Quark Forums

I bought a new mac and have been porting my software on to that machine. Forgetting about the activation process, I installed 6.1 on my new G5. I already have this loaded on my old G4 so I can't activate this on my G5. What's the best process to correct this?

How do I de-activate/uninstall the version on my G4 so that I can activate the software on my G5? I don't recall seeing an uninstall on the CD and no mention of the activation process in the Quark Help files.

thanks,
dan

Just install 6.1 on the new system and when you get to the window which gives you the option to get your activation code by email or telephone, select telephone and call the number provided (choose the option that says " activation and mobile").

Then politely explain to the customer service representative what you are doing and they will take care of you...or so that has been my experience.

Notwithstanding, I very much dislike the activation process which has to be endured everytime I make a move, and I guess I'll continue to complain about it until I see other app developers follow suit–if ever.

Thanks for the reply, I'll follow your advice and give that a try. The support section doesn't really promote customer service phone calls, but I'm sure they are interested in keeping things legal. thanks again.

As I understand it you can also do it over the Web at http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/support/reactivation.jsp

Also bear in mind that the last digit of the pgone number for quark is missing should be 00800 17878275

[quote:4760d8e88d]Notwithstanding, I very much dislike the activation process which has to be endured everytime I make a move, and I guess I'll continue to complain about it until I see other app developers follow suit–if ever.

Yes the process is not the best. You do get used to it though and I expect most applications will go the same way or similar. As I understand it Indesign CS checks you are a registered user when you want to download the updates. Everyone is trying something different so I suspect we will go through a few prototypes before we end up with something both user and vender are happy with. Yes it would be nice just have to type in a serial number each time but companies are getting a bit touchy over this. All the big software companies will follow but who knows with what flavour and when?

For the second time in two weeks my activation has been "corrupted" because I made system changes. This time it happened on a weekend during a major deadline. And guess what? Quark service and support aren't open. Maybe it's a holiday in bangalore. I'm really starting to agree that this banana corporation has no clue about American expectations of customer service. We'd get better support from good old American prison labor if they're trying to save money.

If you're going to have an oppresive activation process then be there when your piece of crap program that crashes constantly goes bad. I mean jeez, this thing is less stable than most betas I've tested and we're on a major update: 6.1. Ooooh but everything will turn around on 7, and that'll only cost another $599 to update.

Someone above said Adobe checks to see if you're a registered user as though that approaches Quarks BS activation. It doesn't because I can do everything with adobe automated online with out haveing to speak to some lackey on the phone or email a form to an Indian sweatshop so someone can send back an activation code in two days.

It would be one thing if Quark were a high quality product, but it's not. It's unstable and antiquated. If I hadn't built a job in Xclusive, I'd already have gone back to Indesign. I love Xclusive, it's straight forward and natural, but it's built on a sinking platform. Just how bad is Quark? I've decided to spend $3300 a seat for DL-Formatter so I can finish my next piece without losing two days.

Anyone out there who's a designer on a deadline has to agree, that losing two days because your activation goes corrupt and then having to tell your client we need to rebuild it in Indesign or wait till quark support opens on monday are lousy options.

That tells me that quark is the program for leisurely dilletantes and massive organizations who are stuck with it because of legacy issues. It's not the program for professionals who have to meet extreme deadline on important jobs.

Get your freakin act together Quark, I'm sick of using Xpress practically inspite of Quark's consideration of me as a user.

dalailaptop, im sure all us QXP users understand your frustration but how many forums are you gonna post the same story to??

I did find a an easy answer to the activation corrupt issue after reinstall which i posted to a new thread:

http://www.quark.com/service/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1012

It has only brief venting, but also an easy fix by copying the old prefs that are seemingly not there to the new system folder.

As I've posted a few times in other threads on these forums, you sometimes don't even have to run the components intstaller. You just drag the seemingly empty Quark folder from the old preferences to the new preferences and the "Corrupt activation file" message goes away.

peace,
Linda :)