I also sent a slightly modified version of Nick's template letter to O&O and did not get favorable response (see below). It appears that some senior folks at O&O may be unaware of the detailed functional differences between 8.5 and their current 10.0 offering.I just wanted to pass on my response as Nick requested and think that Norm Owings request for O&O to take a harder look is a good next step. I wonder if Nick has given any thought to what "what next" if O&O continues to stonewall flurry of requests certain to begin arriving at the end of folks 30 day free trials.Nick, is there an alternative product that can do the same thing as O&O Defrag 8.5?Todd, ... the O&O response follows.....Dear Mr. Rauppius,Defrag 8.5 and Defrag 10 perform absolutely the same functions when the defragmentation mode

Here I started this string and haven't had time to send the e-mail yet. What to do. What to do...... From reading all of the responses to the various e-mails to O&O, I doubt that I will receive a favorable answer. However, having absolutely nothing to lose, I will send an e-mail to them tonight requesting the key for v8.5 and let's see what happens.BTW, if v10 performs exactly the same as v8.5, what happened to v9?

Perform a completename defrag in v10 and v8no rebootsNow, in v8-8.5 if you do a SPACE defrag right after a compltename that space defrag takes a matter of seconds to perform... in v10 that defrag fills in all those gaps and takes a significant time in comparison to complete.no rebootIn version 10 if you perform another completename defrag it starts over, moving all the files the SPACE defrag moved to fill in the slack clusters and taking a long time to completeIn version 8 if it runs through the completename defrag again, it wont be moving anything very far... or it will instantly tell you the process is completeIf they change v10 and it works like v 8.5, I have no problem with it... but I am not going to spend all day defragging to have the SPACE defrag nail me the following week, or, have that slack space fill up with files that do not need to be there and should go to the end of the data on the platter, such as IE caches, temp files, etc.

I dont think express allows that function. If you check out this thread you will find someone else made a slipstream disk using Nero Trial downloaded from the link in this posthttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=35896&page=he burned the disk as per my instructions and his failed MS SP2 install/ O&O problems all dissapeared and its working fine now

"We've won awards so we must be right." Al Gore:-lol

OK, lets not go the politics route..funny none the less LOL

You can add my name to the list of people who sent your email suggestion to O&O. I'll post any answer I may get.

The only thing i am worried about is they think something strange is going on seeing duplicate copy and completely pull the plug on 8-8.5LOLthey should be thankful people are honest and wish to pay instead of trying to defend the product when there is no need to defend itv10 isn

>You can add my name to the list of people who sent your email>suggestion to O&O. I'll post any answer I may get.-------------------------------------I sent Nick's Form Email yesterday afternoon, and to date, have had no response by O & O. I hope to see one...They can't possible think that someone is doing something 'on the side' as we all are requesting a key...and that means you are buying it.BTW, I sure hope that the key is not computer-specific..and that I can also install my keyed-v8.5 on my laptop, and NOT have to think about buying a multi-licence...

Nick, Under normal use, would there be a difference between v8.5 and v10? I'm just asking because I have 20 days left for v8.5. If I can do your tweeks while I have v8.5 would it hurt later to have v10?What, if any, problems could I encounter?

An interesting aside is that O&O still sells and services a bundled product called "The O&O Toolbox", and it includes one full license of the following products: O&O CleverCache 6 Professional, O&O Defrag 8 Professional Edition, O&O SafeErase 2, and O&O DriveLED 2 for $79 USD.

Normal use?Hmmmm Well, not as much impact as using it for game file calls. At the same time you would still never want to run a SPACE defrag after the NAME defrag even in normal use with v10. With processors and drive technology getting faster, the impact of having slack clusters is not seen anywhere near as much as it was a year or 2 ago so under 'normal' use as in non-gaming, no, I cant really say that would affect the system but using a SPACE defrag all the time over a NAME defrag will have a defined impact no matter what version you use.Next year when technolgy gets another boot, even the slack clusters are not going to play in like it does today. Even so, as long as 8.5 has full function and will work for the OS, I will be staying with it.. I also learned 8.6 works in Vista which I was not aware of but at the same time Vista does not allow full access to the partition like XP so the benefit is there but not like it is in XP.

funny how that worksBTW.. you don

You may have to bite the bullet and order v10, then request a downgrade keyseveral went that direction.. at least at that point they have the money and its just a matter of allowing you to use the product you wish to pay for.lets see what happens

I too have sent the email and have had no response. It would seem the company does not want to play anymore. Are there any other defrag programs out there that will do what is required?Cheers,Noel.