"Our statement on the clean install is only a precautionary statement for those who make modifications to Posers default installation as it may offer in inconsistent state which could possibly result in unexpected behavior." Sorry, but I found the above rather vague. What modifications are we talking about. Adding an item to a library IS a modification. Altering the structure of a library IS a modification. Changing the "factory set" defaults IS a modification. In other words, we all work with installations that have been modified.

Hi Panko, We're talking about significant modifications that some may create so this does not pertain to the description you've offered. Please go ahead and install SR4.1 to your existing installation. Kind regards, Katherine

That's better... Thank you, Katherine, you are always so kind... But I'd rather wait for SR4.2, or even better for SR4.3 ......... :)

I have 4 different runtimes.....removed judy, don, etc. a long ago, modified to eliminate "content parasite", etc., etc. I suspect mine qualifies as a "significant modification". I note that someone mentioned SR4 got rid of the anti-piracy control, but still wants to access the internet?? The anti-piracy thingee was suppose to have been eliminated with SR2.....then I read that SR3 was suppose to get rid of it. I suspect if it's not gone by now, it's taken on a life of it's own and is virtually indestructable!! It took me nearly a year to update to SR3.....looks like a similar period of time will pass before I jump on this band wagon! :)

Poser 5 with SR4 does not access the internet unless you connect to Content Paradise. Other than that, what your personal firewall might denote as a connection to internet is the network serial check that was introduced with Poser 4.0.3 four years ago. It is a broadcast, and broadcasts are per definition local - no router or gateway would ever forward broadcast traffic, therefore this is not a connection to the internet. In addition, most personal firewalls check the integrity of programs by creating a hash or checksum over the entire executable. If you update an application (for example through SR4), this checksum is different, because the program code has changed. Then, personal firewalls often discard the previously set rules and ask what to do. I assume this is the reason for the repeated discussion of this topic after each update. As far as bypassing the anti-piracy measurements is concerned, this was done as part of SR2. Since the Service Releases are cumulative patches, and SR3 and SR4 carry all SR2 modifications, it is justified to say that also SR3 and SR4 bypass those anti-piracy measurements, even though the logic hasn't been changed since SR2. Makes sense?

As much sense as anything else here uli k!! :)

uli k, your explanation is a good one, but I wonder why my firewall doesn't behave this way when I update, say my browser, or Windows, or any other program? Just curious. :)

Maybe because your browser, Windows and other programs are not made by Curious Labs???? :)

hahahahahaha......... well said!... (Windows are made by Microsoft though... which is the next best thing!!!........:)

Nahhh.....Microsoft knows how to get around your firewall, so that you are not aware of their watching your every move. All of the data on your PC has been personally reviewed by Bill Gates. After all, he's got nothing better to do with his time.

Curious Labs just doesn't have as much expertise -- yet. But 4.1 corrects that. Now, CL can download all of your data, too. And fool your firewall in the process. No one is safe. They are watching.........

Most software doesn't try to connect to the Internet. Or even to the local network. If it does, the same thing happens when you update. At least, if you have Zone Alarm it does. For example, when I updated my e-mail program (Pegasus), Zone Alarm suddenly started blocking it, until I permitted it through again. Because it recognized that it had changed. Similarly, I had to go over to a friend's house to adjust her settings because she upgraded to a new version of WS_FTP, her firewall was blocking it, and she couldn't figure out how to let it through.

Norton Security does that automatically.......sort of a "firewall for dummies" (which is what I need most of the time!) It knows when changes are made, and if it's not sure permissions should be granted, will pop up and ask if you want it permitted or blocked and gives you the option to select if it's just this time or always. That's what it did the first time it saw Poser 5 trying to "cruise the net". I set it to "block it....always" :)

Except of using the content room Poser 5 is not trying to connect to the internet. As already mentioned it sends and listens to broadcasts on the local net looking for a copy with the same serial number. If you block Poser in esp. ZoneAlarm it slows down a lot! I did so once and everything (starting/loading/rendering) was a lot slower, maybe because it consumes so much CPU time trying to connect anyway. So IMHO it's a bad advice to block Poser.

Zone Alarm gives you pop ups up, too. But not all firewalls do. The one that's built into Windows XP doesn't, which is a real pain. Software just doesn't work, and you're left to guess what's wrong. (I'm not sure if the XP firewall blocks Poser or not, since I've long since disabled it. It really is a firewall for dummies - it comes set to allow certain programs through automatically, while it blocks others automatically.)

But Bip's right - don't block Poser. It will needlessly chew up system resources. Poser will constantly try to connect to the network if you block it. Not just when you start it, but constantly. You're better off setting your firewall to "always allow" Poser to connect. If you do that, Poser will check once, and be done with it. It will free up system resources and should speed things up. Feel free to remove Content Parasite if you don't want Poser connecting to the Internet. I did. :-)