Option to keep downloaded install files gone?

[deckard]

There used to be an option "Don't delete app installer files" in the previous version.
Seems this is now missing and all downloaded files are deleted upon successful install.
Can this feature be added back to v5.x?

[Thore]

I have the same wish. Always saves the latest file locally. Now I have to go to the log file to get it home.

[bentlike]

I had the same problem but my question was not approved.

[topbanana]

There simply isn't a reason to use PMPC if it's not saving the downloaded installers.
We might as well just use WinGet, or any of the other similar 'tick from a list & install' utilities.

Saving the installers was the defining feature of PMPC.

This makes me very frustrated.  Angry even.

[wssddc]

What I've been doing is marking everything to not silently install, and when items scan as update needed, temporarily mark all but one to not update.  Then I let that one start installing and grab a copy of the installer from the configured download location before the installer finishes and gets erased.  Repeat for each app needing an update.  Ugly, but downloading the same installer for multiple home machines doesn't make sense.

[OldNavyGuy]

I started a thread on this topic back in October...and got some interesting replies from PMPC -

https://patchmypc.com/forum/index.php?topic=8152.0

[topbanana]

There's been zero feedback as to why they've deleted their defining feature.

We need to know why they deleted the installer cache features.

[Michiel (Patch My PC)]

There's been zero feedback as to why they've deleted their defining feature.

I'm sorry, but that's not true. Our CEO answered your and OldNavyGuy's questions several times:

• https://patchmypc.com/forum/index.php?msg=20806
• https://patchmypc.com/forum/index.php?msg=20807

[topbanana]

There's been zero feedback as to why they've deleted their defining feature.

I'm sorry, but that's not true. Our CEO answered your and OldNavyGuy's questions several times:

• https://patchmypc.com/forum/index.php?msg=20806
• https://patchmypc.com/forum/index.php?msg=20807

Yes, it was true.

He finally responded a 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 36 seconds AFTER i wrote that...
Please check the dates/times before writing such messages.

And yes, we had to wait until the 30th of Jan before we got any response... So we were frustrated waiting, and waiting.

Having the most important feature get deleted from an otherwise very useful piece of software, with no reasoning is bound to cause frustration from the userbase!
And we'd had a similar issue with the categories being deleted.  Which is so ludicrous.  And amplified with the new version, which upped the supported app count to over 500!

Frustrated.
Very frustrated.

Thanks for point out the his late reply though ;-)

Oh, and now my IP address is marked as spam...  It gets better and better.

[Justin (Patch My PC)]

Hey @deckard, @Thore, @bentlike, @wssddc, @OldNavyGuy,

We are tracking this feature request here: https://ideas.patchmypc.com/ideas/PATCHMYPC-I-5133.

We appreciate the feedback, and any updates on this request will be posted there.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

[xenon2000]

Hey @deckard, @Thore, @bentlike, @wssddc, @OldNavyGuy,

We are tracking this feature request here: https://ideas.patchmypc.com/ideas/PATCHMYPC-I-5133.

We appreciate the feedback, and any updates on this request will be posted there.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

I really hope it returns soon in version 5. Until then, I am sticking with version 4. And if version 4 dies before version 5 gets this "skip delete" feature back, then I will just have to go back to manually downloading once or to use the other free updater apps out there.

It feels like this was done on purpose with version 5 to push home users to the paid version. Most people with only 1 computer at home are not even using this software. Most of us have multiple home computers. I have a family of 4 and at least 7 computers at home between desktops and laptops. It is silly to redownload the installers 7+ times. So until then, I am still using version 4 on my network share to save bandwidth and time.

[topbanana]

It feels like this was done on purpose with version 5 to push home users to the paid version.

Indeed.
The supporting evidence is that they remove the categories from the list of apps in v4 a couple of years ago, for zero logical reason.  It's like the Yellow Pages listing every single business purely alphabetically!!!  What use is that!!!
The only logical reason could be that they indeed wanted to make it harder to use, to push users to their paid version.
I, and many other have posted about this numerous times over the years, but we've had zero feedback about it, no reasoning, to acceptance that it was a mistake, nothing.

And now we have v5 with 500+ apps!!!
So the situation is 10x worse.
Trying to find all the apps for you standard build-out is neigh impossible now.
And yes, the categories still exist in the .ini file if you prompt v4 to create it!

We can only pray that this feature will return, as with the categories.

And yes, visiting every software author's website and manually downloading the installers was what i had to do as well...  For years and years and years...  Then i found PatchMyPC!!!  It was a lifesaver!!!
At least we can just abandon it and use winget, which gives almost the same functionality as v5 does.

Time, money, bandwidth, data, energy, carbon intensity, all at stake here.

[Justin (Patch My PC)]

Hey @xenon2000,

I want to be very clear. This change was absolutely not made to push home users to a paid version. Our paid product is designed for enterprises already using Microsoft Configuration Manager or Intune, which is a completely different market than those using our free home updater.

Sorry if this comes across very direct, but these changes have nothing to do with moving people to our paid product. The reality is that people using our Home Updater wouldn't even be able to use our paid product since it requires Microsoft Configuration Manager or Intune.

When I founded Patch My PC in 2011 as a side project, I had no intention of turning it into a business or creating a paid version. Over time, we saw a specific need in the enterprise space, which led to the paid product, but we've always kept the free home updater available because it still serves a valuable purpose.

We invested a significant amount of time, effort, and money into building version 5 and left it completely free. Not only that, but we also more than doubled the number of supported apps compared to version 4. We did this because we felt it was the right thing to do and because it aligns with our purpose of improving lives for the communities we serve.

The main reason we removed the caching option in v5 was that the app is no longer a portable version, and it wasn't always clear how caching should work in an installed version. You can see more details on why we made this change here: https://patchmypc.com/forum/index.php/topic,8152.msg20806.html#msg20806.

One thing we didn't factor in as much as we should have is the need to save bandwidth, especially for people managing multiple home devices. Back in 2011 when we first built this, bandwidth concerns were different, and it wasn't something we thought about as much at the time. Clearly, based on feedback, this is still an important use case today.

From what we're seeing, the two most important missing features from v4 are the ability to run as a portable app (https://ideas.patchmypc.com/ideas/PATCHMYPC-I-5114) and this caching feature. We're tracking this request here: https://ideas.patchmypc.com/ideas/PATCHMYPC-I-5133, and we'll post updates there as we work through it.

I appreciate the feedback and understand the frustration. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Hey @deckard, @Thore, @bentlike, @wssddc, @OldNavyGuy,

We are tracking this feature request here: https://ideas.patchmypc.com/ideas/PATCHMYPC-I-5133.

We appreciate the feedback, and any updates on this request will be posted there.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

I really hope it returns soon in version 5. Until then, I am sticking with version 4. And if version 4 dies before version 5 gets this "skip delete" feature back, then I will just have to go back to manually downloading once or to use the other free updater apps out there.

It feels like this was done on purpose with version 5 to push home users to the paid version. Most people with only 1 computer at home are not even using this software. Most of us have multiple home computers. I have a family of 4 and at least 7 computers at home between desktops and laptops. It is silly to redownload the installers 7+ times. So until then, I am still using version 4 on my network share to save bandwidth and time.

[topbanana]

When I founded Patch My PC in 2011 as a side project I built in 2011 with no intention of turning it into a business or creating a paid version. Over time, we saw a specific need in the enterprise space, which led to the paid product, but we've always kept the free home updater available because it still serves a valuable purpose.

So we owe you a massive thank you for giving us PMPC!
It has been a lifesaver for us 'IT Unprofessionals', or IT Professionals after work/at home!

It has been frustrating no knowing if we'd retain what PMPC gave to us.

We hope it's a case of Soon™...

Until then, we can keep using v4, as it still works for us (apart from the dire lack of categories)

[xenon2000]

Hey @xenon2000,

I want to be very clear. This change was absolutely not made to push home users to a paid version. [...]

We are tracking this feature request here: https://ideas.patchmypc.com/ideas/PATCHMYPC-I-5133.

We appreciate the feedback, and any updates on this request will be posted there.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

I appreciate your reply to clarify as I misunderstood your paid solution. I really appreciate the work done on Version 4 Portable. I have a separate complaint about Version 5 only being available as an installed solution but this cached download issue is way more problematic for me.

As a tool that I have automated with Task Scheduler, it doesn't matter to me what Version 4 GUI looks like. It's easy to use when I do look at it and that is the only time I care.