Of the Retirement Formula and Broken Shortcuts

The Retirement Tactic: A Cool Viral Marketing Tool?
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[Your Name here], I am going to Retire from IM
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Time and again, you have perhaps received emails from ‘gurus’ with a subject line similar to the above. When I was new to internet marketing, I used to wonder why any successful marketer would want to retire from the lucrative world of internet marketing! Later I realized that it is a way to create buzz. Sure, some upright marketers walk the talk, but most use it as a ‘viral marketing’ tool.

If all of your marketing efforts are dying, you may create a ‘retirement buzz’ like the above and then offer your subscribers a high ticket item as a way of ‘celebrating’ your retirement. ;)

Hmm, since when did people start to ‘celebrate’ retirement? :D

You know, some things never change. I don’t know of your feelings for these kinds of marketing tactics but I hated them before and do so even today! When I was first exposed to this ‘retirement tactic’, I thought that the guru was really retiring. Days passed, so did months. The next email I got from him was about a ‘HOT’ product he was launching. And I thought he ‘retired’! :(

When I received that email, the very first thing I did was to hit the unsubscribe link. And till today, I continue to do the same thing! A few days ago, another marketer used this ‘retirement tactic’ to sell his $200 item. Once again, I unsubscribed from his list.

I am sure there are others too who feel this way. The reason I hate this marketing method is because these marketers think that their subscribers are naive folks who would believe just about anything. It directly conflicts with my email marketing ethics. My motto is:

‘Never Treat Your Subscriber Like A Fool’

End of rant.

If You Use Alex Goodall’s IM Index 2.2.0 – How To Fix Missing Shortcuts

You know, I really like Alex Goodall’s IM Index Map software very much!. I have purchased several Desktop organization softwares but this is one tool which I continue to use even today. It has helped me not only with organizing my internet marketing stuff, but also in clearing out junk and garbage from my hard drives. I purchased it from a WSO which is sadly no longer available, but you can find it here.

The only thing I don’t like about Alex is that he sometimes makes some ‘drastic’ changes to his software. Sure, these changes are for the long term benefit of his customers, but they can also land you in ‘short-term’ trouble. Like it happened when I upgraded to version 2.2.0 recently. Alex changed some folder names in the map which made my remote shortcuts useless. With several broken shortcuts, I didn’t know what to do so I emailed Alex but he didn’t have a clue as to how to fix them. Neither was I in the mood of fixing dozens of broken shortcuts manually. So I hit the omnipotent Google. :)

I searched for a ‘broken shortcut fixer’ for hours; finally landed at the Iolo.com website. Their System Mechanic software claims to fix broken shortcuts automatically.

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IMPORTANT: READ This Before Continuing!

Update as of January 27, 2009.

My latter experiences with this software don't permit me to recommend it to anyone anymore. I am still keeping the links and the old article intact for reference, but as you can see they are NOT 'affiliate links' so I don’t make money off them. The problem was not with the core product itself; I believe that either it had a few bugs or it was not fully compatible with my PC (I was and still am on Windows XP Pro, by the way)!

Before installing System Mechanic Pro, I used to have Norton and Spyware doctor, both running side by side without any kind of conflicts. Then I removed Norton using Symantec's™ remover tool and installed System Mechanic Pro 7 on my machine. Installation went quite well and I achieved my aim: that of fixing my broken shortcuts as well as replacing the Norton antivirus with an alternative which would be less of a resource hog.

It all went quite well until they released System Mechanic Pro 8. The software version I had was System Mechanic Pro 7, and every time it loaded on Windows startup, it would nag me to upgrade. I eventually downloaded the upgrade, which took quite a long time. Anyways, per their Upgrade instructions, I uninstalled version 7 from my machine, which was just a matter of removing it from the programs list and then deleting its folders. Then I installed version 8, and it is from there that my trouble starts.

Usually, Iolo's™ products are not compatible with Spyware doctor, for some reason known best either to them or PC Tools™, the manufacturer of Spyware Doctor. When I was installing version 7, it asked me to uninstall Spyware doctor because it was a 'conflicting' program. So I uninstalled it, and then when the program installed fine, I reinstalled Spyware doctor again.

I was not prepared to part with SD (Spyware Doctor) not only because I had just then renewed my subscription but also because Iolo™ offers only an anti virus software with their package which cannot be a replacement for an anti spyware software. It all went well until version 8 came. With version 8, the software won’t load at all unless I am prepared to remove SD fully from my PC. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling SD again and again but to no avail. Fed up, I had to remove SD altogether. :(

I don’t remember all the details clearly well, since by the time I am writing this update, almost a year has passed. Still from whatever I can recollect, System Mechanic Pro 8 gave me no peace even after I had removed SD fully from the system. One particular trouble was that of Iolo antivirus not getting enabled every time it loaded on Windows startup; it would often show me a red icon (instead of a white one) which meant that it is disabled, and no amount of tweaking on my part would enable it! Add to that the fact that I am pretty dumb regarding the technical side of a PC. :P

For your information, a disabled antivirus software is as good as a broken lock hanging on your door! Finally I had no option but to uninstall it from my PC, as it was proving to be even more of a nuisance than Norton. But unlike version 7, uninstalling version 8 from your PC is NOT easy. 

I followed their instructions as usual but for some reason I was unable to delete the software's folders completely from my PC. I did everything I could from rebooting my system several times to clearing all my Temporary files and folders and even deleting Iolo's registry keys, but the folders refused to let go of my computer, and unless they go, I could have no peace! The 'disabled' antivirus software would load as usual, and I was too paranoid to connect to the internet with it!

Fortunately around that time my computer had a little problem with the motherboard. I took it to my mechanic whose office is about 30 miles away from my house. They had to reformat the C: drive (where System Mechanic's folders were located) in an effort to fix the problem and consequently all data on it was deleted and along with that the folders of System Mechanic Pro too!

I had of course backed up all important stuff on my external hard drives as I knew from my past experiences that they would format that drive anyways. Boy, it was like getting rid of an annoying pest, once and for all!

So that was it! Once the PC returned from the mechanic's office, I decided not to touch Iolo's products anymore, cancelled their subscription, and reinstalled Norton Antivirus as before. From that time until now I have been sticking only to Norton.

Recently I downloaded another shortcut fixer software from a giveaway; the giveaway is unfortunately over but the software can still be downloaded from here. I hope it helps! I haven’t been able to give it a run yet but if I find anything wrong with it I would post an update here. But from the reviews I saw, it seems to be a good piece of software, though everyone seems to be complaining about the price! :D

I hope no one takes this update in the wrong sense. It was my personal experience, but a much needed update nonetheless!

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Well, this was exactly what I wanted, but I was not sure if it would really work. So I downloaded the trial version of the software and gave it a free run. The tool took hours in finding the broken shortcuts but after that fixing them was like a piece of cake! What impressed me more was that the software has more tools than what I wanted: registry repair tool, duplicate file remover, memory optimizer, and lots more that I cannot even list here.

Ok, so I was happy and clicked the upgrade button. Actually I upgraded to the pro version (it costs only $10 extra) which has anti-virus and spyware protection built-in.

If you are an old subscriber, you perhaps know that I have been using Norton for about 4 years now. While Norton is good for what it does, it is major system hog. I knew this all along, but couldn’t find anything better. When I finally found System Mechanic Pro I thought: ‘Well, it is time to get rid of Norton ;-).’ So I uninstalled Norton and am using System Mechanic Pro in its place.

Long story short: if you have broken shortcuts on your PC, System Mechanic is a good tool for fixing them. Note that I don’t gain anything by recommending it to you, but I know it is a tool worth keeping in your arsenal. Here are the links to the free trial version downloads:

System Mechanic=> http://iolo.com/sm/7/std/download.aspx

System Mechanic Pro => http://iolo.com/sm/7/pro/download.aspx (if you want anti-virus and spyware protection too).

You don’t need to provide your personal contact information in order to download the softwares!

Oh yeah, two more things. When using the broken shortcut remover tool, make sure that you choose to move the invalid shortcuts to the Recycle Bin (instead of deleting them permanently) by clicking on the ‘Options’ button; this way you can retrieve the broken shortcuts at a later date should you need them. And if you are using the registry repair tool, make sure to keep a backup copy of your registry on your hard drive!

I wish you the best with them, and let me know how you fare with these tools!

As always, feel free to leave your comments as I appreciate them a lot!