True Image 2021 Perpetual License?

Samir, looks like Acronis are actively trying to discourage users from buying their Standard / perpetual licenses!

See link here where you can still get the perpetual version.

Thanks Steve! Unfortunately that link redirects me to the five headed robotic monster currently on display on the start page.

So this link:

https://store.acronis.com/882/?scope=checkout&id=eOialE5fT2&crel=cartselection_r1_l1

Becomes this:

https://www.acronis.com/en-eu/?prevUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fstore.acronis.com%2F882%2F%3Fscope%3Dcheckout%26id%3DeOialE5fT2%26crel%3Dcartselection_r1_l1

And it looks like this:

Would you please tell me how to arrive at that option by navigating, without using a link?

You can't navigate to store.acronis.com directly, and you need a unique ID for each visit. That's the problem.

The checkout page should look something like this:

This is obviously for the "Upgrade" product. So I would rather not buy this. But it's all I can find that does not mean it will expire after 1 year.

After signing out of my account from within the expired True Image 2021 program I can now run it in trial mode for 30 days, and with the option to buy a one year subscription for 1 to 5 PCs. There is no option to buy the perpetual license.

I could continue to chase the Acronis sales team. Do they have a phone number we can call? I have not seen one anywhere. At this point I think I will just close the book, I think this is the end of the road. As a customer who wants to spend money on your product, I should not be the one chasing you Acronis to give you my money. You should be chasing me to take my money!

I refuse to buy into your subscription plans. I don't see the benefits of things like tech support, cloud storage, or things like "Microsoft 365 backup, incld. Outlook.com and OneDrive"... what on Earth are you thinking? I can't wrap my head around this point (one of the benefits of "Advanced" and "Premium" plans). Anyway! It's much more flexible to buy the perpetual licenses as I see fit and as my needs change. I still can't believe it's not possible to upgrade a current 3 PC subscription plan to a 5 PC plan without overpaying for existing coverage, or at least to get a small discount after over 10 years of loyalty.

When a piece of popular and successful software starts asking you to sign in or to create a new account after installing the trial version of it, then you know it's time to move on...

It is turning into a proper toad/bloatware, similar to other once successful software like CyberLink PowerDVD. Why would I want to commit to this product and this company before finishing the trial?... other than for the purpose of receiving marketing emails?

Other telltale signs is when they start using epithets like "personal cyber protection" (for what is essentially a backup program) and bundling things like "antivirus" and "ransomware protection". The only thing missing now is integration with third party systems like Outlook.com and Office 365... oh wait... that's already a reality! Now they need to wrap it all in a Docker container... and then you will need to buy one of those "Acronis Priority Engineer install and configure Acronis True Image according to industry best practices" tickets to get started. There are so many layers of complexity that its morphing into everything but a simple "backup program".

Samir, unfortunately I am certain that you will not be alone in abandoning Acronis for another solution given this latest move to force users into a subscription only direction.

I also refuse to accept going the subscription route and will not purchase one from Acronis or any other vendor!

I went into my Acronis Account, clicked on my ATI 2021 Standard license option to 'Buy more' and it too took me to a page with only subscription offerings!

There are lots of other choices for Backup & Recovery applications which don't force users to have unwanted bloat protection or subscription only plans!

Steve, unfortunately they are not alone in making this move. Almost every piece of software you buy today is a subscription plan. As I recall it, Adobe was among the first major software vendors to move to a subscription only direction for their Creative Suite product bundle. Creative Suite 6 was the last upgrade I purchased, before switching to the "subscription" bandwagon.

A subscription plan does have its merits, but not all companies are the same and not all software is the same or even fit for a subscription plan. I am also against this "one size fits all" mentality in general. Why not give people a choice? I say let the customers have it their way! As long as they are paying customers, what's it to you if they want a perpetual license or not?... you know what I mean? They will likely come up with some lame excuse like "it's easier to maintain" a subscription plan, "it's more cost effective" and so on. But we can do the math on our own and make decisions on our own. (We have come to a point where devices are "smart" but people are not, or are assumed not to be smart enough to make their own rational decisions, so big companies jump in and start making decisions for them.)

Unfortunately, every way you turn today there is a subscription plan on offer in some shape or form, be it for software or for entertainment. It's a shift in mentality, where you as a consumer are rubbed of your possessive power. You don't own your products; they own you. Want to continue to use our product? You have to renew your license! Don't want to? Then we will not let you use our product. And we will not let you buy a new perpetual license!

I just tried to go to my Acronis account page and click on "Buy more" for one of my perpetual license products (True Image 2017) and it also took me to the page with subscription only offerings.

I could install True Image 2017, I think this one still works with Windows 10. Or I could upgrade it to True Image 2021. But at this point, why bother? If I can't get what I want then I don't want anything at all.

The current list price for True Image 2021 for 3 PCs is 129.99 USD. Note that this is a one year subscription. Let's say I am convinced by the marketing and I buy it!

Two months later, I buy a new PC and so I want to add True Image to one more PC. There is no subscription plan for 4 PCs. Why not? If it's a subscription service it should be much more flexible and easier to scale both up and down as my need changes.

Instead of a 4 PC plan I need to get the 5 PC plan. So I will have 1 slot more than I need. For a whole year! But here's the kicker! I have to pay 189.99 USD for the 5 PC plan! I cannot reduce the price by what I already paid! So instead of paying 189.99 USD for 5 PCs, I end up paying 129.99 + 189.99 USD = 319.98 USD!!!

It was very difficult to explain this to the tech support, and they eventually contacted the sales team to ask for authorization to give me a discount! Since the payment system was set up in such way that I can't get this right away. The sales team denied me the discount.

This is the main reason I no longer want to be using a subscription plan.

I would still like to purchase the True Image 2021 perpetual license for 3 or even for 5 PCs. But it seems Acronis no longer wants us to buy these. I could buy a physical software box from Amazon, I have seen it on sale. But meh... paying for shipping costs for software... from USA to Europe! That's so... 90s?

Samir, see the following that I received recently via a PM that may be of interest!

We are from Shree Services and authorised seller of Acronis True Image licenses. We offer all licenses at flat 50% discount as a new launch offer. Feel free to join this facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/acronis

Or contact whatsapp for order - https://wa.link/dv7lwg

If you have any contact, friends who can get benefitted from this offers; please do not hesitate to refer this offer.

Just checked on Amazon (.co.uk) and can buy the Standard / Perpetual licenses from there if needed (for both 2021 and 2020).

Steve , Samir I see the same issue here in the states. If there is no longer a perpetual license offering I will abandon Acronis.

Seeing ATI on offer via Amazon makes me wonder if they are changing how they sell their different versions, i.e. only subscription via their own web store but offering all versions via other sellers such as Amazon?

I see a similar approach in the states. But almost all offerings are full licenses not upgrades.

B&H Photo in NY sells standard perpetual licenses for download of boxed... USD $40 for 3 licenses, $60 for 5. The web page says they are Acronis authorized dealer. I don't think I've seen lower pricing.

I've bought many things from them in the past. I don't know if there are any international issues, but they've been around for a very long time.

Well, I have a confirmation now. I was in chat with an Acronis support agent this morning. It's official, Acronis is "discontinuing the perpetual licenses". The agent posted this statement twice during our conversation. That's how you know it's official, it's a template answer that's copy and pasted, rather than typed in. Despite KB article updated on  2021-03-02 stating that perpetual licenses are still a thing. Steve, I think you're right about Acronis changing the way they sell their products. But that's only because they have physical products in their inventory that they need to sell out (products sold by Acronis or by their resellers).

Text from my chat:

Full versions are not available anymore.

Acronis is discontinuing the perpetual licenses. The majority of our customers now overwhelmingly prefer subscriptions for procuring critical technologies – particularly since subscriptions ensure they have up-to-the-minute protection against the latest cyberthreats. Many also report benefiting from a lower total cost of ownership and the ability to manage their environments more effectively. Given this clear customer preference, Acronis has decided to only sell our solutions by subscription, allowing us to concentrate on delivering superior cyber protection in near real-time.

If you are looking to buy full version , I would suggest searching it on resellers platforms online :
https://www.acronis.com/partners/distributor-locator/

As you already have the full version of Perpetual I would suggest you to purchase upgrade version which is more discounted from full versions of Perpetual

Image:

Thanks Samir, I guess that I too am not among the 'majority of Acronis customers' because I definitely do not prefer subscriptions nor do I want the Acronis idea of superior cyber protection!

This probably means that my current ATI 2021 perpetual licenses will also be my last!

It might be my last copy as well, if I can get hold of one. I was thinking about ordering the boxed version from Germany. Do you think I would be able to use the license key within to activate the English version of True Image 2021? Are the license keys tied to the locale? Like the old Windows XP licenses? If that's not a problem then I think I will order a box for 5 PCs.

I wonder if "manage their environments more effectively" refers to the dashboard? That thing is a source of problems for many users, myself included. I recently reported on this issue. It's definitely not something I can't live without. In fact, I would prefer not to have that.

Samir, if you want the English version then it may be best to order it from Amazon as a digital download rather than a boxed version.  The license keys should be universal as far as I understand.

Back to the topic of perpetual licenses.

Looking at MiniTool ShadowMaker Pro Ultimate - this is offered with a Lifetime license along with 'Lifetime free upgrade' for 3 PC's at less than the MRP of the current ATI offering!  So that competitor is not going down the 'subscription only' route!

EaseUS Todo Backup Home also offers a perpetual license with free Lifetime upgrades and lifetime technical support thrown in.

Macrium Reflect Home offer a perpetual license for a choice of 1 or 4 PC's plus have a Free version that may meet the needs of many home users.

AOMEI Backupper offer a perpetual license with a default option of Lifetime updates included along with lifetime perpetual technical support plus a free version.

Those of you that have a subscription plan for True Image 2021, do you use the online dashboard to manage your backups remotely?

If you have a plan that includes cloud backup (Premium and Advanced only I believe), do you use it to store your backups in the Acronis cloud?

If your subscription plan includes the "protection" features (I'm not sure which plans include that), do you see any benefits in having antimalware built into your backup software?

I personally don't need these extras. I want to keep my backup program simple and reliable, without any additives. As I understand it I can avoid the "protection" features by getting "only" the "Essentials" subscription plan. But I still can't get away from the online dashboard (which I don't need). Nor can I get away from recurring expenses. The only way to get away from all that nonsense is by getting a "perpetual license" rather than a subscription plan.

Why I think "protection" is nonsense? It's vital to protect your data, yes, in more than one way. That includes protection against viruses and such. But for a "backup" program to have these features built in? That I can't find a way to justify. I view it as an excuse for Acronis to force people into a subscription plan. Because with antivirus software, you always need to have your virus definitions up to date, and those are frequently changed and updated, so for antivirus software it does make sense to have a running cost for having the software up to date all the time, nearly in real-time. But for a backup software?... not so much. Not unless you turn it into a proper antivirus software.

So the question is, what is True Image? Is it a backup software or an antivirus software?...
 

You know why I don't want to be paying for subscription? Because I don't want my money to go toward financing development of antimalware, the "protection" part of True Image. Because that's not why I'm buying into True Image.

If I pay for a subscription plan, I want my money to go to fixing bugs in the "backup" part of True Image and improving overall performance. Those are the things I personally care about with this product. It's the very reason I buy True Image.

I would personally rather see that Acronis launches a NEW product for its antimalware business. Something under the banner of "Acronis Anti-Virus 2021" or such.

Then they can have it their way and have a subscription model for Acronis Anti-Virus 2021. I would not mind at all. I might even be tempted to add it to my shopping cart if it's any good. But leave alone the perpetual license model for Acronis True Image 2021, and possibly offer an optional subscription plan for those of us who want that. I support the idea of giving people a choice rather than forcing them into submission.

It's as simple as that. We don't want to be forced into a subscription model. Just because development of True Image "backup" features has stagnated. It has stagnated has it not? How could it not if Acronis only has limited resources and time to work on this single product? But that does not justify Acronis tacking on extras like antimalware just to keep this product afloat and turn it into a subscription.

In case Acronis management has forgotten what True Image is about, have them read the title of the product: "True Image". It's a disk imaging software. Not that there are not others like it, but it's my favorite choice. So I would hate to have to switch, but if I do I will do so because Acronis forced me to.

Samir, from my perspective, the Essentials subscription plan has zero value or benefits!  It has to be renewed year on year, includes no Cloud storage and doesn't have the antivirus protection either!  So why on earth will anyone want to pay for what the perpetual license has always given?

I don't and never have used the online Dashboard in all the years it has been available plus after recent issues caused by the Dashboard servers, I make a point of deleting my PC's from the dashboard if they get registered there by virtue of installing a new version or build.  The last thing I or other users need is for the Dashboard servers doing a repeat of last November when they reset the backup scheme settings for lots of users, turning off automatic cleanup, changing to default scheme settings etc!

In terms of paying for antivirus, sorry but I have never done so in over 40 years of computing and have never had a virus etc!  Practising 'safe hex' was always a mantra when working in computer technical support.  Most virus infections, including ransomware etc, come from a user clicking on a link or opening an attachment etc, regardless of having antivirus software installed and warnings being given!  I have Windows Defender & Firewall installed with all recommended additional security settings set.  For older Win 7 PC's I use Comodo Internet Security free which has served well for very many years!  For any other purposes, then using Sandbox software or Virtual Machines offers a safe approach to avoiding malware!

The nearest I have come to virus infections is removing them from PC's for friends, neighbours or family, always done fully offline using stand-alone tools to avoid booting from infected disks and after making a full disk backup first!

Steve, when you put it that way it's absolutely true that the Essential subscription adds no values. Other than having access to a backup software. For one year! It adds no value beyond that, and then it expires and you have nothing. Assuming of course perpetual license is a given a choice, then Essential subscription plan adds no value. But if that choice is removed, then it does add some value in that it's a cheaper option than Advanced and Premium plans.

I agree with your remarks about viruses and such. I myself have had a few viruses, and a rootkit once. But that's only because I was into "warez" and doing things most computer users would normally not do. This was a long time ago. Still, for the past 22 years or so that I have used computers, I have had no more than maybe 5 viruses (including the rootkit). And I didn't exactly go to a "backup" software to get rid of the viruses if you know what I mean. The interesting part is I used Kaspersky anti rootkit tool (TDSSKiller) to get rid of the rootkit, and it was absolutely free and it did wonders.

I get the feeling that Acronis is using scare tactics to scare people into buying "protection" rather than having them buy backup software. If I want antivirus protection (more than what Windows 10 currently has built in) I will probably get a license with Kaspersky or F-Secure. Those would be my top two picks. Not too long ago, I used to test virus detection with different antivirus software and these two would often come on top in my tests. That said, I never got to test the protection in Acronis True Image (because it's not your typical AV software so it was never considered). But I do know by experience that it does detect things in my warez stash, so I had to exclude those locations so I don't risk having them quarantined and possibly removed.

Also, If I want cloud storage, I will get it with Dropbox or even Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS. In fact I already have a 5 TB cloud storage with Microsoft (and only use 2% of it). Many backup software even offer integration with these services so you can select them as a destination for your backups. I prefer to use DAS and NAS to store my backups on regular hard drives or on my local network. My Internet connection is not so good (10 Mbps upload) for pushing up over 2 TB of data, even though I have unlimited/uncapped bandwidth. But if I ever decide to put my backups on a cloud server, I would like to be able to pick my own rather than only rely on Acronis cloud.

Ashampoo is a company that's known for their "Burning Studio", a software for burning/authoring CD/DVD/BD discs. I visited their website and came across "Backup Pro 15". I haven't tried it myself yet, but this seems like a competent and affordable piece of backup software.

https://www.ashampoo.com/en/usd/pin/1659/system-utilities/backup-pro-15

Just like Acronis, it too is using Cleverbridge AG as its fulfillment partner (shop and payment processing). But unlike Acronis, they offer "One-time payment, No time limit" for just 29.99 USD per license (current offering, regular price is 49.99). Not that the price is my main concern, but there you have it.

The GUI appears to be very polished and simple to use. It reminds me a lot of True Image in fact. I'm looking forward to testing this one.

If it's one thing a subscription plan should enable and make easier, it's your ability to scale the license according to your needs. I mean what makes it impossible to have a 2 PC or a 4 PC license? Having a fixed number of PC activations belongs to the past. It's the old way of thinking, when licenses were in fact perpetual. There is no sensible reason to continue with this practice now that Acronis is moving to a subscription only licensing model.

On a subscription plan, you should be able to go from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 PCs, and also back down from 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 PC. Whatever your needs are. Also, when upgrading to add more PCs, discounts should be applied automatically, deducting for the number of months you already payed for, adjusting for the months you already used up. This is assuming you are upgrading from a 3 PC to a 5 PC package (that old way of thinking).

So here's a question, why do all 3 PCs need to have the same expiration date on a subscription license? Why is it impossible to just recalculate the expiration date for the 3 existing PCs, adjust the price, and add 2 more PCs to the license with a different expiration date?

This is a problem that can be solved in more than one way. But subscription or not, there is no reason to not offer a 2 PC or a 4 PC licensing option. Other than profit... presumably. But customer choice does not have to compete with profit! It should not... to paraphrase Steve Jobs (I think he said it), if you have a good product, it will sell itself.

Posters,

Interesting conversation you are having here.  As for myself I am not ready to agree or disagree with anyone here.  Rather, I would like to point out a few things to get some feedback from you.

I notice that it is current belief among those posting here and elsewhere in the forum that current cyber threats of all types are signature based threats for which anti-malware vendors develop definitions to identify those signatures for detection and remediation.  Currently there are considerable more threats being introduced over the internet that are not signature based and are perpetuated on a real-time basis.  Detection of these threats can only be achieved currently on a real-time basis through behavior based techniques which is the basis of Acronis cyber protection at this time.  Other vendors including MS are using real-time protection methods at this time.  How these methods differ is not entirely clear at this time.  How do you feel about this?  Do you feel that MS has the better solution to real-time threats?  Do you feel that other third party vendors offer better protection for such threats?

On another note, there are at this time advances in computing that should usher in many changes that we as users will need to contend with.  These advances will change most of what we consider the norm today much like the advancement of malware threat above.  For example, I have read that in the next Windows 10 version release support for Dynamic Disks is being dropped.  The replacement for dynamic disks will be Virtual Disks.  Do you use dynamic disks or virtual disks now?  How do you feel about a shift away from data storage in a traditional media way being changed by this seemingly small change? 

Lastly, if you invest in software at this time that is perpetual and computing tech changes to a newer filesystem, newer storage technique, and these changes render your perpetual license obsolete, was that a wise investment?  Would it have been better to hold a subscription license that offers a discounted pathway to support changes like those discussed here?

Looking forward to all responses.

Bob, I don't recall any discussion in this topic regarding the nature of malware or how antivirus handles this via signatures or patterns of behaviour etc.  What I have stated for myself is that I find the integrated Windows Defender and Firewall are adequate for my own needs at this time, along with the other security measures I have in place in my home network, router etc.

The point here is that users should be able to choose whether they want to have Cyber Protect features imposed on them when they have purchased a Backup & Recovery application.  I for one do not want these new features, though I was happy with the previous implementation of AAP in ATI 2020 and previous versions.

Regarding dynamic disks or virtual disks, then the answer is that I have never used these other than within the context of VMware VM's.  A very long time ago, RAM drives were popular as a means of improving performance but they too have mainly been relegated to the history books.

Microsoft very likely has lots of plans for implementing new technologies in their OS etc but the reality is that there are many millions of users who will never use those new technologies, just as there are still large numbers of users who have never moved away from XP and 7 versions!

As I have mentioned several times in this topic, I have no subscription products (apart from the gift from Acronis to MVP's), I have a lot of perpetual licenses which are still fully operational and work just fine with Windows 10 where used.  I am more than happy to purchase new perpetual licenses when new features are introduced that I want to take advantage of, but this looks likely will be of a competitor application if the statements made to Samir are correct that Acronis are no longer going to provide a Standard / perpetual license.

I would rather pay a little more for a Lifetime license from one of the companies I mentioned earlier than pay for a subscription!  If Microsoft decide to go down the subscription route with Windows, then I shall switch from Windows to using Linux full time as it is able to do almost all the things I currently do on Windows.

Steve,

Thanks for your feedback. 

In response, in your viewpoint on malware, does malware that can invade your systems via no action of your own pose a threat to your data?  If not why?  Do you perceive such a threat to be ever increasing to you and your data or such a threat being more of a threat to the business world rather than the personal computing space?

I believe users should have choice as well and it appears that most posters here believe that user choice is not being honored by Acronis's approach in offering what is deemed as a total data protection package of both cyber threat and backup.  Would you say that is a fair assessment?  Do you feel that an all-in-one solution to data protection makes no sense to the average user?  If you do why?

If I said to you that MS moving away from dynamic disks to that of virtual disks is geared toward the eventual complete move from NTFS to the ReFS filesystem and that virtual storage via Storage Spaces would become the standard in computing at that point would your response be, I am moving to Linux?

Just curious :-)

In response, in your viewpoint on malware, does malware that can invade your systems via no action of your own pose a threat to your data?  If not why?  Do you perceive such a threat to be ever increasing to you and your data or such a threat being more of a threat to the business world rather than the personal computing space?

Bob, perhaps I have lived a sheltered life but I haven't ever encountered such malware as you describe and don't see it as a threat at this time!  Obviously, if someone is really determined to try to attack our home network or PC's etc, then there is very little that can be done to prevent the attack being launched.  We have physical security in place including an alarm system and CCTV cameras plus are on good terms with all our neighbours, so any drive-by attack is less likely to be successful.  Threats to the business world are beyond my control other than to protect my own interactions and accounts by using 2FA etc.

I believe users should have choice as well and it appears that most posters here believe that user choice is not being honored by Acronis's approach in offering what is deemed as a total data protection package of both cyber threat and backup.  Would you say that is a fair assessment?  Do you feel that an all-in-one solution to data protection makes no sense to the average user?  If you do why?

I agree that Acronis appear to be trying to force users into their cyber security arena when this should be a matter of user choice.

The majority of users already have established security / protection applications in place yet Acronis are coming along as an unknown first-comer in this arena and expect users to ditch their preferred protection in favour of one that is unknown and unproven!

If I said to you that MS moving away from dynamic disks to that of virtual disks is geared toward the eventual complete move from NTFS to the ReFS filesystem and that virtual storage via Storage Spaces would become the standard in computing at that point would your response be, I am moving to Linux?

Sorry Bob, I just don't see this type of migration happening any time soon!  As stated before, there are simply too many existing PC systems with established disk technology using NTFS & GPT etc, still plenty of Legacy / MBR systems around.  Migrating all those systems from NTFS to ReFS is going to take many years and will be wasted on most basic users.

My comment about moving to Linux was in the context of Microsoft deciding to take Windows to a subscription model, as they have tried to do with Office 365 (which I do not use).

Thanks again for the feedback Steve.  I really appreciate it.  It is nice to know other users viewpoints.

Sorry Bob, I just don't see this type of migration happening any time soon!  As stated before, there are simply too many existing PC systems with established disk technology using NTFS & GPT etc, still plenty of Legacy / MBR systems around.  Migrating all those systems from NTFS to ReFS is going to take many years and will be wasted on most basic users.

On this I must say that I have a very different viewpoint than yourself.  Sure, I know there are a lot of old systems our there running all kinds of old software and whatnot.  I believe though that these users will either have to move up or get left behind as support and compatibility for these old systems and software is going to disappear fast as I see it.  Did you know that NTFS has been around since 1993, almost 30 years now?  GPT's roots also lie in the late 1990's but is likely to remain intact as the standard disk partitioning format while MBR will be kicked to the curb.

Because of the advancement of malware threat I believe that will drive things forward at an even faster pace.  As business adopts new security measures, those measures will necessitate that customers change along with them.  It was just a few short years ago when a 6 digit password was considered strong protection.  Now we have a minimum of 8 characters, use of numbers, letters, and special characters, encryption, Kerberos authentication, 2FA, and the list continues. 

Maybe I have it wrong here but it looks to me like the landscape is changing on an almost daily basis.  As a result I am of the opinion that the user has little choice but to embrace change and move up with the tech as the alternative is becoming obsolete!

as a quick side note to your discussion, the alternative backup system I am using now (until Acronis gets back to backup basics)  is preparing their next version release that will include support for the ReFS filesystem.

Steve F.

Hi Steve F.

Thanks for your feedback.  ReFS is on the way in I am confident.  Resilient filesystems are the future.  There will be many changes coming and ReFS is among them.

My old eyes are having a hard time reading through this whole thread.

I wanted to toss out one point here. At this time, there is no option to install without the AV protection package, and while Steve has a method to turn it all off, it is a bit of a cumbersome issue. I bring this up because to buy the perpetual license to ATI 2021 will always have this issue unless they do a later release of 2021 (and not 2022) in which the install is optional (as has been hinted).

I will probably just stick with my last perpetual license for ATI 2019. If there comes a time when it no longer works, I will reevaluate then.

I am in the process of testing various alternatives to ATI. I have done some initial testing of the Ashampoo product and it seems to work well. It is wizard based which many users may find easier to use.

Strategically, I think Acronis is making a major error if they abandon perpetual licences - but that is their problem not mine.

Ian

Bruno, Ian,

Thanks for the feedback.  Yes, the 2021 product has the AV option in the Essential version so still contains the protection even though it is not active by default.  So Ti 2019 would be the last true perpetual product without malware protection beyond ransomware I believe. 

I have read some good reviews of Ashampoo backup but have not ventured there myself.  Unlike the majority here I made adjustments to my backup strategy so that TI fits my needs.  I continue to adjust that strategy, recently adding Windows File History to my backup strategy.  I would like to see TI add a like feature.  The downside is storage space requirements.  With storage device prices like they are though that fact is not a huge issue.  It is difficult to find CMR drives at this point which are my preference and carry a price premium over PMR disks but if you are diligent you can get them at an attractive price point.

I would say that ATI 2020 was the last version without the new protection and I was very happy with that version and using AAP alongside Windows Defender.  It is the changes in ATI 2021 that have changed my opinion here with simply too many extra background services that stay active regardless of not being used etc!

Regarding the switch to ReFS from existing NTFS, then I can only say that for the majority of home users that will not happen tomorrow or even next year or for their existing PC's still happily using NTFS.  This type of change will only happen as new PC's using ReFS as default are shipped out to users.

If I base my comments on the PC's that I deal with from friends, family and neighbours etc, then the majority don't have any form of Backup & Recovery application installed other than the now very old Windows 7 Backup app still included in Windows 10.  Those users don't even think about using the Windows 7 Backup app let alone paying for and installing ATI or other competitor applications.

When I deal with such PC's I normally install MR or MSM free and create a spare partition on their disk drive to store backups.  I do this mainly for selfish reasons, so that when they next bring the same PC to me, I at least have some options for recovering to a point in time where things were working correctly!

For most home users, there is a great deal of apathy about PC's, they want to buy something that they can just turn on and use without much extra thought involved, and at a price that suits their pockets!  If that PC comes with some pre-installed tools such as McAfee LiveSafe then typically they don't touch it and ignore any messages about the 30-day subscription expiring...!

I dealt with a Lenovo laptop a few days ago where McAfee had decided to block Chromium Edge from connecting to the Internet and the only recourse was to uninstall McAfee because it provided no method of unblocking Edge!  The user had no clue what was wrong, no backup and was worrying that they might need to replace the laptop that they needed for college work!

There are exceptions to any rule, i.e. some users into gaming and using Steam etc will go for a much higher spec of PC but still be oblivious to the need for a working Backup & Recovery solution etc.  They still wouldn't have a clue as to what filesystem is being used for the internal disk(s) in the PC!

Thanks for the reminder about Ashampoo - I missed that from my list of perpetual software earlier (despite having a copy of Ashampoo Backup 2021 installed via an offer from Giveaway of the Day recently).   I got an email from Ashampoo this morning with an upgrade offer to their Pro version for just £15.99 (UK).

Enchantech wrote:

I notice that it is current belief among those posting here and elsewhere in the forum that current cyber threats of all types are signature based threats for which anti-malware vendors develop definitions to identify those signatures for detection and remediation.  Currently there are considerable more threats being introduced over the internet that are not signature based and are perpetuated on a real-time basis.  Detection of these threats can only be achieved currently on a real-time basis through behavior based techniques which is the basis of Acronis cyber protection at this time.  Other vendors including MS are using real-time protection methods at this time.  How these methods differ is not entirely clear at this time.  How do you feel about this?  Do you feel that MS has the better solution to real-time threats?  Do you feel that other third party vendors offer better protection for such threats?

Signature based threat protection is the center pillar of antivirus software industry. It's important to point out that it's an industry. An industry does not change over one night. So regardless of who makes what software, they all rely on this technique.

Those that want to circumvent these protections are well aware of this. This is why they have a need to get more sophisticated in their attacks. So in response to this, the antivirus software vendors sell you some "smarts" like real-time proteciton "engines". These have existed for quite some time, going back to at least 2007.

It's all about pattern recognition. It's about asking the question, "is this a threat?" What exactly are you looking for when you use behavior based protection? You're looking for patterns. That pattern can also be described as a signature. Perhaps it's less static in its nature so it's more difficult to discern, but it's a signature nevertheless.

I don't know how sophisticated Acronis "cyber protection" is. But I'm sure companies are now applying AI/ML to counter the threats they cannot detect otherwise.

I myself am not using any third party antivirus software. I think the one that comes built into Windows 10 is sufficient enough. If anything, I would consider purchasing a third party solution only to give me more control over what is and what isn't a threat. I hate having companies impose "protection" on me (ehem... True Image!) because not all of it is a threat. It could be a false positive, or it could be that I'm knowingly working with files that I know are infected, for example. That's one area where I find the Microsoft solution a bit lacking.

Heh... I know how this sounds like. I'm inviting viruses in?! What an idiot I must be!? Maybe so, or I'm just getting old! But I trust humans more than I trust machines. I resent the idea of machines making decisions instead of humans. People are smart, machines are dumb. At least that's how it was when I was growing up. Machines were just tools that served a purpose for us. But I can see that this is shifting now. We are starting to serve the tools. Not necessarily because machines are better than us, but because we are being told that this is the case. By no other than the same companies that want to sell their products and services to us. To me personally, this is a much bigger concern than if product X is better than product Y! We are increasingly turning into consumers and we are less and less the thinking men we used to be. Why think when we can let others think for us? Right? We can just happily go about our lives, working for a salary and keep spending it on buying "stuff" in this increasingly materialistic world, turning the rich into super rich.

We are relying on machines to detect or even predict behavioral patterns in software, made by men. The only winners in this are those who make the virus, and those that make the antivirus. The rest of us are just common men who enable this to go on. But our strength is in numbers. There are a whole lot more "regular people" than there are super rich. We can break free if we can resist their influence on us with their marketing and what not, and that begins by questioning things and thinking for ourselves instead of letting others think for us, and making decisions for us.

Why do we not trust the user of a system? It started with programmers not trusting users. Now we have companies who "don't trust" users, or so it would seem... they don't exactly go out and say it... so they take us for idiots and start making decisions for us? This applies to an increasing number of software vendors, including of course giants like Microsoft. Few are the small and honest software vendors who are still in the business of selling software (usually under "perpetual license"). The entire software landscape is turning into a battle of a few giants for control of our lives. Because software is life! It's society! It's democracy! The future will not be controlled by politicians, but by the programmers and software makers.

I would personally rather trust a user (a human being) than a machine (a computer). From my perspective, the only true path to computer security is education! Teaching users how to compute properly and what not to click on, is in my view a much better investment than getting that latest antivirus software with all the cool new features! And with all the right marketing terms like "real-time protection engine" and "AI", and let's not forget the "cloud". Maybe I'm naive?... I don't know. I like to think I'm not.

Enchantech, if I may ask, where are you getting your information from in regard to "considerable more threats being introduced over the internet that are not signature based"? Also, where have you read that the next Windows 10 version will lose support for dynamic disks? I'm assuming "dropped" means it will no longer be supported.

In a future not too far away, humans will not be making tools; tools will be making humans. I'm afraid...

Enchantech wrote:

On another note, there at this time advances in computing that should usher in many changes that we as users will need to contend with.  These advances will change most of what we consider the norm today much like the advancement of malware threat above.  For example, I have read that in the next Windows 10 version release support for Dynamic Disks is being dropped.  The replacement for dynamic disks will be Virtual Disks.  Do you use dynamic disks or virtual disks now?  How do you feel about a shift away from data storage in a traditional media way being changed by this seemingly small change?

If by virtual disks you mean disk images like those VHD and VHDX files, then yes, I have used them very recently. You will recall that I had to restore some data (passwords) from an old TIBX backup image (I posted about it). But other than that, and the few times I setup a virtual machine (VM) in VirtualBox (using the VDI format), I do not use virtual disks. For the most of my time behind a computer monitor I have used what Microsoft calls a "Basic Disk", either partitioned using MBR or GPT table.

I'm not sure I fully understand the implication of this shift away from "Dynamic Disk" to "Virtual Disk". But it sure sounds to me like there is only a name change! Hah! It would not be the first time Microsoft "invents" something by a mere name change. As I recall it dynamic disks is a disk management model which allows you to span a continuous address space across several physical disks. It's essentially Microsoft's disk format for what is known as software RAID. (And it's unreadable in most other systems if memory serves me well.)

Lastly, if you invest in software at this time that is perpetual and computing tech changes to a newer filesystem, newer storage technique, and these changes render your perpetual license obsolete, was that a wise investment?  Would it have been better to hold a subscription license that offers a discounted pathway to support changes like those discussed here?

How do I feel about these potential deal breaking changes that are on the horizon? I am not concerned about it one bit. I will cross that bridge when I come to it. First, I need to find a road that leads to perpetual license for True Image 2021!

As a matter of fact I have a CD here somewhere that I got from a friend of my last year. It contains Nero Burning ROM 7. That was a current version at least 7 years ago. The license key is on the back of a jewel case. I intend to insert it in one of my Windows 10 PCs and see if I can make it install and run. I can let you know how that goes. I suspect it will work like a charm.

The point is, perpetual licenses don't necessarily lead to obsolete and non-working software. It's all about the software itself, and you as a programmer making the right decisions. Rather than having Microsoft make your decisions for you! Hah! As long as they let you have a choice of course. For example, selecting to program your software with the tooling that you know (by experience or otherwise) will stand the test of time (Win32 maybe?).

By contrast, if Nero AG had decided to use the "cloud" and make you "log in" in order to activate your license, then I'm pretty sure it would render this piece of software useless. For starters, the "log in" page/view may not even render properly if it's using external resources like images from the Internet, and the activation server itself is likely to be offline for years now, so you will get an error.

According to Paul Thurott, the dynamic disk feature is no longer actively developed.

The Dynamic Disks feature is no longer being developed. This feature will be fully replaced by Storage Spaces in a future release.

Source:
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/235819/microsoft-details-de…

If this is true, it is already so since the release of Windows 10 version 2004. But it also means that it's still supported. Upon checking here on Windows 10 version 20H2 (1904.804) I still have the option to "Convert to Dynamic Disk" in Disk Management.

They are just having us know that at some point in time... in a future not too far away (maybe?)... they will replace "Dynamic Disk" with "Storage Spaces". They say they will no longer develop the Dynamic Disk feature. But that's no news at all, is it? When was the last time they updated it? I for one would like to know this, so we can all know what kind of time frame we are talking about, in the sense that "this is when we developed it the last time" vs. "this is when we will remove it". By this logic they might as well make similar statements about a lot of the legacy features in Windows that's been around since the very first versions of Windows.

The "About Disk Management" dialog box itself still reveals that it's not a Microsoft product.

"Dynamic disk and volume management provided to Microsoft by VERITAS Software Corporation."

I'm pretty sure they "stopped developing" dynamic disks feature around the same time they stopped developing the disk management tool. (That is pretty close to "they never did".) That's Microsoft in a nutshell. All original inventions and no name changes (not!).

The majority of home users have no idea what either dynamic disks or storage spaces are with their single disk systems and are unlikely to miss any changes in this area.  I won't as have never used either of these either!

I agree Steve, and for those users that really want to use these features they will be available to them. Both the "old" Dynamic Disk feature and the new "Storage Spaces" feature will be available. Will be available?... what am I talking about? Storage Spaces was introduced in Windows 7! Was it not? I never touched that thing. If ever, I only did so to see how to remove it from view.

I understand where Enchantech is coming from, and things are changing and evolving. Nothing is ever set in stone. Except for maybe Runes, but that's for another topic. But the reality of things is often very different from what is being promoted. And that's just it! Things are being promoted! It's wishful thinking that Storage Spaces will replace Dynamic Disk (for those few that use it). Both technologies have co-existed for a long time now if Storage Spaces was introduced in Windows 7 already. It will only replace Dynamic Disk on the day that Microsoft decides to eliminate Dynamic Disk from Windows.

Need I remind everyone of the failed attempt to replace the Start menu with a big "tablet" and "tiles"? That didn't go so well. Of course a lot more people were affected by this idiocy, more so than would be the case if they decided to replace "Dynamic Disk" with Storage Spaces. So they could not even wait to release "Windows 9". Instead they took immediate action and released "Windows 8.1". (Well, not that immediate!... they only reverted after they got bombarded with people complaining and media giving them bad reviews and a bad name! And of course, techies who refused to buy into their vision and just ditched Windows 8 altogether in favor of Windows 7.)

I don't mind having old legacy features "deprecated" or having "development stopped" of such features. For the sake of compatibility and user choice, they have to keep these legacy features within the system. It's one of those things that makes Windows a very large and clunky system. But it's also what makes it a successful system. Because they satisfy the needs of many users and many use cases. It will be a completely different company (a worse company) the day Microsoft decides to change their strategy to a "you're in or you're out" mentality and starts "dropping" (removing) support for certain technologies on a release basis, especially given their current rapid release cycle for Windows 10. You have to give people time to adjust to whatever this new technology you're promoting. That can take some time. A lot of time sometimes! Some people adapt to new technology very fast (techies who live for this kind of stuff), while others still don't even care to install the latest updates for Windows on a weekly basis (non-techies who just use a computer to pay their bills).

Steve, Samir,

Great feedback!  Thank you, your replies are well presented.  I will respond to each of you in separate posts.

Enchantech wrote:

On this I must say that I have a very different viewpoint than yourself.  Sure, I know there are a lot of old systems our there running all kinds of old software and whatnot.  I believe though that these users will either have to move up or get left behind as support and compatibility for these old systems and software is going to disappear fast as I see it.

They won't disappear nearly as fast as you would like, not on Windows they won't. Windows is well known for its compatibility. It's the go-to system for techies and non-techies alike. Microsoft is unlikely to make any drastic changes that would upset a lot of people. You know how the Start menu story goes.

Did you know that NTFS has been around since 1993, almost 30 years now?  GPT's roots also lie in the late 1990's but is likely to remain intact as the standard disk partitioning format while MBR will be kicked to the curb.

On this I have to say, did you know that FAT32 was introduced in 1977? It's still around and kicking in year 2021, in Windows and in other operating systems. In fact, in some use cases, it's the only thing that works, and one of few file systems that can be used across several different operating systems for data interchange.

GPT will not kick MBR to the curb for the same reason NTFS has not kicked FAT32 to the curb. Similarly, ReFS will not kick NTFS to the curb any time soon.

Because of the advancement of malware threat I believe that will drive things forward at an even faster pace.  As business adopts new security measures, those measures will necessitate that customers change along with them. 

In theory, yes, customers will have to change along with the businesses. In reality, no, I think it will take a little more than marketing to make customers buy into whatever these businesses are selling them. It's not an ideal that we should strive for as consumers and individuals. We need to learn to say no, instead of constantly adapting to whatever these companies ask of us. We need to hold our money closer and dear, and have these companies adapt to us and our needs if they want to do business with us. This is perfectly exemplified with Acronis' move to subscription model. The easy way out will always be to accept, rather than to resist.

Also, I believe it is digitalization and not malware that drives information technology forward, advancement of malware is a rather unfortunate side effect of that.

It was just a few short years ago when a 6 digit password was considered strong protection.  Now we have a minimum of 8 characters, use of numbers, letters, and special characters, encryption, Kerberos authentication, 2FA, and the list continues.

I honestly cannot recall when 6 character passwords were considered a strong protection. As far as I can remember, 8 character has been the normative minimum for passwords. Maybe some one off website used 6 as its minimum. I have not come across such a site in a very long time. (Most likely because they were sitting ducks for attackers so they got blown out of the waters of world wide web.)

Speaking of pace of technology and transition from one technology to another, or unsafe practices to safe practices... did you know that Unix was invented in 1971? Did you also know that the 8 character minimum for passwords that's so commonly used dates back to Unix systems? Do you also know that the majority of websites in year 2021 still rely on a 8 character minimum for passwords? I read about this some time ago, in an old publication from Bell Labs. The article stated something along the lines "you should use at least 8 ASCII characters and under no circumstance should you use any less than 6 characters". There was a detailed explanation of why exactly you were supposed to use 8 characters. It was due to some technical reason I believe. I think 8 was some kind of maximum you could use reliably. Unix computers were a thing long before my time on Earth, so I didn't understand most of the stuff in that text. But it was an interesting read nonetheless.

There are certainly no such limitations in current computer systems, so you have to ask yourself, why are we still using 8 characters as the minimum? What's so special about that number, why not 7 or 9, why must it be 8? It's because of Unix! One could even argue that it's an old tradition (in-joke) of inviting in intruders into systems. You're definitely setting the stage for a play when you set the minimum to be 8 characters. This has been the case for the last 20 years, and it is unlikely to change for another 20 years or so.

I did the math on this last year, and I came to the conclusion that you should be using at least 12 characters in your passwords to stay reasonably safe against brute force attacks. I did no tests and I did not take into account other factors and other attack types. But it's still indicative of the sad state of things. I mean even Intel uses 8 character minimum when you go on to register for their Community forum account (actually Intel SSO account that serves for everything to do with Intel). Not only that, they use 10 character validation on client side but 8 character minimum on the server side, so you can get away with 8 characters, simply by the system failing to reject less than 10 characters when you sign up for an account.

Maybe I have it wrong here but it looks to me like the landscape is changing on an almost daily basis.  As a result I am of the opinion that the user has little choice but to embrace change and move up with the tech as the alternative is becoming obsolete!

There will always be an alternative, and it is not necessarily spelled "becoming obsolete". The easy way out will always be to accept, rather than to resist. As an avid Windows user, would you prefer to have the Start menu from Windows 8? Most people don't, so they had Microsoft change their mind about it.

The one key change that I do see & recognise as happening is the move away from 32-bit systems to predominantly 64-bit systems, where this is the case even in the Linux / Unix world too with the mainstream distros no longer producing 32-bit versions!  Of course, there are always going to be other distros who will continue to support 32-bit for some years to come!

Regarding the Windows 8 / 10 start menu - the first action I make is to install a copy of Open-Shell to give me back a useable menu again!  I set this so that the Windows menu can still be accessed via using the Windows Key for those 'just in case' moments but otherwise it is set to show a Windows 7 menu appearance!

Steve,

Again, great feedback and thank you for taking the time to post it.

What you write speaks volumes I believe especially with respect to most users.  You're right that for most a PC is a buy it, use it til it breaks, maybe try to get it fixed, or more likely, just buy another one.  Such is our throw away world these days. 

So with that in mind and taking Acronis side here for a moment, since my business is data protection, should I not provide more than just mere backup of my customers data to truly protect that data?  Obviously the answer here must be yes at this point.  So if I offer protection from online threat along with backup will that fill the data protection expected from my product.  I think again the answer is yes.

Since most users as you say, never look at their anti-malware app then how is a software company suppose to provide any meaningful protection?  The answer of course is in real-time.  Windows Security performs real-time protection just the same as Acronis TI does.  Is this not the right approach for software makers to best serve the majority of their customer base?  I would say that answer is yes as well.

I deal with users who fit the above description the same as you Steve,  I also deal with users who are more in step with the technology and wish to do what they can to avoid cyber threats of any kind.  These users tend to be a bit older in age and are looking to not have to buy a new PC every 3 years or so.  Not being very tech savvy, they need products that do everything for them.  I believe this is the space that Acronis is trying to fill.  I also believe this is the space that all software makers of products like TI are trying to fill.  Obviously this space is limited in size so how do you gain business in the previous space of throw away consumers?  I think this is the question that perplexes software vendors today.

With regard to ReFS filesystems, only a few changes need to be made for the move to ReFS to become mainstream.  Most notably is to make it bootable.  I do not expect this change to come overnight but it is on the horizon.  I would be willing to go out on a limb here and suggest that this will happen sometime within the next 5 years.

So with that in mind and taking Acronis side here for a moment, since my business is data protection, should I not provide more than just mere backup of my customers data to truly protect that data?  Obviously the answer here must be yes at this point.  So if I offer protection from online threat along with backup will that fill the data protection expected from my product.  I think again the answer is yes.

Bob, I can understand why Acronis are wanting to push this but they are missing an important point - that of the user having the right to choose what they want!

Forcing users into a subscription model for an application they don't know they need or why they need it isn't the answer here!

I come from a 31 year computing technical background at IBM where I dealt with the aftermath of data loss and tried to encourage business users to use tools provided with their systems, this well prior to the current cyber threats and ransomware.  I have witnessed first hand customers who have effectively gone out of business due to a disk fail with no backup strategy in place.

Comparing business users with home users is a non-starter.  The average home user will take a problem PC to the tip and throw it away without even considering that they are giving away vital personal data that is gold-dust to criminals looking at identity theft etc.

If Acronis really want to operate in the home user market, then they have to get back to basics, to the reason I first bought my first copy of ATI 9.0, which is to produce and provide a best-in-class Backup & Recovery set of tools that performs well and fast, without any unwanted bloat etc.

By all means, within that B&R tool, promote or suggest other Acronis offers to protect from Cyber threats etc, but allow users to turn off such promotions, not nag them insistently as has been happening / reported in the forums!

They should offer a range of applications and options, with different models to suit the different user spaces.  Yes some users will want an integrated, all-in-one solution, but others will want to have a mix & match solution!

Since most users as you say, never look at their anti-malware app then how is a software company suppose to provide any meaningful protection?  The answer of course is in real-time.  Windows Security performs real-time protection just the same as Acronis TI does.  Is this not the right approach for software makers to best serve the majority of their customer base?  I would say that answer is yes as well.

This is where Microsoft have the high ground with Windows 10.  Defender and Firewall are integrated and run in the background with minimal intrusion for the majority of home users.  This works just fine for me and my systems - I simply do not want nor need Acronis Cyber Protection which is intrusive, especially the new Vulnerability scan feature and all the extra background services!

I deal with users who fit the above description the same as you Steve,  I also deal with users who are more in step with the technology and wish to do what they can to avoid cyber threats of any kind.  These users tend to be a bit older in age and are looking to not have to buy a new PC every 3 years or so.  Not being very tech savvy, they need products that do everything for them. 

Bob, at 72 I guess I too fall into the bit older bracket, and I also do all I can to avoid cyber threats but by practising safe behaviour on my PC's etc.  I definitely do not want products that 'do everything for me!'

Samir,

Great feedback from you as well and thank you for it.

In response I will not attempt to respond to all that you write but will to a few.

On the dynamic disk topic, dynamic disk came about because of the limitation of the FAT filesystems addressable space and the ever increasing size of hard disks.  Use of dynamic disks allowed the creation of Extended partitions.  Disk spanning is also a part of dynamic disks.  By removing dynamic disk from Windows the path is paved for a complete transition as some point to virtual disk.  Virtual disks are not bound to a partition structure like that of basic disks and that is where if big change is.  A virtual disk can be placed anywhere on a physical disk that has sufficient space.  That is the driver here.

On the Storage Spaces topic, the tech was first introduced in the early days of WHS (Windows Home Server) version 1.  I experimented with the tech back then and became convinced that at some point it would be the norm.  I believe we are at that point in time now.  A lot has changed in the tech over the years.  I recently built a Storage Spaces device and have it in service at this time.  It uses the ReFS filesystem and consist of a 7 disk storage pool (array) that is cached by an NVMe SSD.  It works great and appears to Windows OS as one large disk.  The entire setup is virtual.  So this is an illustration (example) of the changes to come.  How ling to become mainstream?  That is debatable for sure.

On the signature based/real-time topic please review the link below as it provides details of the differences.

Signature based vs. behavior based malware

Steve,

Without quoting you here in the interest of time at this point I will simply respond.

The only point I disagree with you on in your last response is that of Acronis forcing users to use the cyber threat feature.  Yes it is installed by default but it can be turned off.  I know and understand the concerns you have with the services that support the threat protection running in the background.  What I am going to suggest to you is that if you have a machine that exhibits this behavior my suggestion to you is to add to the exclusion list of the protection the Acronis folder itself and see if that makes things better.  I myself have not seen this pattern on my machines.  Yes, the processes on Windows startup do run and they do consume excess CPU cycles, high disk and memory usage but, this is temporary and ends in a short period of time.  I recently had an experience with a user who using Windows Security was experiencing high CPU usage of the MsMpEng.exe that runs malware scans for Defender.  By adding the folder of an expired antivirus app to the Windows Security Defender scan it fixed the issue.  I was able to convince this person to uninstall the expired app which then allowed the removal of the exclusion and all was well.

The point is that something is triggering excessive scanning so finding that process will eliminate the problem.

I believe that Acronis will improve the cyber threat protection feature to the point where it will be much like the ransomware protection in behavior, performance, and protection ability. 

I am not and do not compare business to home users.  I do not compare apples to oranges either.  My point in that comment was simply to express that often issues that effect business have impact on customers and I believe that in the highly dependent digital world we live in today this will play out.

Finally, at the young age of 67 I too practice safe computing but somehow I think that simply is not enough anymore.  Having said that I also think that the home user is not the primary target for what's known as polymorphic or encrypted threats at this point but I do believe that that time will come and all to soon.  So I am interested in the best real-time protection I can find as a result.  If that happens to be Acronis Cyber Protection great!  I am ahead of the curve.  If not then I will be looking elsewhere.  We'll see how that works out.

Bob, to keep this brief, I have had support case 04577504 open with Acronis since August 2020 for 2 different issues with Cyber Protect, one originally because it couldn't be enabled, then after several new builds, because it couldn't be disabled - which happened on 2 different PC's.  The case never reached a satisfactory conclusion and has been archived last week because I am unwilling to spent more time on it.

I have disabled all the Protection features on my main PC via powershell scripts but my reason for doing so was not related to high CPU usage but because despite 'turning all protection off permanently' all the associated background services were still active & running!  That is simply not acceptable!  Off has to mean OFF and not relegated to the background!

Steve,

I follow your posts so I am aware of the 2 cases of support requests you reference.  Obviously cyber protection is still progressing even though your problems remain unresolved.

In regards to your disabling of cyber protection, I cannot explain why turning the feature off in the application does not render the background services to be relatively benign.  It certainly has not proven to be that way in my experience with the 3 PC's I have it installed on.  Again, I suspect it goes back to real-time scanning and other processes on your PC that cause this behavior.

Steve Smith wrote:

The one key change that I do see & recognise as happening is the move away from 32-bit systems to predominantly 64-bit systems, where this is the case even in the Linux / Unix world too with the mainstream distros no longer producing 32-bit versions!  Of course, there are always going to be other distros who will continue to support 32-bit for some years to come!

Good point, and good riddance. I mean who needs a 32 bit operating system today? My understanding is that even mobile operating systems like Android are running on 64 bits chips, hence the Android itself is 64 bit. But this I think applies the Linux / Unix world only, not to Windows. I just checked, Microsoft will still offer you a choice between 32 and 64 bit when you go on to download the latest ISO image from their servers (screenshot below).

I know for a fact that Ubuntu for example no longer offers 32 bit images. The evolution has come to a point now where if there are people out there that need a 32 operating system they deserve to have a Linux distro of their own. They could also consider using Windows 10... if the they can run it on the hardware they have. There is also Windows 10 IoT Core which also offer 32 bit versions I think.