"BitComet Tip"...

[Anarki]

I think the topic tells pretty much everything. I just downloaded 1.15. I am on XP sp3. Using the eMule plugin. Have disabled software updates. I have checked everywhere for a way to disable and also googled a little and tried searching this forum too.

Yet I get this little popup in the right lower part of my screen while i was tweaking around somewhat with the new impressive features.

It is named BitComet Tip and it asked me if I wanted to play some game on the BitComet server. I didnt click it. Just closed it.

Now, I am really happy the bitcomet team can put up games etc if that is true, and I am also not one of thoose who scream that all advertising in software is bad. I realize that in a software such as bitcomet, with the features they are touting, money is going to be required one way or the other, and ads probably being the only viable option. But I wouldnt have suspected this popping up.

I hate sounding offensive and everything so excuse me if I do, but I am putting this very mildly compared to what I am thinking right now and I just got rid of my old faithfull 0.70 for this adware bullshit.

heres a fact: BitComet is one of the most ad filled torrent client in human history and the reason I even put up with this (being an "clean computer" type of guy) is becouse it is indeed a very good, and above all, innovative client and that theese ads can be hidden and if not, they at least stay in the application window.

What i am saying is that with all thoose ads, how on earth can a freaking popup be necceseary? I thought I was upgrading my torrent client when I got 1.15 but instead it feels I got back to like 10 years ago in the age where ad filled "download accelerators" would throw popups in your face.

I hadent seen that in a while to say the least and in a way I guess its good to see that it can still happen if you arent carefull with what you download.

So i ask you, experienced users, for info in how to rid this? If it can simply be disabled in a place I havent looked, then I just made a fool of myself, so please throw it in my face then. If not then I hope it can be removed by a simple uninstall, else any explanation in how to rid it could be nice.

Edited November 5, 2009 by Anarki (see edit history)

[sophia0316]

Hi, does this popup appear everytime you start Bitcomet? I think this only appear the first time you install a new version and start it. That's what I experienced.

[kluelos]

I'm not certain what you're talking about either. Looking at what you wrote, I see "BitComet Tip". Most applications have a default tip popup when they start, even Windows itself. There's an option checkbox shown in the popup window itself, "Don't show tips at popup". Check this and you don't see them anymore.

On the other hand, there's a "start page" in the task information pane, down at the bottom, which may be what you mean.

You see this if there are no tasks selected. It contains ads for games and movies, at least at the moment. There's an option under "Appearance", for the "Default task info tab", which you can change from "Start Page" to, say, "Summary", and this will mostly suppress the start page unless, as I said, you have no task selected at all. You can right-click on any of the task info tabs and get a menu that lets you select which tabs you want to be visible at all. If you deselect "start page" from here you shouldn't see it at all when a task is selected.

[Anarki]

damnit I knew I should have taken some kind of screenshot! >.<

Thank you kluelos, but no, that is not what I am talking about (unfortunetly). It was not a "tip" per se it was a advertising window named (at the top) "BitComet Tip" it popped up at the bottom right similar to a instant message square "user has logged in" square (in terms of size) if that makes any sense? In the window there was an advertisment for a game (the same game i presume that is in the area you speak of inside the client, the "start page"). The image was of that transformer like robot. And on the popup it said something along the lines of (date is wrong, I dont remember it so i just put something here): "The 13th of november the beta will start and please click here to sign up and try playing the new bitcomet server" and below the text there was what I believe an image of an orange (?) arrow with "CLICK HERE TO PLAY" text on it.

The square itself was not a windows popup in that sense. It felt "internet-ish" when clicked the close button if that makes any sense?

I have tried now to explain in as much detail as I can. If you want addition details just ask.

Further details:

Sophia, It came when BitComet had been opened for a while. It was not a starting thing, nor did i click anything to have it appear. In fact bitcomet was minimized and at that time i wasnt at the computer, and when i came back, to continiue messing with bitcomet, it was there.

And it was definetly not a virus on my part becouse I am sure the robot in the popup were the same as that robot in the bitcomet client itself. Hence it comes from the client one way or the other.

Also, some googling turns up this:

http://www.p2pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=32340 <---- you answered here kluelos, but it went nowhere.

and this could perhaps be related to:

http://www.tocomet.com/post/43233/ <--- one user says to turn off the setting "do not pop up messages in a week" which does not make sense to me. but then again, the setting in itself make no sense to me. and the wiki page does not explain it. I have tried with this both on and off after the popup, and it hasnt appeared again in either modes.

also this I found:

http://www.tocomet.com/post/39279/

where a user asks the same, and gets in response from user "gavin496 (gavin)" who says:

options -apperance--- do not popup bitcomet messages in one week : clear its check box.

so it might have a connection. Does someone have an explanation to what this setting actually does? I can tell you right now that the bitcomet wiki turns up zero. It just says about the setting "should be clear as default" (as both users in my links have told, and it should also be noted, that when I got the popup this was unchecked already)

Does this shed some light? I would *hate* to get rid this client now. It seems nice indeed. But I cannot have that happen.

[edit] And Sophia, I just noticed you are of the BitComet development team, so i will say please dont take my words harsly up there. BitComet has had its fair share of unfair critizism and I am not here for such things. Its a great job you peoples are doing.

Edited November 5, 2009 by Anarki (see edit history)

[kluelos]

I'm not too clear that they were necessarily talking about the same thing you're talking about. I've never seen this myself. I wonder if you're seeing this in the "floating window", which might decide that if the client is inactive, they might as well show you ads or something. I have always had the floating window disabled in the VIEW menu. You could try that and see if the problem goes away.

---------------

I was looking at that "in one week" option and thinking that I needed to get clarification on it, then put that into the wiki and try to get it reworded, because it makes no more sense to me than to you. That's not a comprehensible English sentence.

Sophia, can you get clarification on what this option is supposed to do?

[greywizard]

Well, that setting, as the Wiki says, is unchecked by default. Checking it, as it states, will limit the occurrence of pop-ups to at most, once a week, probably . I, for one, have never checked it, since for me the tip seldom appears.

BitComet uses an embedded internal browser engine so it stands to reason that it can raise a pop-up if the programmer wants it to; it doesn't have anything to do with third-party software.

Besides, I wouldn't qualify this as "advertising" in the true sense of the word, since it presents messages (at least for me it did up until now) related only to the sites which dwell under the Comet umbrella and not any third party ads as adware applications do. Namely, you'll get info tips, mostly about these sites' updates or news: http://www.playcomet.com/ and http://www.mcomet.com/. Now, BitComet wouldn't be neither the first nor the last application to "advertise" some sister application (i.e. developed by the same team or producer) or some sister site. Even commercial ones often do that.

As you can see (if you have made an Passport account) you are automatically logged in, on any of the Comet sites if you sign in your passport account in BC. So, they are quite integrated.

All that added to the fact that the said pop-up seems to appear (at least for me) very rarely, and it goes away after a few seconds by itself, leads to most people having no problem with it, at all.

But if it bothers you that much, you'll have to stick with the "old ways", I guess.

[sophia0316]

@kluelos, I know what he is pointing to, but here mine only appear once the first time I start BitComet when I install a new version. And it may only appear in lastest version, as you are using 0.70, I don't think that ads will popup in your side.

@ Anarki, I do not know why yours always show up that ads window, but now the setting can be done at Options->Service：Do not popup message in one week. Please tick that box and give us a feedback if it doesn't work for you.

Thank you for your support.

[Anarki]

@kluelos. no it is not the floating window in any way. Im happy Sophia understands me. I can tell you for sure that it is not present in 0.70 as I used it for a loooong time, so no wonder you havent seen it, and also no wonder you cannot relate becouse its seldom you install such a thing to your system (at least for me).

@Sophia. Thanks alot with helping me, but let me ask about that setting? i mean if i put a checkbox there (I have done that now), wouldnt the message come then every week instead? What difference is having it unchecked? and its also interesting that 2 other peoples said to other uses to uncheck it to get rid of the ads?

as kluelos was getting into, maybe it be best if this setting is clarified :) I think I could deal with the ad, maybe, if I at least knew what rules it played by...

again thanks for understanding and help :)

[kluelos]

The other major difference I can think of, is that I do not use the built-in web browser at all. I don't use the whole "favorites" window, so have it disabled, and have likewise disabled the browser in the options. I wonder if what you're seeing is a pop-up from said browser, which would account for why I haven't seen it.

I don't commonly use v1.15 on my own, but I do use it for testing.

This would annoy me just as much, and I *would* regard it as advertising, and as something to be killed.

I have tested each new version as it was released, and occasionally go back to an intermediate version when somebody has a specific problem with one, so changing versions is really very frequent for me, far more so than most people. When I do a clean install of a new version, the first thing I do is to disable the favorites window and the browser.

[Anarki]

We think alike kluelos. I feel popup advertising is a thing of the past and should not be happeing in theese times, regardless of the finnancial urgency.

Ads by itself however, is a thing we unfortunetly will have to deal with, seeing how the world works in general and if we want to keep supporting theese new features of BitComet. It is not something I am happy with, of course, but I will deal with it if the client lives up to expectations.

On your config:

This is also the first thing I do in BitComet (and other similar ad supported software, if so). I disable all there is to disable that

1. I do not need.

2. Is not there for user experience anyway (adverts)

So in BitComet this includes almost every cosmetic feature and more:

-The browser (as in "im not using")

-The favourite window

-The "floating" thing

-Updates (both bitcomet notifications and other software updates)

-All sort of notifications

-All server queries I have not asked for

-Almost every button in the toolbar

-The search field

-All plugins in other browsers that leads to BitComet, if i at some point *has* to use internet explorer than id rather copy/paste the link :P

- I skim every obscure option thoroghly as for such things as can be able to remotely resemble anything of above.

This is not nececeraly couse I distrust the BitComet team but rather that i want control over my own computer. Id hate something like, say, a popup to sneak up behind my back and show itself.

And I was intrigued by the thing you said, kluelos, about that you had disabled the BitComet browser?

Pray tell how did you achieve this?

To get as little as possible in touch with it I have only been able to do the following: made sure BC does not select the "home page" tab at startup.

In 1.15 I can no longer find an option to "open within bitcomet" (for unchecking) as there was in 0.70. Of course it doesnt matter much as I of course dont click links in bitcomet anyways but it is an interesting thought becouse maybe it is possible the browser was part of sending me the popup. If the browser can be disabled completely it be worth a shot.

Edited November 5, 2009 by Anarki (see edit history)

[sophia0316]

Anarki, I just wonder how many times you have seen this popup window. And as greywizard said, this should be called "advertising" in true sense of word, and it disappears in seconds.

It only appear when:

* You start BitComet the first time and do not login your passport. It will appear as a reminder of telling to creat a comet passport to speed up your download;

* There is update or news on our site(playcomet or tocomet). Game new feature or events are not held everyday, so this also rarely appear.

As the name imply, if you click that checkbox, the popup message will not appear in one week, but next week, if there is updates, popup message will appear again.

However, still the same. No matter whether you check or uncheck that box, popup message appears very rarely. I got confirmation of that from our team. I think that's also the reason why some users say uncheck the box to get rid of the message, as the message itself rarely show up.

[greywizard]

To get as little as possible in touch with it I have only been able to do the following: made sure BC does not select the "home page" tab at startup.

You can disable any of the tabs in the Detailed Info Pane you don't need, by right-clicking on any of them and unchecking its name from the context menu.

This way you can entirely disable the start tab. But I don't think it will disable the browser engine which is integrated in BC. You can try it though.

[kluelos]

Anarki, I was referring to a setting in the 0.70 preferences, in the Appearance menu, labeled "Open URL inside BitComet", which I unchecked so that the built-in browser won't be used for any url. I think this is what you were describing too.

I'm not sure which version that disappeared in, and I'm also unsure what the effect of having that setting in the configuration file may do -- that is, on an upgrade to BC 1.15 from an 0.70 version that had this setting in the config file. What happens then? I've no idea. Is it retained though it's not editable anymore? Does it still have any effect on the client? Why was it removed? Beats me.

[greywizard]

Why was it removed? Beats me.

I think it was removed because at the present time you can't browse in the start page at all. If you click on any of the links present there it opens in the default browser. So, there is no need for that option anymore, probably.

[Anarki]

I understand, Sophia. You are saying it is indeed intentional and its not possible to remove it. This was all I needed to know.

(to answer your question: I have so far only recieved it once, which seems normal then)

I will have to say I am dissapointed. It has not to do with the frequency this popup comes, which obviously is rarely then. Its about principles.

And to be honest I would have even been dissapointed in the client, even if the popup was possible to remove. For it even being there in the first place.

I simply cannot believe how such a thing can be incorporated in the already so ad filled client. It is unacceptable (in my opinion).

And I know this matters little to anyone, but I wont be using this client and I bet alot of users are saying the same thing when they see this popup, and so you really should think over if this is such a good choice. Becouse more users = more money through the ads right.

I dont know a single person who would use an application that throws popups at you. Here in sweden (and I dont think we are exclusive) this is no less that virus behaviour. And I know of nobody who would even remotely use such a program and (above all) not a torrent client, which have here in sweden, after new laws and everything, become sort of a tool for fighting greedy corporations already.

Maybe theese things are strange to you in china, I do not know of this, but at least have some common decency?

I will end with that I looked forward to trying this client becouse 0.70 started to feel outdated (sadly). But now I guess I have to find something else.

Thanks anyway for the many good years with BitComet :) and thank you Sophia for providing this information :)

[bryan73]

Sophia. (The Philosopher?)I have been following this members difficulties with the same sense of frustration at not being able to get rid of that damned Tip. I an delighted to say that, following your advice, it has now disappeared; I hope for ever.

Regards Bryan

[sophia0316]

I reported this to the team and they said this will be edited in next version(1.17). Adding a option to block this popoup message, or change the present options. I have no idea of the specific change scheme, but, anyway, they will make changes.

Thank you for your support.

[Anarki]

Thank you sophia for forwarding it! You are a godsend! I saw the setting in latest bitcomet now :)

The devs listening to the users is a very different approach to other similar projects. Im amazed. I shall reccomend bitcomet to all I know of. Thanks again.