Personally I understand your sentiment. Unfortunately this is not up to me.

I will foward all of your feedback internally, thanks!

Hi Mathias, I was getting a folder created here C:/ProgramData/simplitec which was logged by my anti-malware as a PUP (potentially unwanted program). Removing (and quarantining) this folder did not help as it is recreated on next Window boot up. Eventually I traced it down to your connect.exe creating it as windows starts up. This "simplitec" folder is empty and is not used. The name "simplitec" is used by a dodgy PUP inserting software. It seems like shoddy programming to leave in this code and links you to an unsavoury product that is related to aggressive almost-malware style products. Especially as I have paid for the latest Vegas Movie Studio.

Hope your company remove this pushy marketing method and sell your products by their merit. Check DaVinci Resolve for a great software that is selling due to it being high functioning.

How do we prevent it being installed in the first place?

My copy of V15 is sitting in a folder, uninstalled 'cause I don't see any new features of interest. This just makes me want to leave it there.

Came in my computer after installing VP14 en DVDarchitect yesterday. Instead of malware or adware..... I tries to connect to the internet, at startup of my computer. Without any browser or software open. Without displaying any magix ads. (i already own VP15). . I may conclude ...it seems to be "spyware"?

No, it is not spyware, it shows notifications about new versions and you can ask it not to. Also you can uninstall it if you like and your V15 will keep running happily. So it is not that much of an issue.

I know about the notifications which may popup when opening Vegas , but i wasn't doing anything ...nor did i see these notifications, and the connect.exe did want to connect with internet. For what purpose then ?

It runs to ask Magix whether there are any news to tell you about and displays them if there are. If you ask it politely to go away it does. If you are one of the possibly many running 14 and 15 on the same box, then keep it enabled with 14 so that you get news occasionally and disabled with 15 so that it doesn't annoy you.

It runs to ask Magix whether there are any news to tell you about and displays them if there are. If you ask it politely to go away it does. If you are one of the possibly many running 14 and 15 on the same box, then keep it enabled with 14 so that you get news occasionally and disabled with 15 so that it doesn't annoy you.

I always uninstall Connect after an installation or update, and every time I open VP14 I still get this (actually, I even get it after checking "Do not show this message again"):

I therefore doubt that this Connect is necessary for the Vegas "Newsfeed" to operate.

Connect is a tool we use to communicate directly and efficiently with our customers in order to share valuable offers and other information.

How dare you?

I downloaded Build 321 today - Connect is now nearly twice as big as before.

Why????????

Hey Magix, a little thought. This thread has been going a while which shows that, however benign, your paying customers don't like this phone-home/pushing-news/marketing-updates style you are using. From my experience, you have some great products so rely on them to sell themselves. Don't listen to your smarty/slicky marketing guy(s) with their slimey ideas on pushing things onto your loyal customers. Otherwise these people will walk, taking their custom elsewhere (and their are more and more other possible products now). Sack your marketing guy and spend more on making your products match what your users want. Use surveys to find this out. Users are now more internet savvy than ever and don't like these sneaky tricks! Just sayin' .....

This is an extremely scummy practice and I won't be touching Magix or Vegas ever again.

Well, the default position of software companies these days is to get the marketing app in front and center, usually not too invasive, and give you an option, (obvious or not) to disengage that app. Does that make it cool? Not really, but not that big a deal, these people are trying to make money, without which, the program goes away. Let's move on. Adobe does it, big time, I don't think BM does, but their log on is screen is hugely a PITA and no dismantling there, so Vegas is still the King. Have you ever tried to use Adobe "online help." Now, that is a pain in the arse.... totally.

Personally I understand your sentiment. Unfortunately this is not up to me.

I will foward all of your feedback internally, thanks!

Hi Mathias:

Greetings to you!!

I think Vegas has some of the biggest whiners in its user base in the whole multimedia landscape. (Some super people as well) Now, that said, please. Magix, don't copy Adobe with its online help files, those are egregious. Offline is totally better.

Also, your subscription model is totally affordable, and if that remains 'an option' - that is terrific.
I was a Samplitude for Rent person for years and it was fantastic. I spent about what everyone else did for upgrades, about $240/year, got them "first in line" and so the price was reasonable. (Saving myself a $600 outlay, which was the price then) .

I WANT you to make money, and not have to create stupid trinket features, bells and whistles, to attract new customers, and THIS friends, those of you seething at some of these ideas, is the reality: with a solid base of users, upgrading and/or subscribing, the company is freer to worry about stability and solid functional things, not "bells and whistles" to appease the marketing department. Just a heads up. Thanks for indulging me here!!

Keep up the GREAT work at Magix. I love your software, it is boutique, (Samp) in a way, and does some amazing things with audio, and I suspect the great German engineers, once they really wrap their heads around (Gary's??) this fantastically conceived software, which is Vegas, will send it into the stratosphere, and people, don't think that they cannot, they absolutely can, if they have the will, so let's encourage them and not "carp" so much...Thanks again Vegas / Magix team.

"anonymized" ??

Completely agree with @zdogg. Very grateful for Magix keeping Vegas alive and kicking. I actually don't mind getting updates on the offers; too hard to keep track otherwise. But yes, I want Vegas to be a money maker, so they will continue to keep it going. HitFilm has an even more aggressive system where when you log into the software it forces you to their main page of propaganda, and that I don't like at all.

Don't make this issue to appear large, it is not that large as to make a lot of fuzz, we've spoken, we've been heard.

Happy to see that MAGIX Connect is now a selectable component in the Vegas Pro 15 & 16 download managers 👍. Previously it was installed by default.

I notice that its billing in the download manager now includes more functionality than mentioned previously in the thread:

"Easily transfer photos and videos from your smartphone.
MAGIX Connect wirelessley connects your smartphone to your PC, Cloud Service and more.
Discover what MAGIX Connect has to offer:
 - Transfer photos and videos directly from your smartphone* to your PC
 - Import media from Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive into your MAGIX programs
 - Never miss software updates and exclusive offers again

*CameraMX App for Android is required"

Out of curiosity I attempted to install it via the VP15 download manager. It did download the installer to ...\Documents\MAGIX Downloads\Installationsmanager\Connect_1.0.0.4_180816_11-00_1_0_0_4.exe but I then got a "Freigabeverletzung beim zugriff" error:

Anyone else have success or failure installing this?

Anyone else have success or failure installing this?

But I did not use it yet, because at the moment I don't have any problem downloading or copying the files I need.

My timeline of events:

1. Buy a competing product (a few years back). Use it. All good.
2. Update the product. Start getting tons of "please update now notices", including pop-ups on the Windows desktop. Discovered that the in-app "disable exciting messages" didn't actually work. Decided to stop using that company's products entirely in protest.
3. Buy the Vegas Pro editor through a Humble Bundle sale. Fiddle with it a little, then ignore it for a while.
4. Start seeing "you don't have the latest version of Vegas Pro" messages on my Windows desktop. Decided that, if Vegas is going to spam me just as hard, I might as well go back to the program I'm familiar with. Uninstall Vegas.
5. Eight days later, I get another "you don't have the latest version" from the (uninstalled!) Vegas Pro.
6. Figuring I missed something, I went into the Windows "uninstall software" settings area to look for things called "vegas" or "magix". Found an effects add-on I missed. Removed that.
7. Had a sneaky suspicion that I hadn't got everything, so I went poking around in C:\Program Files (x86) and found a MAGIX folder, with something called Connect in it. Went back to "uninstall software" and found an entry for "Connect", which had no publisher information in the summary or any indication that it was associated with Magix or Vegas (which is a big AdWare flag).
8. Uninstalled Connect. Fingers are crossed that the AdWare is gone.

Getting upgrade notices from uninstalled software is not okay. Even when the software is installed, upgrade notifications should always be opt-in.

Very poor policy to be installing this kind of garbage on people's systems. Totally and completely unacceptable for a professional level product. This needs to stop.

Obviously this is NOT a professional level product!

Very poor policy to be installing this kind of garbage on people's systems. Totally and completely unacceptable for a professional level product. This needs to stop.

Obviously this is NOT a professional level product!

You are somewhat distant from the actual facts, it is a professional product and it is selectable in the installation of V16. So there is NO issue.