Viewpoint-what do you think?

new can of worms for me-or not.
I left the 'puter for a few, and when I came back a small window was there, saying "You have been Updated" and that it was Viewpoint.

what is it, better than what they tell me, is it any good, is there a fee to use it, how does it work?

thanks for your input. I'll be online 'till abt midnight, Pacific time. if I shut down it may leave, or it may be there tomorrow. dunno.

 

Do you have any AOL or AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) installed on your PC? If so it is deemed "required" by AOL, though I would question that it is actually needed to run your AOL software. Viewpoint auto downlaods, as you have found out, with AOL software installed.

As to what it is.....another media player in which to chat to people. Not necessary, but also not optional.

You can read more about it here, incluidng how to uninstall if you wish http://www.viewpoint.com/installer/v4/html/vmp_faq.html

 

thank you, Lev,
no, not AOL, but I do have Yahoo toolbar, and wonder if it's a part of it...running on a Compaq computer which has more stuff in it than I've a clue what is. Viewpoint does say I can accept or decline on the "who is Viewpoint" page, but doesn't say so on the update screen. it wants me to update my browser, which if I do so is supposed to give me advanced pop-up blocking anf graphically enhanced search. do I need this? will not updating it cause a problem? I am mostly online for genealogy, a little shopping, and email.

 

Yes, it can also be associated with Yahoo.

You can choose to disable auto updating, as attached below.

Updating the your broswer (IE, Firefox...whatever you are using) shouldn't be a problem, depending on what you are running. Latest versions often have better security within them anyway.

 

ok, thanks, Lev, it's probably a good idea, anyway. I've just never had Yahoo toolbar before, but it came with this computer. not my choosing, but there's nothing wrong with it. so I'll go ahead and update, and hope for the best.
thanks again for your knowledgable replies.

 

What browser are you using, out of interest?

 

IE...and btw, Viewpoint doesn't like MajorGeek. it sees the whole site as a pop-up. fortunately I can allow pop-ups if I choose, so I _finally_ muddled my way back here. there's another website in my favorites that I think it doesn't like, the rest are ok. it's actually pretty good. I like it for the most part. will take me a bit to learn all it's twists and turns.

 

My personal opinion??? MajorGeeks has to be one of the most rigorously checked and cleanest sites on the net. Software which blocks it as a pop-up would receive my serious consideration for uninstallation, as I wouldn't trust its ability to assess a site properly anyway, even if it was pop-up/malware loaded. Just my 2c.....

 

well, with some bumbling poking and prodding of the pop-up buttons, I managed (tho' Lord knows how) to unhitch the problem and now MG comes up like any website should. still can't access the other one, but it's down about once a year for unknown reasons (server crash, I assume, it has alot of data stored at it's site) so it just may be that and nothing to do with Viewpoint. I'll watch, though, and if I see it doing things I don't like (especially proprietary, I despise that!) I'll pull the plug on it-if I can figure out how.
MG is a great site. I'm not much of a geek, find myself barely treading water with tech stuff most of the time, but sure like what I get from the site. my fiance's always tweeking his computer, and told me about MG. I don't use it nearly as much as he does, but I can see that I'd have a heck of a good time with it if I was a geek.