1. You are forcing users to run it with administrator privilages (which is unsafe from security point of view - one more open vector for potential attacker), while in fact - after installation of Postgres service, PT4 is perfectly usuable using normal unpriviliged account.
We do not force this to occur, it is optional unless you want to use a ZOOM/RUSH/Fast Poker/Fast Fold HUD. In these situations you have no other choice because wen need to interface with the operating system in a way that requires administrator access, in the future if the poker rooms provide us with a file that includes the name of each player and their seating then this will no longer be an issue.
2. This whole Postgres is a fiasco. Why deploy whole separate Windows service just to start the database? I'm perfectly sure that It would be possible to run Postgres database locally with local user permissions. In such way PT4 would not require adminsitrator rights to install and operate at all.
(sic) ps. Yes I know that Postgres is running on sepearate account (but you still need to be an admin to create it).
PokerTracker 4 requires the use of an enterprise class database system, Postgres is best thought of as the open source version of Oracle. As it is we already have many users who complain that Postgres isn't powerful enough, we would consider replacing it if there was an equivalent open source solution available - but to this date there is nothing else that can get the job done on the widest number of computer configurations on both OS platforms. Literally nothing. If you want postgres to work differently then you need to talk to the postgres devs, not us. They write it to work with a dedicated postgres user in their installer. we don't write their installer.
And no admin requirment = more users, as many poker users would liek to use this software where they cant obtain administrator rights, or don't want to risk it.
If we were willing to share how many people use pokertracker (we don't share this information with players) and how few times we have been told this.... it would blow your mind. I can share that the number of complants about administrative rights for Postgress is roughly no more that .02% of our user base. Its not an issue for us at all, the number of potential users we lose due to this is minuscule. Keep in mind all of the other big options have the same issue because they also use Postgres to maintain the best performance ratios.
3. When running software I'm able to inport my hands from PokerStars and 888 etc. They are put into database and everything is ok. But problem is that I need to redo it everytime.
Problem is that PT is trying to detect poker platform installations on computer using some kind of registry lookup. Which is OK but only if given platform was installed as administrator.
For example I installed my PokerStars without admin rights to local user directory, and PT4 is unable to automaticly detect it and auto import hands. So i need to do it manually - which is OK, BUT after I restart PT4: i need to manually import it AGAIN every single time.
Why those settings are not saved pernamently?!
There should be option like "use custom path data, even if client not detected".
The reason you are having settings problems is because PT4 is looking for the settings file in the wrong folder. If you installed PT4 with a different user than you are running, no matter if the user was an administrator account or not, then next time you run PT4 with a different user this will happen. This is a Windows OS standards issue that you are experiencing, the problem is that we look for %appdata% and if your installed things as one user and then runs the program as another user signals get crossed in the application, we start looking for %apdata% for the current user rather than the installed user. We do not support installation via the administrator account followed by running the application in a non-admin environment for this exact reason, for what its worth this situation affects many major applications on Windows, not just PT4, that is why so many applications require running as an administrator.
4. Becasue this software needs to connect to server every single time on startup: what will happen in lets say 5 or 10 years, when company will bankrupt, change name, whatever. Software will be unable to connect to server to verify installation - and it would become useless... So in essence: I don't own and have full control on software that I paid for?! Yes I hate online DRM
PokerTracker has been around for 12 years, that is probably longer than you have been playing
poker online (we can assume this because its longer than nearly everyone has been playing online!), there is no risk of the company folding, and if we did then we would release a patch in advance that bypasses the need for a license server. We no longer sell PokerTracker 2, and even stopped providing support and updates, yet all PokerTracker 2 users can continue to use the application today as-is... they bought the license, it is theirs to use for life. Its fair to say that all of the evidence shows that PokerTracker is a company that can be trusted, we do not abandon our users or disable their licenses after we stop developing an application.
5. I would buy PT is not those issues. Maybe you should develop some PT-lite version: for offline analysis of logs. For like 15$.
We provide unlimited support at no charge for a base price of $59.99, during the average lifetime of a typical user this equates to around 15% of the purchase price is attributed towards the software and the remainder is attributed towards customer support and free updates that are released on a regular basis to assure PT4 remains compatible. The irony is that we have many users who ask us why PokerTracker 4 is so cheep... they expect us to sell our software for $500+ a fee for per-support issue, yet we continue to keep the price as low as we can.
PS: Long story short, if these are the issues that keep you from investing in PokerTracker 4 (or any of our competitors) then this is your loss, there is nothing available that is equivalent for less.