really a fantastic software. it makes my data burning and erasing so simple and quick. MUST DOWNLOAD BY ALL.

Useless program. Always scanning for devices and locking up my system.

I appreciate giveawayoftheday's adding the warning at #1 comment about how the software install's the toolbar and changes some settings stealthly, however... I see it was posted AFTER I had already installed and found out about things for myself.

Because of that, I'm sorry that I closed the discussion thread I had on my forum about this website. Although its not necessarily GAOTD's fault that the software offered had adware in it, it does state that GAOTD is adware/spyware-free, so I am just not sure that I can trust linking to a website that offers softwares that can have additional adware type programs that GAOTD cannot warn its users about ahead of time BEFORE they install it.

I really enjoyed GAOTD freebies until this one which wasted my whole weekend trying to remove the stupid tool bar that got installed just because I was forced to miss it atleast using unethical means in view of atleast-today's conventional behavior of an avg software installing user.

This program works fabulous, it just DOES NOT Burn (CORRECTLY) O.S.'s Like Windows7 RC, it does not burn the .iso correctly, however i have burnt all others without errors with StarBurn V10+ Just so You all know. Don't burn OS's to dvd okay? thanks...

StanDP.

I'd love to try it, but it spends forever searching for drives.

While it's only sensible to check what you're downloading and installing, many people will assume, quite reasonably, that the 'Sky Media Pack' is a part of the software they're downloading and, thus, they should install it. It didn't hijack my Firefox - I think running Adblock Plus and NoScript might have had something to do with it - but I uninstalled StarBurn and reinstalled, unchecking the Sky Media Pack option, just in case. Good, simple burning software, but it's not, as claimed, a DVD authoring package.

I agree about the 'unexpected bonus', and I don't like the way they tried to sneak it in either.
I've uninstalled, and won't be using it.

This software hijacked my homepage in Internet Explorer & Firefox!
It installed an unwanted toolbar in IE & Firefox!
It hijacked my Google Searchbox in Firefox (& IE?)!!!!!
And!!!!! Advanced System Protector detected a Trojan (named something like "Sing.po" trying to install itself into my startup!!!!!
Where did this trojan come from? I think I can guess!!!!!

How do I uninstall the toolbar from Firefox? I have deactivated it but it has no uninstall feature!!!!!

How do I get my Google Searchbox back in Firefox?

Message for #125 - PhotoChief

This program will work for copying a DVD - I just used it. Insert your DVD, open the program, click on 'Grab Video' to create an ISO file of your disc. When you get to Grabbing Options, the program will automatically save the ISO file to: C:\Program Files\Give Away Of The Day\StarBurn\Wizards\___the name of your DVD____.iso. If you want to save it to an easier location to find, click on the button just to the right of this line to browse for a different location. Once this is done, you have to convert the ISO file to Video_TS files (as StarBurn doesn't burn to a DVD directly from ISO). I use DVD Shrink for this (free program you can download from the web). There are many excellent guides on the web that can walk you thru how to use DVD Shrink, so I won't go into it here. Once you are done with DVD Shrink & have done the Backup! option in DVD Shrink and have the Video_TS file saved to your hard drive, go back into StarBurn. Click on Expert Mode (to turn it to ON, as this will later allow you to choose your burn speed). Put your blank disc into the burner. Click on Burn DVD. Find the Video_TS folder on your hard drive & select the Video_TS folder (you need everything that is in the folder). Don't burn at maximum speed (choose a lower speed, say 8X). Use good blank DVDs - I only use Verbatim & they work great. Make sure you have the right type of blank DVDs for your DVD burner (some burners will only burn + or - DVDs, but not both). Don't use your computer for anything else while the files are being processed.

If you want to go a different route, here is a guide that may help you out. Copy & paste this into your web browser.

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/422740

I had previous giveaway version 11 and found it a very useful tool. However, I didn't read through all the postings first and installed the deceptively named browser search/homepage "hijacking" software "SkyMedia Pack", uninstalled Starburn, and it, of course remained. Thanks #30 for the reco. to use REVO to uninstall it. It's a great little piece of FREEWARE that FOUND and COMPLETELY UNINSTALLED the SkySearch Toolbar.

Want to say thanks for the Starburn program, no problems installing, not hijackers if you untick what you do not want. Thanks for all the great programs you give away for us to try. I have found a couple I would buy.

Well I knew about Skymedia from previous versions so I was quick to
uncheck that box but I was very disappointed to find that when I run
ii in Win 7 X64 it refuses to see my CD/DVD player. Program looks
like it's running fine but it shows no Physical drives or Starport
drives at all. If I try to burn an iso for instance it tries and
tries and tries to find a drive but is unable. What a let down :(

Thanx gaotd team! it came in handy since my nero was corrupted

Well, quite a large number of complaints about that SkyMediaPack option, so I won't complain about that even thought I'm one of those who, since I was just upgrading an existing installation that was already on my computer, went ahead and installed it by mistake. Doh. My bad.

I WOULD like to complain that when both Spybot and SuperAntiSpyware popped up and warned me that it was trying to change all the browser stuff that it was trying to change, and did I want to actually allow the change, and I very emphatically told both programs NO, it STILL wormed its way into all my browser settings anyway. >:( The last time something was that pushy and forced its way past Spybot like that, it was a virus that took a half a day to get rid of.

(Fortunately this was easier to get rid of than that virus, I just ran the SkyMediaPack uninstaller, which got rid of everything except the Skysearch search thing in my Firefox search list, and I just got rid of that manually.)

Also not happy with the fact that even though I installed Starburn on my D drive, where I put all the software I get from this site, trying to keep my C drive as uncluttered as possible since that's where my OS is, SkyMediaPack still forced itself onto my C drive and installed itself there. *pththt* Even if I'd wanted it, I wouldn't have wanted it THERE!

So, thumbs down from me, and I haven't even actually tried using the new version of the software yet.

To #125 PHOTOCHIEF

If you want a hassle-free method try DVDFAB PLATINUM which can usually handle decryption, shrinking and burning and offers various options, so read userguide. May be quite expensive though.

For free software methods look here for very good illustrated guide:

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/494836

I think you can download the freewares at that site too.

Good luck!

Update to #132. I reinstalled the software without the DVD-Rom emulator. No problems so far. Apparently the emulator was "stepping on" one of my logical or virtual drives.

This software crashes my main computer running Windows XP Pro SP3. The computer reboots in a continous loop right after the Windows bootup sound. Same thing happened with the previous versions of the software.
It installs and runs OK on an IBM Thinkpad with Windows XP Pro and on a Toshiba laptop running Windows Vista Home Premium.

I've got several commercial burning programs on the main computer and is probably causing some kind of conflict.

None of these comments have been useful. All this crying about a toolbar that the user decided to install without going over the options. Are these comments moderated?

What I want to know is, what makes it stand apart from any other burner?

I accidentally installed SkyNet..err...Skysearch :)

The software does not uninstall from Firefox Tool-->Addons like most toolbars. You must use the Control Panel--> Add or Remove Programs to uninstall it.

Installed without error on Windows XP Home, XP Professional, and also Vista Home Basic running setup as administrator.

#129 to verify registration, look at the initial flash window after starting. It says Licensed to GAOTD User.

I've been using Starburn V11 and I'm impressed with the reliability of the software.

Help needed quickly .

I read all the stuff about "SkyMediaPack".

But, I don't know if I am supposed to select the option to install the DVD-ROM emulator.

Not much time left to install, so please help quickly.

Mike H

Can Bubby (or someone else) help?

Somebody in a comment last week said that intention was an important part of legal matters, and though I disagreed with that person's overall conclusion, intention is key. Even more in ethics than in law.

The reason you ad a toolbar, that probably tracks browsing, in this manner is simple. Your trying to slip something in. Period. Your hoping people WON'T notice. That indicates you either don't believe in being able to make money ethically, or you belief that more money is always right no matter how you get it. Who tries to fly under the radar? Drug dealers, spies, etc.... I admit, in contrast to that, this is minor. But I don't need free software so badly that I'll try to get it no matter what.

There's a simple way to do it ethically. You have your install give people the yes or no option and not allow them to continue until they pick one. Then they CAN'T miss it. Instead, Rocket Divison and the Sky Media people choose the brilliant business plan of p**sing off customers. And people here actually defend that. I won't be buying investing in those folks business plans.

Besides, as has been pointed out, there's nothing in this giveaway that you can't get for free everday, INCLUDING from Rocket Division itself. Sorry, Garth Lord, I disagree. What's wrong with this world is people constantly trying to put things over on others. Of course, most of these same people complain very loudly if someone tries to take advantage of them.

Thumbs up for GOTD. Thumbs down for Rocket Division.

To #125, please read what I have posted on #130. I'm sure this will help you greatly.

Copy this link to go the Ashampoo Official Website:

http://www2.ashampoo.com/webcache/html/1/home_2_USD.htm

I haven't use this software yet, but I would recommend Ashampoo Burning Studio 6. This software is free, full version, and can be obtain through Ashampoo's Official Website. You can burn anything you want, such as data, music, video, iso image file, burn bootable CD for expert burner. This is the easiest software to burn anything.

This is a really nice and powerful application. BluRay media is getting a lot cheaper now so the ability to backup disks may be worth it. Just do as Comment #1 states and avoid the SkyMedia Pak.

For PhotoChief this program is as close as you can get for free. (I don't think DVDFab's free version will but their top line software will) Starburn does not compress the DL movies into single layer disk, but in general you don't want to do that anyway due to quality loss. This program will take a DL movie and let you make 2 single layer disks from it with no video quality loss. I haven't tried it myself yet, but the rest of the app works great, it should too.

Ya know what? I started thinking about this and I now remember a bit more. I recall that when I uninstalled Starburn (via windows, before Revo) that's when Sonic quit. To the best I can recollect it took some system files with it. Now at the time this was a free offer of the $500US version, and I thought it must be the best burner on earth.
But for the retail price one would think they could at least afford their own dlls instead of hooking my system and taking part of it with them when I uninstalled because of program failure.
Bottom line, if you have it and it works, good for you. If you don't,
IMHO it's worth less than you will pay here today.
No disrespect to GOTD team, thanks for all you do.

Just had to google Skymediapack to see if anything showed up.

This is what I found

What is SkyMediaPack
How much can you earn from selling software? You may say, it depends on its popularity. Statistics shows there are 1-2 sales from 1000 loadings. And now imagine, you will earn money from every your soft loading. SkyMediaPack gives you such an opportunity. SkyMediaPack let you integrate into your freeware or shareware product strong decision how to monetizate searching request and it will let you earn on one loading for a long period of time. SkyMediaPack uses context advertising from wide-world network providers, so you will have a gain not only from people from USA and users of European countries, but from Asia and Latin America as well. To start the work with SkyMediaPack you have to registry, than you will get installation file with your unique identification and full access to the statistics of your gains.

As I have version 10 from the GOTD giveaway last October, I'll pass on this one. The v. 10 install also required UN-checking the boxes for the (unwanted) optional "extras". The v. 10 software let you store an ISO of a given DVD on your HD and then burn that to a new blank DVD+/-R[W], which is what Photochief (still #125 ?) sought; so YES, Photochief, this could well be for you.
[More detail? 1. Make an ISO image of the disc you want a copy of; 2. Burn (*not* copy) that ISO image to a new blank recordable disc of the same variety as the original. Enjoy :-) .]

14.A really good burning software, but hijacking my homepage and search engine pisses me off. It had me close to pass on todays offer.

18.it hijacked my home page too

Its a nice software. When are people going to realise that this software is not all its cracked up to be. To get this free there is always a little something that is added to make it crap. Like highjacking your homepage. This software nearly killed my computer last time it was offered. It not only highjacked your homepage but attacks other files also.

128.To #125 PHOTOCHIEF—You may want to try DVDFab. You ca download a fully working 30 day trial at DVDFab.com. I hope this helps you.

You can still use it after the 30 day trial for backups of your DVDs. I do. Google for DVDFab 6. Its the latest one out now.

StarBurn has a long reputation for causing problems for anyone using their software.
Just because there is a checkbox, to check or uncheck, does NOT relieve them of the responsibility
for NOT CLEARLY STATING EXACTLY WHAT the option IS!
When I ran Win98SE, I used a "free" version of software from StarBurn.
It corrupted my Windoz install to the point that even a 'flatten & rebuild' would not work.
You can still find webpages w/ people looking for a solution to the problem caused by a StarBurn driver issue.
Do yourself a favor;
NEVER click SPAM;
NEVER use ADWARE; &
NEVER run anything from StarBurn.

Ok, I read the comments and UNCHECKED the SkyMediaPack option BEFORE installing.

However, I now get a Windows Security warning saying: "Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software".

Can somebody tell me if it's safe to override the "Don't install this driver software"?

I'm just wary of ignoring this warning given the SkyMediaPack fiasco.

Thanks

Program installed toolbar, changed the home page of my browser & imported a virus. Who cares about activation?!

(And no, I'm not going to their website to download w/-out all that)

If you want to remove the add-on to Firefox, go to your profile and delete the file in the searchplugins directory. I also did what somebody else said before about the Program Files/SkyMediaPack and double click the uninstall file. Restart Firefox and the searchbar should go back to what it was before and the add-on is gone from the Add-ons box.

StarBurn is an excellent software. It works better than nero. I was using it for last 2 years. It never failed to burn. of course, the software hijacks the home page of your browser. To prevent the software hijacking your home page while installing deselect “SkyMediaPack”. Online armor if installed may prevent you from getting free licence. To let the software to access licence double click online armor- select main menu- websites and add "giveaway.com" as trusted site. Do not be panicked by the home page hijack. The hijack is preventable.

Thanks to Bubby (post #1) the folly of blindly clicking through an sw install has already been addressed. Most other comments here simply belabor the ethics of an common business practice, nothing new but useless in a technical capacity. Thanks to the couple of folks who wrote about the prog and possible fw alternatives. Still waiting to hear from ashraf or fubar for their review, they may not even want to touch this. As to my personal experience, I d'ld this the 1st time it was ever offered here. This piece of kit hosed my Sonic (bundled with my HP) and then itself failed, so long ago but missing drivers or some such comes to mind, more trouble than I deemed it worth anyway. Just a heads up.
Peace.

This is an excerpt form the changelog on the developer's website:

Grab Image Wizard:
- Now only first track can be grabbed.

- Extended with Expert mode for advanced users.
- Added Russian localization.

Can anyone who has installed this giveaway give some insight on to what the "Now only first track can be grabbed" limitation does. If it prevents grabing an image of an entire CD/DVD, there is no point in replacing version eleven (a previous giveaway).

Thanks in advance.

Jon

Thanks to all of the warnings I did NOT install the "toolbar," and had no problems with browser highjack.

Toolbars are not new - Yahoo and Google are bundled in many software packages. The difference here is that the documentation SAYS "toolbar," not some name that isn't connected with anything. And, Yahoo and Google don't highjack your browser. Most regrettable to have this problem with an otherwise great product.

For those who don't know how to get rid of this toolbar, use FREE Revo Uninstaller - http://www.revouninstaller.com/ - it will find and root out all of the program parts (unlike windows installer.)

The software itself looks great - can't wait to use it. Thanks GOTD!

Hi all,


“STARPORT DVD-ROM emulator is a dvd-rom emulator, similar to daemon tools, which allows users to mount .iso files as virtual dvd-rom drives. So it's a very useful default option unlike the other 2 ones.


Having said that, I was just wondering what STARBURN 12.0 has that the freeware ASHAMPOO BURNING STUDIO 2009 has not!!!

In your view what is better, STARBURN 12.0 or ASHAMPOO BURNING STUDIO 2009 which can exceptionally be downloaded for free here?????


http://www.v3.co.uk/vnunet/downloads/2235230/ashampoo-burning-studio-2009


Waiting for your feedback!!


Good night from Italy!!

#119: Sorry Garth, but your sarcasm misses the point. "SkyMediaPack" is a bland-sounding name which was obviously deliberately chosen to mislead the unwary (and quite a majority of the wary as well!).

The developer's attitude, as expressed in #93, seems pretty cold and uncaring as well. No, Mr. Berman, I wouldn't expect free beer in a bar; but if the bar owner did offer me a beer, I wouldn't expect him to suddenly become my pimp either!

Obviously it is purely a coincidence that both StarBurn AND SkyMediaPack were both written in Russia. And even though SkyMediaPack happens to be a particularly un-worrisome name for an optional-to-install component of media burning software, it would of course be completely wrong for anyone to suggest that SkyMediaPack could possibly be a product written by RocketDivision, or the people behind RocketDivision.

Though it is intriguing that Artem Berman's (see #93) testimonial on SkyMediaPack's web site comes from another of his enterprises (CodeThat.com) and doesn't mention that he is also CIO of RocketDivision … and RocketDivision's testimonial on SkyMediaPack's home page is credited to Anton Kolomijcev, who as we all now know, is not the CIO of RocketDivision. I invite you all to visit http://www.skymediapack.com/testimonials.php to confirm all this, and then draw your own conclusions.

if it installed it's activated. no codes, etc. fire and forget.

Really, if you don't read what you are installing, do yourself a favor and don't download ANYTHING...this is an AWESOME program, I have NEVER made a coaster with this one. AAAAAA+++++all the way!!! THANKS GAOTD!!

Thanks for the warnings about the browser hijacking!

Software looks good and have tested it a couple times already. Great price and features.

Personally, I think there's very good reason to protest the malicious behaviors of Star Burn.
http://www.prevx.com/filenames/1500116948488974666-X1/STARBURN.DLL.html
File Behavior
STARBURN.DLL has been seen to perform the following behavior:

The Process is packed and/or encrypted using a software packing process
Found on infected systems and resists interrogation by security products
Uses low level functions to hide itself from the user and from system/security processes
STARBURN.DLL has been the subject of the following behavior:

Deleted as a process from disk
Created as a process on disk
Registered as a Dynamic Link Library File

And that's just for starters....at the above link there's more.


From GAOTD blog regarding an earlier version of Starburn's malicious behaviors...
http://blog.giveawayoftheday.com/starburnfirefox-default-page-bug-quick-fix-from-starburn-team/


http://download.cnet.com/StarBurn/3000-2646_4-10761014.html
And, if your not careful it will hijack your home page and your default search engine. In whichever your default browser is, be it IE or Firefox. Need I say more?

#13 - Thanks for the head's up that the current version has removed the disc decryption tools. I think that I'll be keeping v.11 - lol.

If i paid $49 and got this MEDIA PACK option box (I would asume its a built in media player) I wouldn`t b happy...
BUT luckily #1 bubby, has WARNED us all... So now we get it FREE (Thanks GAOTD ) & SPYWARE FREE...

If u dont have a DVD/CD Burner or least try this if ur not happy with your current software..
Its my fav burner now (dvd`s at least)

Like most others, I am not impressed with the sneaky deceptive behaviour of the company!

Anyway...Can someone please tell me, what is the difference between the "free" version offered on their site and the version offered here today.

With their sneaky approach so far, I wouldn't rule out that they have offered the "free" version to GAOTD...which might explain the toolbar and "DVD emulator".

In case anyone want to uninstall the SkyMedia, Malware Bytes anti-malware free version will find a couple of dozen changes it makes and delete all of them for you. Thank you MBAM.

If you don't want to install the malware uncheck "Skyweb Media Pack", luckily I had Comodo firewall, which blocked it from installing.

Okay, I ~think~ I avoided the nasty toolbar issue, but now the software is trying to open a GOTD activatation site (208.88.22?) and just sitting there. Apparently others of you have activated this - is there a problem or is the server just overloaded this afternoon?