Can't activate it. Can't run it. Can't repair it. Can't uninstall it. Now it's hosed my MBR. Help me get rid of this crap!!!
Some time ago, True Image 2015 lost its memory of my backups. That wasn't so bad because it kept on working and I got new ones.
Today True Image 2015 gave me some BS message about not being activated. Trying to activate it from my license code didn't work - it just repeated the prompt - so I tried the "other computer" activation and got some BS message about too many activations.
I tried a repair installation twice and it appeared to work both times but it still gave me some BS message about not being installed. I couldn't uninstall it because it gave me some BS message about a run-time error.
I tried uninstalling it again and now Windows won't boot unless I boot from the True Image 2015 disk and even then I get an "MBR error 13" message. Even when it boots, it's slow and seems screwed up.
Why did this stinking turd of a program screw around with my master boot record? I've never had this kind of trouble from a program before. Will someone please tell me how to fix my MBR and get rid of Acronis so I can use something reliable?


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Barry,
See webpage: Windows won’t start – Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 for help with the MBR issue
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"...use the Acronis Cleanup Utility to completely remove ATIH 2015 from your computer."
That may have saved me some time and aggravation had I known that the "Cleanup Utility" does something more than every other "Cleanup Utility" in the world. How is anyone supposed to know that?
In any case, I managed to repair my MBR and boot Windows normally. Then I bought some different backup software and backed up up my system disk.
If some utility other than the uninstaller is necessary to do a complete uninstallation, why isn't it part of the uninstaller? And what business does Acronis have monkeying around with my master boot record in the first place? It it's actually necessary, only a complete idiot would sign off on releasing a product that can't clean up after itself.
I've seen this kind of arrogant and careless behavior before. Adobe Acrobat and AOL used to do the same thing, any may still to this day. Those installers would silently change all kinds of system files and registry entries and could never be completely uninstalled. After a while, IT people didn't even bother trying to fix those things when they stopped working. They just reinstalled Windows.
Having worked in software development for 32 years as a technical writer and programmer, I'm 100% certain that this is the work of managers who are too stupid to allocate a reasonable part of the budget to the installer/uninstaller programmers, the QA group, or the usability testing group (if they've even heard of the idea). If no one ever tests the uninstaller by using it the way a typical user would, no wonder it's a joke.
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Barry, thank you for your further feedback. I am glad to hear that you have found a resolution for your problems and have a working system again.
With regards to your other comments, please address these directly to Acronis using their Feedback web page as this is purely a user forum and we can offer no guarantee that your concerns will be seen by any Acronis management or support people who should hear what you say.
As for the cleanup utility, this can be found via the Acronis Knowledgebase with a simple search and also within the forums as it is advised for a number of valid reasons. I understand your concern that such a utility should be needed but Acronis is far from being alone in providing such a tool - I personally have needed to use these to completely remove various different applications including Norton (aka Symantec), McAfee, AVG and other security applications, which like Acronis have deep roots in the OS because of the low level interaction they require to perform their tasks & activities.
Whilst you may decry such cleanup tools being needed, I personally would be uncomfortable with software companies that don't offer such a means of removing their software. I have spent far too much time in the past trying to unravel all the tendrils of unwanted software from the registry and file system.
You asked: And what business does Acronis have monkeying around with my master boot record in the first place?
The answer to this question is the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (ASRM) function of the product - by its very nature, this function makes changes to the MBR or UEFI boot loader in order provide the F11 function key option on boot of the system and to launch a small Linux OS environment from which the Acronis application can be used completely outside of Windows. This is an advertised part of the application. The recommended method of uninstalling ATIH would be to first deactivate the ASRM and Acronis Secure Zone (ASZ) if present before attempting to then uninstall the main application itself.
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