Well - just found a major problem with the software...

I've had zero problems with CoPilot in I couldn't tell you how long. It ran perfect right up until I parked today around 2:30pm. At 4:30pm I needed to open it to add a stop to my route tomorrow. When CoPilot opens, I'm prompted with a window saying that my Live Traffic subscription is due to expire in 5 days. It asks if I'd like to renew (yes or no buttons). Well, no matter which button I press, it immediately crashes to the desktop.

I called their tech support, but because I've had the software for more than 60 days, they won't give any support over the phone. Only support available is to send in a Support Ticket, which takes 48-72hrs to handle.

Bah...

Malaki, you are scaring me! This reminds me of a thread you started a while back referring to a different software product crashing. That crashing issue was later confirmed by many other users, the developer never fixed it, and the product was months after discontinued. But I'm not superstitious, and it's not even Friday the 13th... ;-)

Just submit a ticket, Malaki. Hopefully it's an issue known to ALK's tech support, and it's easily fixable.

The really stupid thing is that if it's already a known issue ... and from the description, it should be ... it would have taken the tech less time to simply tell Malaki how to fix it than force him to do an online support ticket. Or at least 'fess up that it's a known bug and that he would get a fix by submitting a ticket.

Or better still, just tell him where to download the fix.

If there is a fix.

...ken...

Couldn't wait for their support system to get back to me, so I had to see if I could fix it myself, which I did. Here's what I did (easier than it'll look):

I started by going through all the text files in the CoPilot directory, hoping to find something where I could simply 'turn it off'. No go. Posted on CoPilot's Twitter accounts as well as Facebook, hoping for a quicker response.

I then thought I'd try changing the date on the computer to a future date, just to get rid of it. It was set to expire in 5 days, so I went 7 days ahead. Started CoPilot and was then prompted that the Live Traffic had expired and if I'd like to renew (basically the exact same window I was getting before). However, when I hit 'No' this time, it closed that window and dropped me back to the map. That'll work.

Closed CoPilot and restarted. Got the same window with the same results. Cool. I can live with that.

I then changed the date back to the current date and opened CoPilot - same 'Expired' window. Hit 'No', still goes to the map.

I then closed it, reopened and told it that 'Yes', I'd like to renew. It took me to the screen for doing the purchase. When I hit 'Buy' I get a subscription error (don't know the exact wording, but it basically failed). Hit 'Ok' and back to the map.

So, as of now CoPilot is working perfect (except no Live Traffic). I'd like to renew it, so sent a new Support Ticket in for that. I'm fine without it, though.

To sum it up, if you get the error with it crashing, here's what you do:

1. Close CoPilot (if it's not already crashed)
2. Change the date to 1 week in the future
3. Open CoPilot
4. Tell it 'No', you don't want to renew
5. Close CoPilot
6. Change the date back to the current date

Once I hear back from them, I'll let you know what they tell me about both issues (the crashing and how to manually renew).

Shew

I agree Ken. The idiot I got on the phone argued with me longer than it would've taken him to tell me how to fix it. I told him that I was going to renew the subscription - it's not like I wanted anything for free from them. He wouldn't even let me speak to his manager - said it's "against their policy". What kind of customer service is that?

Oh - I also posted on their social pages asking when an upgrade would be available for the laptop, as well as the Truck version. The laptop version (car & truck) is still v8 and the Truck version is v8 on all devices. If they respond to that, I'll post the info they give me.

I got a reply about the new version question: No upgrades are planned for the Truck Laptop release. They didn't mention the regular (car/rv) version for the laptop.

Their 'fix' for the crashes (which, BTW, doesn't work):

It crashed on me at least 15 times before I found my own 'fix' to it.

Reply about my question as to when CoPilot Laptop would be upgraded:

Have you heard a release date ETA for the next CoPilot version of ANY platform?

CoPilot Premium is available for the iPhone/iPad, Android and maybe some other portable devices. That was released about 6 months ago, or so.

Malaki,

I have had one instance of the crashing issue you described in the past (when the fuel subscriptions expired.) I did not think of changing the date on the computer. We had to deactivate his product key manually and then uninstall/reinstall the program and that fixed it. At that time (December) ALK told me that they had not seen other instances of that bug to date.

Marvin,

ALK has released the new version (9) on their phone and iPad/Android platforms and is finalizing it for the laptops now. No release date yet that I have been told.

Don

Don, it's good to hear version 9 for laptops is in the works, too. Historically, when software started crashing for Malaki, it was a sign for the developer to get out of the business (1).

Ha! The world is not a right place when Mal can't fix the issue. lol.

I never even thought of changing the date and I have been doing tech support on CoPilot for 10 years. <insert sound of me smacking my forehead here...>

Diesel - the idea of changing the date goes back a long way to when I would install demo versions of software. To make it "last" longer, I would change the date before installing, do the install, then change the date back, giving me more time. Can't really do that any more, but thought it was worth a shot, which it was this time around.

Got a reply back from Tech Support today about purchasing another year's worth of the Live Traffic. Here's their response:
Went to the page and the link you'll need there is in the far right column. BTW - this is for the US Traffic.

Hope it's not too long before the upgraded laptop version is released. Diesel - maybe ask them if the truck version will be released at the same time. If not, how long after. Don't need exact dates, just an estimate.