I generally avoid taking advantage of any kind of deal like this without doing plenty of research, and found a review on cgchannel

I followed that to the Silo forum on CGTalk.  According to a few threads there, this is the first update for Silo in over 3 years.  The original developers abandoned the program some time ago.  And the Windows version is 32-bit only.

I'm gonna save my $20 and continue learning how to use Blender.

Which version of Silo is it?

Quote - Sorry I'm late replying; I was away.

No worries.

Do you keep your Library embedded, or is it an external window?

Quote - 1. Are all of the subfolders under one of the top three folders or on the same level?

The hierarchy looks like this:

Runtime

• Geometries
• Libraries
  -- Camera
  -- Character
  -- Face
  -- Hair
  -- Hand
  -- Light
  -- Materials
  -- Pose
  -- Props
• Textures

Quote - 2. What do you mean by 'organize your content'? Anything in the Props folder must stay in the props folder, so what would I be organizing?

Quite right.  Props belong in the Props folder, morphs belong in the Pose folder, and so on.

However...

One thing vendors like to do is put the files for their products in a folder named after themselves.  These "ego" folders add an unnecessary - and often unwanted - layer of depth to the Library.  As your Library grows, you're not likely to remember whom you bought what from anyway, so you end up randomly clicking on vendor folders to find whatever item you want to use in your next project.  I experienced this first-hand when I started out and began adding content to my Library, and it drove me nuts.  You might also be inclined to develop your own method for organizing your content that isn't limited to whatever structure the vendor came up with. 

I always install new content in a temporary Runtime where I re-organize the files before moving them to my main Runtime.

For example, this is what the folder structure for Danae's Dublin character looks like (my comments in paranthesis):

Runtime

• Libraries
  -- Pose
  --- Danae (the vendor's name)
  ---- Dublin V4 (the character's name and which figure it's for)
  ----- Dublin (MAT files that don't use Sub-Surface Scattering)*
  ----- DublinSSS (MAT files that do use Sub-Surface Scattering)*
• Textures
  -- Danae (the vendor's name)
  --- Danae_DublinV4

I already know I can't touch the Textures folder, so I'm going to ignore it.  As for the Libraries folder, there are four things I'm going to do with it:

1 - I don't need or want any reference to the vendor's name when drilling down to the MATs in my Library, so I'm going to move the Dublin V4 folder up under the Pose folder, and delete the Danae folder.

2 - I have no use for the non-SSS MATs, so I'm going to delete the Dublin folder.  That leaves the DublinSSS folder.

3 - Since I already know the MATs I kept use SSS, I don't need the folder name to remind me, so I'm going to rename the DublinSSS folder to simply Dublin.

4 - Since I only have one set of MATs now, I don't need the Dublin V4 folder.  However, I do keep character morphs and skin shaders organized by the figure they were designed for, in their own Runtime, labeled Characters.  I use Victoria 4 as my primary base female figure, and have a Runtime folder with the same name, so I'm going to rename Dublin V4 to Victoria 4.

This is what my modified Runtime for Dublin looks like:

Runtime

• Libraries
  -- Pose
  --- Victoria 4
  ---- Dublin
• Textures
  -- Danae
  --- Danae_Dublin

I can now move that entire Runtime folder to my main Characters Runtime, and this is how the Pose category will look in Poser:

Victoria 4

• Dublin

This is what it would've looked like without my modifications:

Danae

• Dublin V4
  -- Dublin
  -- DublinSSS

Understanding how Runtimes work gives you the freedom to experiment and make finding your content a breeze.

• Sub-Surface Scattering (SSS) is a mechanism in which light penetrates the surface of a translucent object, is scattered by interacting with the material, and exits the surface at a different point. The Dublin character can use SSS to make her skin appear more lifelike.  It also comes with MATs that don't use SSS, which is what I deleted.

Here's a simplified tutorial for Poser's Runtime structure for anyone new to Poser who's reading this thread.  There are only three basic rules to follow.

There are three sub-folders under the main Runtime folder:

Geometries
Libraries
Textures

Rule #1 - Never touch anything in the Geometries or Textures folders.

Depending on what your content comes with, there are up to 9 sub-folders under the Libraries folder, which correspond with the categories in Poser's Library:

Camera
Character
Face
Hair
Hand
Light
Materials
Pose
Props

Rule #2 - Never touch any special sub-folders your content may add to the list above.

Rule #3 - How you organize your content within each of the sub-folders above is entirely up to you.

Quote - I appreciate these exchanges because they are at the heart of my difficulties with Poser.

Poser's Runtime structure is actually quite easy to understand once you have a firm grasp of the basics.  By stark contrast, DAZ Studio's Content Library is much less strict, allowing users to arrange folders however they please.

The real trick is understanding how each system works.

That's a large part of why it took me three years to feel comfortable enough to create my first series of renders.  After reading horror stories about enormous, disorganized libraries, I wanted to make absolutely sure I knew where my content was and how to find it.

Quote - The tool will help identify what files goes with which product so you can delete all the related files, but it's still a bit of work to get the determine all the products are in the install and the related files to go with it, hence my original comment. 

sigh...

Alright, thanks...

Quote - Somebody should go to DAZ and teach them the true meaning of : "End user friendly."

I agree.

Quote - Even though the main folders to remain are the runtime and the data directory, those files are interfaced from the other directories using DAZ user facing files...

My suggestion about the Dimension3D tool is if you really wanted to clean up the files this will show files that are part of a particular product...

All I want is the base mesh, and whatever files are required for character morphs.  You're saying the D3D tool will help me identify only the files I need?

Quote - My suggestion is to keep it there.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen, not if I can help it... I prefer keeping my Library well-organized and fluff-free.

Quote - The two that matter, currently, are the Data and Runtime folders...

Thank you.

To clarify the thread title for anyone reading this, the screenshot I posted is from the Genesis 2 Female Starter Essentials.

There are four folders in the data folder:

Bobbie25
DAZ 3D
FWDesign
SWAM

The only one that appears to have anything directly to do with the G2 base female mesh is DAZ 3D.  I presume I'm ok deleting the other three.

Incidently, I noticed a similar folder structure in the G2 Male Starter Essentials, and the original Genesis Starter Essentials that I grabbed last October.

Am I correct to understand that all I need to use any of the Genesis figures are their data and Runtime folders?

Quote - I use PP2014 with the free version of Avast without any issues...

Did you do anything to Avast to get it to play well with Poser?

MSE provides a decent firewall, but it's nowhere near as effective a virus scanner.  I thought Avast would be a good alternative, but apparently not.

Time to check out Malware Bytes.

I tried NoScript for FF once, but quickly grew tired of trying to figure out which scripts to allow so I could view the content I wanted to see.

Quote - Have you tried right clicking on the Poser Icon on your desktop and running as administrator?

Didn't work.

I believe I've solved the real problem.  I recently replaced Microsoft Security Essentials with a free version of Avast.  AIR was conflicting with Avast.  I've switched back to MSE, and the Library works as an external window again.

That same error message has returned, and I'm getting frustrated now.  The Library won't even load from within Poser.

EDIT:  It appears the Library only works when I configure Poser to embed it now.  Something is corrupting the loading process when I set the Library as an external element.

Quote - I just found this article on the SmithMicro support page (for PP 2010 though, but seems to cover the same error message):

https://support.smithmicro.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2294/~/poser-pro-2010-air-error

It says, that the error is caused by Poser not running when LSMGUIAIR.EXE is started.

Yup, that process is what returned the error message attached to my original post.

I use Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.

I was quite eager to try Win8, and picked up my reserved copy on release day.  24 hours after installing, I realized I have zero use for the Metro UI, and switched back to Win7.  I tried going back to Win8 again several times afterward, if for no other reason than to stay up-to-date with the latest version, but couldn't get used to the UI.  It made me wish Macs weren't so expensive.  I even considered switching to Linux for the first time in my life because of the direction MS is apparently taking Windows, but I have too many legacy apps.

Anyway, I solved my problem.  I think my solution was to have Poser's installer remove the previous preference files instead of backing them up or using them.