Says I've DL'd too much
Wednesday, September 5, 2007 by SilentDragoon | Discussion: Stardock Software
My problem is that when it first asked me to register, I used an account found on bugmenot.com because I didn't want to be arsed with registering. I get an error, "As an active user of WinCustomize.com who has downloaded over 50 megabytes of content from our site, we ask that you help support WinCustomize through the purchase of either a WinCustomize Subscription or by registering a Stardock product."
So then I'm like, okay, fine, I'll register a new account, obviously this one has been used by tons of people and exceeded its limit. I register the new account, validate it, etc., then try to download the file again. Same exact error. So I am thinking that my IP address has been marked as a 50MB+ user even though I've yet to download anything at all.
Is there a workaround? I'd like to contribute to the community by rating and reviewing skins, submitting stuff, etc., but there's no point if I can't download anything.
Thanks,
SD
Reply #2 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 11:35 AM
This is a prime example of no parental control!
Reply #3 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 11:47 AM
So, in conclusion, does anyone know how I can get around this? I'm not looking for a morality lesson here, I need technical help for a technical problem.
Reply #4 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 11:58 AM
The way to 'get around it' is to register with a legitimate address and download to the limitations of the site. If you wish to download further then contributing to the site by way of a subscription is 'the go'.
That is not a morality lesson...it's actually the 'technical solution' to your 'technical problem'...
Reply #5 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:04 PM
If I were to guess that the account you are using right now is another pseudo account , I would be correct would'nt I?

Reply #6 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:09 PM
I can't comment on other sites but it took me about a minute to register here.
Why don't you want to use your own details?
This is a totally trustworthy site and there really is no need for the cloak and dagger stuff.
Reply #7 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:14 PM
This is the reason I have written this topic, to see what is going on here; I'm not expecting a public account to work 100% of the time, but I would expect that if I took the time to register my own account using my own details then it would work.
Reply #8 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:16 PM
Member Since Mar 29, 2005
If I were to guess that the account you are using right now is another pseudo account , I would be correct would'nt I?

No, you wouldn't. When I say "I'll register a new account" I do not mean "I'll try a different account", I mean "I'll register a *new* account". Hopefully that is more clear.
Reply #9 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:19 PM
Original post
Reply #3
So, what is it the you really want to do? Just trying to help.
Here's something, SysMetrix is not a Stardock program. Like Rainlendar and some others there are libraries here for their skins. Try searching the web and see if you might find what you are looking at another site.
This is a nice community here and we welcome everyone. You can find trial versions of Stardock programs at Stardock.com. They are just that, trial versions with a time limit.
It's a shame you don't like to register with the sites you want things from, it's the first step in getting support.
Reply #10 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:21 PM
That remains as your solution. Subscription is the way to go.
Reply #11 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:35 PM
To explain what I meant in the OP, it might be helpful to see my train of thought:
"Okay, good, this looks nice. It'll match my WinAmp skin... I should download it. Registration? Uh, damn. Okay, I'll hit up bugmenot and get something there..."
Five seconds later, public login details in hand, I log in.
"Okay, great, now, back to the download page... What? 50 megabytes downloaded? Uh, this must have been used by tons of people. Okay, fine, I'll register my own account. Whatever, I guess I'll be able to upload screenshots of my desktops and all that jazz. Hmmm, cool, okay, yeah, I'll do it."
So I go through the log in process: not too long, admittedly, but still quite a bit longer than bugmenot. I register my email address, pick a username, pick a password. I get the message that I should check my email to activate. I check my email, wait around a while, a few minutes later it shows up, I click the link, all is well.
I'm happy. I think of the things I'm gonna do with the account; thank people who have done themes I enjoy, upload my desktop once I've gotten that skin, look around for more stuff.
But unfortunately, all that I got to do was have the problem described above, descend to the forums and talk to hurtful people. Yay...
Reply #12 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:42 PM
I have searched the web for this particular skin, and have not been able to find it on another site. I have looked for about twenty minutes, so I am fairly sure it has only been posted on this one site.
In regards to Hankers' suggestion:
It is not convenient for me to pay money to anything other than a brick-and-mortar store.
Also, I would not consider subscribing to a site that hasn't been providing me with a good or service I desire that I couldn't get for free. Would you pay Google for the privilege of using their search engine? Would you pay Yahoo! for the privilege of using their email? If a site has been uniquely useful to me, then I would be much more inclined to pay for it; Wikipedia for example has always been my charity of choice.
Reply #13 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:46 PM
But unfortunately, all that I got to do was have the problem described above, descend to the forums and talk to hurtful people. Yay...
SilentDragon,
Just registering a new account doesn't automatically guarantee you will have a fresh limit to start with. If that was the case it's possibly people would just continually create new accounts to bypass the system.
I'm glad you like the site and community, so my best suggestion is to purchase a subscription to WinCustomize, or consider becoming a customer of applications like WindowBlinds.
You can find more information about access levels here.
https://www.wincustomize.com/subscribers.aspx?info
Reply #14 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:49 PM
What you are experiencing with the 50mb download and 60 day time limit with trail versions of programs here is what everyone is faced with. Within those limits you should be able to determine if you want to subscribe. I realize that not everyone can subscribe due to lack of funds or they just wish to get stuff for free. It's your choice.
What program did you register?
Reply #15 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:55 PM
https://www.stardock.com/products/wincustomize/
Reply #16 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:58 PM
WC is a good site and the more you use it the more your going to want it and all its features. Subscribing to WC is worth the money.
Reply #17 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:11 PM
I would characterise that as 'hurtful'.
Anyway;
on the site it says:
I belong in this category. I am talking on message boards. On a different computer, a year ago, in a different contintent, I did download a few things, as a guest. Maybe a few megabytes. However, I have downloaded nothing on this account, and nothing at all for the last year. It states in the above that I should have 500 megabytes of download bandwidth. What happened?
I don't mean to be insulting. I am just getting frustrated that what should, to me, be an easy solution (change some account settings? use a different computer? wait a few hours, a few days?) seems to have been turned into a struggle of epic proportions.
To respond to Island Dog:
I still don't think I've explained my problem well enough. The first account I used, is listed on the site Bug Me Not (http://www.bugmenot.com/view/www.wincustomize.com). The purpose of the site is to provide public accounts, to be used on sites which require free registration, so that one does not have to create/maintain an account on every site on which one wishes to peruse. What happened (and I am not leaving anything out) is that I tried to download the file, was asked to register, input the bugmenot login details (which, as far as I'm concerned, I'm well within my rights to do), got the error message. Logged out, registered a new account with wincustomize, the one I am using now, tried to download the file again, and was presented with that same error message. It was at this point I turned to the forum.
I'm not trying to "bypass the system". I am trying to legitimately use it. I can understand that you don't approve of the use of dummy accounts, and indeed, when it comes to sites that offer paid accounts, I wouldn't try to use an account that was not my own. If I was more aware of the download limit in place, then I would have immediately spotted that a public account would not be the way to go, however I assumed is was unmetered. I AM SORRY.
Oh, and in regards to Philly0381: I have not registered a program. I am using SysMetrix (as described in the first post), which is freeware, available for download without registration or limitation here (http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/index.html).
This is a long post, so I may be replying to things that I have not read. I will get to you if this is the case.
Reply #18 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:16 PM
SilentDragoon, you have a valid Stardock account, all looks good. You need to subscribe to WinCustomize in order to download the fruits of our fantastic array of community artists.
https://www.stardock.com/products/wincustomize/
According to what I've quoted above, I should be able to download '500MB's' just for having registered on the site. All I want for now is approximately 600 kilobytes. According to my calculations, that's about one tenth of one percent of the limit. The fact that I cannot achieve even that is really getting to me.
Reply #19 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:21 PM
You HAVE been receiving a free service, AND goods. The artists that upload to this site, including myself, spend thousands of hours providing FREE skins, themes wallpapers etc. But to make it fair on everyone, and to help with the MASSIVE bandwidth costs of this site, and the staff to run it, we allow you to download up to 50Mb of goods before you have to help with the costs that you have been running up by downloading that 50Mb of goods. FIFTY Mb's is a LOT of stuff!!Don't you think it would be worth the price of a subscription to continue using the site and downloading the fantastic array of stuff on here? Or are you just one of those that thinks everything on the internet should be free, and if it isn't you'll get it from an illegitimate source?
You sound like a decent, intelligent person, so come on, do the right thing. It's not a lot of money is it? It's only a few bucks, and it's worth it for what you get.
If you don't agree with me, I think you should just give up on this site and get your stuff at somewhere like customize.org or deviantart.com, because we are a proper community, strong, and proud of each other and the things we do.
You could be a part of that too......... for just a few bucks.

Reply #20 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:25 PM
Yes there is a workaround. All you need to do is crash your computer and start from scratch.
Its much easier to subscribe to wincustomize and get the full benefits.
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Reply #1 Wednesday, September 5, 2007 11:30 AM
Support the community by subscribing.We do.