question The HD Tune drive scanning program disrupts my Power Option profile settings

[apairofpcs]

I'm writing about a problem that I've had for about four years, that seems to point to the HD Tune 2.55 FREE program, released on Feb. 12, 2008.

I have three pcs. One is a hand assembled desktop ( Apr. 2009 ), with the Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit OS. Two is a Toshiba Satellite A505-S6965 laptop ( Aug. 2009 ), with the Win 7 Home Premium Edition 64 bit OS. Three is a Lenovo Thinkpad T530 laptop ( Nov. 2012 ), with the Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit OS. The problem occurs on all pcs. The desktop is attached to a router via an ethernet cable. The laptops work via a wireless network.

Whenever I initiate a Benchmark scan or either the quick or full Error Scan using the program, two settings in my Power Options profile revert back to their defaults. The first setting is to turn off the display after 20 min. of inactivity. I set this to Never turn off the display. The second setting is "require a password to turn on the display." I set this to "don't require a password." After I use the program as described above, the settings revert to their defaults.

Would you explain why this happens, as a result of using a program that merely scans SSD storage devices, which is a read only operation?

 

[Chewy509]

A guess, but a bug in the application causing it to set those options?

For a more complete possible explanation. When performing tests, the application is most likely attempting to set some power options to ensure the device and HDDs do not power down during the tests, and unfortunately on your systems, in attempting to fiddle with the power settings for the system/devices is triggering the incorrect values to be stored as a result of a bug in the software.

 

[LunarMist]

They are on 5.x IIRC.

 

[apairofpcs]

A guess, but a bug in the application causing it to set those options?

For a more complete possible explanation. When performing tests, the application is most likely attempting to set some power options to ensure the device and HDDs do not power down during the tests, and unfortunately on your systems, in attempting to fiddle with the power settings for the system/devices is triggering the incorrect values to be stored as a result of a bug in the software.

Since the two settings I modify are not involved in a "power down" scenario, it makes no sense to me that the scanning program would revert the settings to their default values before working. The display turns off, but the drive is still functioning. the need for a password to turn on the display is like most security measure in a pc OS.....more trouble than they're worth. I don't need a password to use my pcs, since I live alone.

 

[apairofpcs]

They are on 5.x IIRC.

Indeed, you recalled correctly the latest version of HD Tune. But all versions besides 2.55 cost $$$, and I've been using the unlimited use FREE versions of most software for years, without feeling like I've been missing anything. In fact, the only antivirus program that let me down since I had my first pc clone desktop built in July 1992, was the paid version of "PC Tools Spy Doctor." It allowed a nasty, stubborn malware package to invade one of my previous desktop pcs, requiring hours of work to remove it. I never had a problem with any of the free AV programs, or any other free software.

I wrote an email to the HD Tune developers, and I'll report back here with their answer, I hope that their reply will not be a simple "buy the paid version of HD Tune and you won't have the problem." High pressure sales tactics don't work with me. The fact that the FREE version of the program has not been updated since it's Feb. 12, 2008 release, says a lot about NOT keeping up with the changes in OS's. What was the MS OS in Feb. 2008, anyway?