After the bounced mail (?!), the program was removed, dgalaxy's address removed from Thunderbird mail and a regedit performed to ensure all traces of the program were disabled.

I will give the authors the benefit of the doubt and chalk the poor English and outdated program up to cultural differences. However, failure to notify me of their software's need to manipulate other programs in order to function was unprofessional. DG Software made no mention of the Firebird Server installation or the automatic email notification. That oversight is more than a cultural difference, that is unscrupulous business practice.

Unauthorized usage of my email causes virtual hives, so to speak, after my experience with Blue Frog anti-spam service. They were hacked by a Russian anti-Semitic spammer who ran a denial of service operation that crashed Blue Frog and their servers; as if that were not enough, each user (myself included) received an email from the spammer bragging that ALL users' email addresses had been distributed to spammers and hackers worldwide, as revenge for participating in Blue Frog Security's attempts to shut down spam.

(The email, sent under Blue Frog's address, also bragged that my spam would increase 10-20 fold. Criminy, I was already getting 500+ spam mails daily! True to their word, the problem worsened to the point I had to drop an email address I'd held over 10 years.)

When this program fired off an email to some unknown address, I was more than a little perturbed. Program..and all traces..removed.

Maybe it's just me - reading the description in Borat style Russlish and hearing about the automated process sending my primary email address to somewhere in the Ukraine for the privilege of being able to try out a program, I'm not even sure I want.

I really think the requirement to provide personal information to trial a GOTD should be fully disclosed up front before users attempt to download.

Two days ago, numerous people raised concerns that they felt their information was being harvested and there was no privacy policy being made available. The obvious action is to provide "temporary" personal details until the user can ascertain whether the program fits their needs, or they wish to establish a longer term "relationship" with the software developer/company.

Taking your private email address and forwarding it without an option to alter or review the details that were being sent beforehand really isn't on.

Of course - I am stating this only on the reports of other users who have raised concerns about todays giveaway. I have no desire to look at todays giveaway. The screenshots and description on the website were enough to convince me I had made the correct decision.

The quality is in my opinion in the bottom 3 of any giveaway since the website started (The other two haven't been offered yet).

If you are looking for a freeware alternative that does a better job. I have compiled a small list.

Oh Darn!

First, this program had to install the Firebird Database Server. Second, after activating and installing the Power Phone Book program, a registration window opened with blank spaces; pushing the 'send activation' button populated one field, opened my Thunderbird mail program and sent an email to dgalaxy -at- dgalaxy.net requesting the registration key!

That's an awful lot of activity for a phone book utility. It is also the third program in three days that has given me fits during activation (i.e., appears activated at time of installation but does not operate like a fully licensed program and continues to request the registration/serial numbers.

Do these programs simply not like open-source browsers? I've been test-driving the K-meleon browser for several days...anyone else using open-source and experiencing difficulties?

Time out! Mail delivery ... the aforementioned mail rushed out by this Phone Book program has BOUNCED, with the following information:

<dgalaxy@dgalaxy.net>... Deferred: 451 4.7.1 Greylisting in action, please come back in 00:30:00
<<< 503 5.0.0 Need RCPT (recipient)
... while talking to relay.en.lg.ua.:
>>> >>> DATA
<<< 550 <dg@en.lg.ua>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in local recipient table
550 5.1.1 <dg@en.lg.ua>... User unknown
<<< 554 Error: no valid recipients

Apparently it does not like its own address! Sigh. Another one to sleep on. With no resolution to yesterday's help request I am hoping today's will find a solution before the giveaway time has expired.

Have a good evening (ahh..morning) y'all.