BuBBy, thanks for the reply. However, you misunderstood what I meant when I said,

"you should bear in mind that for every post relating to this topic, there are surely several people who try to download and when they can't connect just quietly give up, probably figuring that GOTD is simply a bogus site and they got what they paid for."

I was merely commenting that you may be underestimating the number of users who are having problems connecting...especially new users who have never downloaded anything from the site before. If they have the same connection problem that I and others are experiencing, my guess is that they are likely to forget the whole thing, rather than joining the forum and posting a message.

Thanks for your efforts to determine the cause of the problem...perhaps you could try the "sniffer" again to see if yields any useful data.

Jeff

Yes, I am officially affiliated with GOTD. Both Lee and I are volunteer moderators who are in contact the the site owners and web team in the event of issues or to pass on feedback from users. We also moderate these forums and provide assistance where possible.

Am I guessing there haven't been any changes? Occasionally in the past I ran a sniffer to check what valid traffic (to and from) looked like. I haven't looked at it over the past two months. So, I could be guessing. But logic would dictate that if it worked before it should continue to function. Assuming the activation program can actually communicate cleanly with the GOTD server there is no reason why it might work one day and not the next.

If the Activation suddenly stopped for all GOTD users, then I would say the problem is probably with the activation servers or program. But when it is only the odd user here or there (except for a group of users with a Singapore ISP) for whom the activate fails, it would indicate the problem lies either with the end-user or somewhere along the path to or from GOTD.

As for users thinking that GOTD is simply a bogus site - this may be the case, and all the discussions about favorite software, or like/dislike giveaways, and reports discussing the great programs that have been given away over the last year, is probably just GOTD inventing "posts" and "imaginary blogs" to trick people to download shareware. (No, you're right... that idea is just a bit too silly to believe).

My aim in posting earlier, was because I have a lack of information on why certain users (in the minority) have issues activating software. If I can get more information, I might be able to see a pattern or possible common cause - and perhaps make a suggestion to the GOTD team on how the activation process could be changed - or the problems detected with better error messages or diagnostics given to the end user - so the problem can be resolved.

BuBByy, are you officially affiliated with GOTD? In other words, are you just guessing that there haven't been any changes to the download protocol or do you know that for a fact? Because I can tell you that although I have downloaded at least 6 programs from the site in the past without problems, I am no longer able to do so. Although it has been a two or three weeks since the last download I haven't changed anything on my computer. Nevertheless I haven't been able to connect with GOTD's server either for yesterday's software, "Pocketsearch" and for the one offered today.

You can see my post from a couple of days ago for the exact wording of the error message that I got (and I have tried at least a dozen times today, with and without my firewall turned on and using both IE6 and Firefox). So I would love to know if you are just theorizing or do you have any real information about this situation. Also, you should bear in mind that for every post relating to this topic, there are surely several people who try to download and when they can't connect just quietly give up, probably figuring that GOTD is simply a bogus site and they got what they paid for.

Thanks,

Jeffo

Well to my knowledge so far - the number of users who say they can never activate a giveaway are tiny. Occasionally some post later and say they changed something at their end - like going via a different proxy server, or disabling a software firewall (or whatever) and that the problem has gone away.

I'm not aware of GOTD making any changes to their system - as it works for almost everyone. I still haven't worked out what the common thread is (if there is one) between the few users who complain of problems, but when fixed it always seems to be something done at the users end, and not GOTD's.

If anyone who couldn't connect to the servers or activate, managed to fix their problem - it could help others if they post here in these forums, exactly what they did to fix their activation problem.

I joined the forum in the last few days, however i have clicked to this site for quite a long time, downloaded a fair amount of programs but never managed a giveaway of the day offer to be activated, yes the downloads were fine, but unable to activate or open the activation module,the usual, " failed to connect, try later " response, well i did try later, same story. I download from many sites, never any problem, so its NOT a Firewall or config setting at my end but its plain to see its GOTD end, and remains so for a long time ! surely someone has noticed this ? why not rectify this for easy use ? please.

Paulga

Quite possible the servers are busy. Keep trying every 20 or 30 minutes.

Downloaded "Pocketsearch" fine and all files were extracted but this is the dialog box I get when trying to install the software:

"Activation module failed to connect to giveawayoftheday.com. Software activation is not possible at the moment. Please try again later or check your firewall settings."

I have downloaded and successfully installed several programs from this site so I know my firewall isn't the problem (even turned it off...same result). And I get the same message with both IE (using the automatic configuration options) and Firefox. Any ideas?

GOTD muttered,

Many of the games take a long time to activate, but for the most part, just let it run; if it's been working for 3 hours, restart your computer and retry.

Wow! I sure missed that comment. I'd say 3 hours is "just a little excessive". On my PC for a GGOTD game of 300MB - I would estimate that if the game hasn't extracted and activated after 4 or 5 minutes, there is definitely something wrong. (Slower PCs and Hard drives - I'd perhaps allow 10 minutes).

I recently posted a note in another thread about how I solved the activation problem on my system: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/92/page/4?replies=95#post-9189. I was using IE7, but since the system settings that affect the activation process can be accessed through IE settings, maybe it's worth a try for those using Firefox, too.

3 hours ?!?
:S

Many of the games take a long time to activate, but for the most part, just let it run; if it's been working for 3 hours, restart your computer and retry. If it still doesn't work, re-download.

Sorry I cross posted this, but this forum seems to be quite a bit more active than where I orignally posted this...

I seem to be in the same situation. Activation worked when the activation exe was separate from the installer. But now that the they are combined, I alawys get the same "activation module failed to connect" with the last few games I downloaded. As far as I can tell, it's not getting even far enough to activate any firewalls or other protections. I tried it with COMODO firewall which did not indicate any activity and I tried it with Zonealarm which also showed no attempts. Even after deactiviting all protections, making sure windows firewall and other protections are off and turning off all protection in my router, I still get no response. With or without IE or firefox makes no difference. It's more like the "module" that is supposed to be contacting GOTD website for activation doesn't exist. If anyone figures this out, please share. I've missed out on a couple of really cool looking games, latest being SpaceInterceptor.

IDK, what will TCP Optimizer do? I dont really want to run it, afraid it may do something wrong.
I guess I will have to live without this giveaway :(.

-D

Meant to say after I rebooted I ran the Activation again, and left it running for a few minutes.

Sorry for the confusion.

-Wombat1369

-D

Finally got it to work. Probably dumb luck, not anything I did intentionally.

Here's what I did try

- in IE advanced settings enable "Allow software to run or install even if the signature is invalid.

- in IE advanced settings enabled HTTP 1.1

- Ran TCPOptimizer (http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php)and selected custom settings. I didn't change anything, just used those defaults.

Rebooted, ran the optimized again, left it running, web surfed for a few minutes, and the installer started up.

Like I said, probably just luck, or some timing thing with the web site, but worth a try maybe.

Good luck.

-Wombat1369

Please somebody....Time is running out...I AM dying to have this game!!! Please!

Wombat1369-my story is IDENTICAL to yours.Except I didnt capture any network traffic. I really want this game!!

I'm having the same problem getting activation to complete. I launch setup, it starts the activation and just sits. I never see any messages good or bad. I've been trying all day, let it run for an hour, and even tried from 3 differnet ISPs, same results each time.

I can click the links in the "Activating..." window and the brower doesn't haven't any problem connecting to GOTD. I even captured the network traffic when I started the activation and can see my computer and GOTD communicating initially, then nothing else is transmitted.

What gives? My computer is XP, I don't have any firewall installed, and no proxies.

-Wombat136

Not yet so far its been running for about 1hr.

I'm having the same problem. Did you also recieve an error that it couldn't connect to game.giveawayoftheday.com

Hi,
Today i recently downloaded Space Interceptor, however, after the long download time, I ran setupp and the software key wrapper began. After ten minutes, it went to checking giveaway avaiblity, and has been doing this for 35 minutes. Now, I know that it may take several minutes, but this is crazy...

Please dont yell at be if this is an un-nessicary topic. Although, any help is appreciated.