log (lower) listview too
• Change.GUI: If configured to check, the updater now checks once every 2 days (was 4 days)
• Change.GUI: Changed the update checker so that it will be more likely to check while you're around and can take action
• Change.GUI: Grammar and language changes (translators: languages files already updated in most or all cases, but you may want to verify)
• Change.GUI: Slight View menu reorganization and other minor changes
• Addition.GUI: Log column changes now persist when you exit/start GUI
• Addition.GUI: Added ability to use per-machine instance count limits instead of per-session instance count limits on applications (see instance limits config dialog)
• Addition.Core: Added ability to use per-machine instance count limits instead of per-session instance count limits on applications
• Addition.All: Created first v4 build for Japanese partner (still in QA)
• Change.Docs: Updated text and a few screenshots

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New minor update coming soon

I've made some changes and fixes, along with a few small, but highly useful, additions. I've not got them all rolled out yet, but they are coming quickly. I'm releasing a new minor update today, v4.00.25. It has a few of the more simple changes, to be announced at that time. Then I'll proceed on to v4.1. More later...

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Why the update checker says there is no update when there is a newer version ...

I often get users and partners who think I've forgotten about something because they don't get notified of a minor update. They know there is a newer version. They click on 'Check for updates', but it tells them there is none. It is easy to assume something is wrong. This strange seeming behavior is by design though. The point of it is to avoid pushing out updates to those who don't need it. We all know how many minor updates I like to issue, and does anyone really want to be notified of every single one all the time? Even if you do, the masses who don't follow this blog may not have the same preference. At the same time, new users who are downloading the product for the first time, well I like to get the latest and greatest code in their hands.

The system works like this. Each build has an internal version number. For every new release, I essentially tell the database and script 'only tell users who have an internal version less than X of this update'. That means, in the case of v4.00.24 that only users of v4.00.22 and below were notified of it. Users of v4.00.23 weren't. Why? I didn't think it was important enough to bother them with... especially when v4.00.25 is coming around the corner (today). It has many more little changes and fixes.

Also, I have the ability to later go back and change that 'update version'. So, say I decided not to release this new .25, then I could push .24 out to users.

So, I could either keep doing it this way and continue letting people sometimes think I made some sort of mistake in the update system, or unnecessarily bother people, release fewer minor updates, or perhaps just quit changing the displayed version number with every minor update. It is a tough call, but I'll stay with the current system and just keep explaining my rationale for now.

Truly, if the update is if importance, it will be pushed out to you. Like I said, v4.00.25 is being pushed out to everyone when released. So, everything can be back 'in-sync' and this confusion can hopefully end.

I do apologize for the confusion that my methodology sometimes causes. No methodology is perfect, but I try to do what works best for the product and its users.

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Updated Terminal Server guidance

I've been working on the documentation. New guidance on Terminal Server deployment of Process Lasso will help administrators to make the right decision on setup. I'll add screenshots, but that isn't necessary. Please see this page for more information.

Process Lasso is very robust, and if configured properly (usually the default configuration) it can truly work wonders for a Terminal Server. I'm hoping improved guidance will help administrators learn to use Process Lasso to its fullest.

On this end, Bitsum Technologies has set up increasingly complex test beds to try to simulate large corporate servers and networks. We continue to refine our software. We are fast and nimble ;)

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Blog Update

For those wondering about the post that appeared then disappeared regarding Lenovo's faulty OEM software, I moved that to my other blog 'The Pile'. I figured it was not appropriate here and someone might think it was Process Lasso's bug if they read wrong.

This new policy of releasing a minor update every Friday has worked out well. It lets me review, then test and retest changes. I suppose I am slightly less reactive, but not by much. A week is not long to wait, and in the interim the builds are posted at the beta URL (until v4.1 beta series officially starts).

Soon, I'm adding new cool new features that I wish would have made it in v4.0. These could sell themselves as a major upgrade. For that reason, I may jump to v4.1. You can probably guess what those features are, but if not - you will think "yea, that's a good idea" ;). Or at least I hope so...

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Why you should *never* use a cracked copy of Process Lasso Pro

I am very grateful that people like and want to use my software. That is why I have created the free edition and such very liberal licensing. Along with cheap prices, nobody should have a reason to pirate my software. Still, I see the cracks of it popping up all over. Every build I release is cracked, even the minor updates.

Reasons not to download pirated copies of Process Lasso Pro:

1. It is illegal.
2. The is a *real* likelihood of malware being included in the pirated/cracked software. It may install itself along with the cracked software and be totally transparent. Years ago I did contract work for an anti-malware company and analyzed samples like this. You would install the pirated software and never know you installed malware along with it.
3. The version you get may or may not have been modified, and may or may not be stable. If it has been patched, the patch may cause problems. There is no telling what effects a patch may have on the licensing and activation system, and indeed the entire product. It depends on the patch location.
4. If you have the money to buy a license, but opt to pirate anyway - then you're discouraging further development rather than encouraging it. Why not give money directly to a developer of software you like? 

Buy a license and get peace of mind, or switch to the free edition. Regardless, I'm happy to have everyone as a user.

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Tying up loose ends on the activation system

Paid users will notice in the Support area a new 'License type' column. This will help associate a particular activation code with a specific license, for those who own multiple licenses. This column will improve in the coming days/weeks, showing more detail.

In some cases, redundant activation codes were issued for expired licenses. These will be cleaned up/out, leaving the valid activation codes to remain. Those who utilized invalid codes should go ahead and upgrade and get a new key (if all your licenses say 'expired' then this means you). You'll actually save a few bucks to renew your license now.

Back to work, I am releasing v4.1 soon - some rapid progress, building on the new v4 base (which is stable and robust).

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