Tenebril Archived Press Releases
SpyCatcher Registers 1 Million Spyware Detections
December 20, 2004 - Tenebril Inc., makers of the best-selling anti-spyware product SpyCatcher and the award-winning online privacy suite GhostSurf 2005 Platinum, announced today that they have officially registered one million individual spyware detections on SpyCatcher users' PCs. SpyCatcher scans computers for spyware and removes or disables it, enabling the PC to run free of these unwanted programs and the associated drain on resources, as well as allowing the user to surf online without the fear of having their privacy compromised by these often-malicious programs. Users can opt to have an automatically generated report sent back to Tenebril's database, recording what spyware was found and allowing Tenebril to track new forms of spyware as well as optimize SpyCatcher's range and efficiency. This milestone marks SpyCatcher having detected and disabled over a million individual instances of spyware on both household computers and corporate networks with the SpyCatcher Enterprise solution.
According to the data received from these reports, Viewpoint Media Player, a tracking program, is the most commonly-found spyware at 46,150 detections. CWS.IEFeats, which is part of the infamous CoolWebSearch spyware family and is a browser-hijacker, and WildTangent, a type of adware, are the second and third most widespread spyware, at 24,112 and 21,177 detections respectively.
"We're extremely pleased with the performance of SpyCatcher out in the wild", says Tenebril's Chief Technical Officer, Christian Carrillo. "That's one million annoyances SpyCatcher has removed from the computing experience for its users, and one million threats that we guarantee have been eliminated permanently thanks to SpyCatcher's unique reinstall shield. Given this great start by version 3.0, we're very excited to see how the new detection engine performs with the release of SpyCatcher 3.5, and we expect to be hitting the two million detections mark very soon".
With the upcoming release of SpyCatcher 3.5 on 01/05/05, Tenebril expects the number and rate of these detections to rise dramatically. Its new features include an upgraded detection engine with vastly more efficient search algorithms and a far faster scan time, as well as anti-phishing capabilities. SpyCatcher 3.5 will be offered as a free upgrade to current SpyCatcher users, and will have a regular price of $29.95.
Tenebril announces new initiatives for affiliate marketing program
October 20, 2004 - Tenebril Inc. has released its new GhostSurf 2005 line of products exclusively on affiliate marketing site RegNow, in a bid to consolidate its affiliate marketing program and be more proactive in tending to the needs of its affiliates.
"We felt that we needed one central meeting place where we could interact with our affiliates and vice-versa", says Jason Amunwa, Internet Marketing Manager. " RegNow provides us with all the functionality we need to create a real community among our affiliates, which made the choice to release our entire product line exclusively through them an easy one."
Coupled with this move is the announcement that Tenebril is currently developing an Affiliate Resource Center on its own site to bring together its network and provide a place where affiliates can download promotional graphics, copy and other materials, as well as a sounding board for sending marketing ideas and requests directly to Tenebril.
"Affiliate marketing is the definition of a two-way street", says Amunwa. "It's important that our affiliates feel they have a channel through which they can reach us, rather than simply follow directives given by a distant developer that runs the program as an afterthought, as is so common with these types of programs. We want to put out the message that both Tenebril and its affiliates stand to benefit mutually from working closely together and that they have our support in generating sales."
About RegNow
RegNow.com is an industry leader in providing e-commerce processing services for vendors and developers of PC and Macintosh software, freeware, and shareware. It is located in Issaquah, Washington, about 15 miles east of Seattle. For more information, please visit http://www.regnow.com.
GhostSurf 2005 Released
September 1, 2004 - Tenebril Inc., makers of best-selling software that enhances computer efficiency and enjoyment, today announced the debut of GhostSurf 2005 and GhostSurf 2005 Platinum. GhostSurf, a leading privacy protection product, now carries the most powerful combination of features on the market to ensure that users can surf the web, send and receive instant messages, and access chat rooms or newsfeeds in total concealment.
"These days everyone, from Internet service providers to advertisers, hackers, even bosses, wants to know where people go and what they do on the Web," said Joshua Blanchfield, chief executive officer of Tenebril, Inc. "Individuals should have the right to use the Internet without prying eyes following their every move. GhostSurf 2005 and GhostSurf 2005 Platinum give users unparalleled power to isolate their online activity from others, whether they're making a purchase, seeking information, or connecting with friends and family."
GhostSurf is a potent weapon for not only concealing surfing activity, but also eliminating theft of sensitive personal data. It also prevents computer attacks made possible when hackers hijack the user's IP address. GhostSurf does what firewalls and anti-virus products don't-ensure total anonymity before, during, and after web use.
Impenetrable Privacy
GhostSurf 2005 introduces Internet connection encryption, ensuring that even the most sophisticated outsiders cannot track the user's web activity. Every page visit, every message, and every search is totally secured against outside intrusion.
TracksCleaner, another GhostSurf 2005 exclusive, uses technology that exceeds Department of Defense standards to erase Web history, temporary files, cookies and any other traces of web use. It even erases the clipboard and recent file lists in many popular applications. Users can customize the level of their cleanings, from quick "wipes" to complete PC scrubs that employ advanced cryptographic algorithms, with options available for both manual and automatic scheduled cleaning.
Platinum Features
GhostSurf 2005 Platinum, Tenebril's most comprehensive privacy product, takes protection to an even higher level by combining four of the company's popular products-GhostSurf 2005; SpyCatcher, which detects and disables spyware and adware; AdArmor, for the elimination of popup ads, search engine ads, in-page messages and other surfing intrusions; and Personal Data Vault, a single, secure personal information vault-in one complete solution. SpyCatcher is the strongest and most complete anti-spyware product yet available. Offering real-time scanning, automatic updates, Department of Defense file deletion technology and much more, SpyCatcher maximizes immunity to spyware and adware-even virulent types designed to reinstall themselves when a computer reboots.
AdArmor is a powerful new product that ensures even the most persistent and annoying online advertising is gone for good. AdArmor blocks flashing ads, audio ads, nag screens, automatic page resizing, animations, even windows that try to trick you to set your home page to objectionable web sites.
Personal Data Vault, another new component of the GhostSurf suite, is an encrypted, password-protected "virtual safe-deposit box" for financial documents, passwords, bank records, bookmarks and more. Security features in Personal Data Vault ensure that the user's digital vault is never left open; encrypted vault backup capability and multiple strength levels give users total control over their most sensitive information.
Pricing, Availability
GhostSurf 2005 is competitively priced at $29.95; GhostSurf 2005 Platinum Edition, combining products worth nearly $100 if purchased separately, is priced at just $49.95. Both products are now available for purchase at Tenebril's Web site, and will be on shelves at most major computer, home electronics, and warehouse retailers in September.
Philadelphia Inquirer reviews SpyCatcher
August 12, 2004 - The Philadelphia Inquirer reviewed SpyCatcher, Tenebril's powerful anti-spyware utility, in its August 12th issue. Reviewer John Fried touched on many of SpyCatcher's features, including its revolutionary reinstall shield. "It guards against spyware that insists on reinstalling itself even after you think it has been purged," said Fried.
SpyCatcher performed well in Fried's testing, which included installing a popular P2P file sharing client on his computer and checking to make sure that SpyCatcher dealt with the spyware it installed. Fried also wrote about his general impression of the product, saying, "I have been running SpyCatcher for about a month, and, so far, it has proved to be stable and respectful of other processes running on the PC."
The Philadelphia Inquirer is America's third-oldest daily newspaper, and boasts a Sunday edition circulation that is fifth among all US papers.
StickyNote wins People's Choice Award
July 21, 2004 - Tenebril is proud to announce that StickyNote won a People's Choice Award at the 2004 Shareware Industry Conference (SIC), an annual three-day software conference that culminates in the Shareware Industry Awards ceremony. More than a dozen awards are given out to software publishers by their peers, but only three are voted on by the general public.
Every year from May 1 to May 31 some of the largest shareware sites on the Internet encourage consumers to vote for their favorite products, and the winners take home People's Choice Awards. StickyNote received the most votes from Simtel.net, one of the most popular download sites on the Web; other sites giving out "Most Votes" awards include Download.com and TuCows.
StickyNote has received over 200,000 downloads on Simtel.net since its launch in January and regularly ranks among the most downloaded programs on the site, along with other prominent software and Internet applications such as Opera.
About StickyNote
StickyNote is the most popular virtual notes program in the world. With StickyNote 9.0, you can create beautiful 3D notes on your desktop and send them instantly over the Internet or a LAN. StickyNote also enables you to adhere notes to documents or windows AND to attach documents to your note. StickyNote eliminates the clutter and confusion of keeping up with the reminders and phone numbers that never seem to be where you left them. Forget jotting down messages and let StickyNote deliver them for you. You can even customize a note's texture, color and priority with a few simple clicks, and you can set an alarm to have notes appear at a certain time or at regular intervals. Managing important information has never been easier!
Softbase awards "Favorite of the Month" to SpyCatcher
July 19, 2004 - Softbase, a well-respected Internet software web site, awarded SpyCatcher with the "Favorite for the month of July" distinction today. Softbase's review wrote that SpyCatcher detected "more old hard to find malware on my half full 160 Gigabyte system than Spybot, Ad Aware, Spysweeper..." The article goes on to call the product "fast and thorough."
SpyCatcher costs $29.95, and is available from the web at www.tenebril.com. It will also be available from retail stores by the end of July. Tenebril also offers enterprise anti-spyware solutions based on SpyCatcher's technology. For more information on the consumer and enterprise versions of SpyCatcher, please visit www.tenebril.com.
Computerworld Magazine announces SpyCatcher Enterprise
July 5, 2004 - Computerworld Magazine today announced the release of Tenebril's SpyCatcher Enterprise. In his column "On the Mark," Mark Hall gave a summary of SpyCatcher's enterprise capabilities, including its remote management console which gives administrators the ability to manage thousands of computers.
About Computerworld Magazine
From the Computerworld web site: Computerworld, the 'Voice of IT Management,' is the most trusted source for the critical information needs of senior IT management at medium-size to large companies. It has earned this reputation by maintaining its focus on IT management for thirty-seven years, despite the never-ending changes in the technology landscape. Computerworld covers news from the IT manager's perspective with a broad analytical view of how that news affects the daily operations of large technology enterprises.
Tenebril unveils SpyCatcher 3.0
June 7, 2004 - Tenebril Inc., makers of the best-selling GhostSurf Pro and other Internet privacy products, today announced the release of SpyCatcher 3.0, the strongest and most complete anti-spyware product yet available. Offering real-time scanning, automatic updates, Department of Defense file deletion technology and much more, SpyCatcher 3.0 maximizes immunity to spyware and adware-even virulent types designed to reinstall themselves when a computer reboots.
"Adware and spyware have quickly become the scourge of modern computing, both at home and in the workplace," said Joshua Blanchfield, Chief Executive Officer of Tenebril, Inc. "They sap system resources, redirect web browsers without permission, track a person's online activity, generate irritating popup ads, and even steal credit card numbers and other confidential information. SpyCatcher 3.0, with its advanced scanning and protection features, does what other products can't-it roots out and destroys all types of spyware and adware for good."
Spyware and adware are invisible programs that download during web surfing without the user's knowledge. Adware typically produces unwelcome popup ads; while annoying, adware does not change the way the person's computer operates. Spyware, however, actually hijacks the PC, wreaking havoc with web browsers and directing the user to unwanted or even offensive Web sites.
Anti-virus software and Internet firewalls cannot see spyware. SpyCatcher 3.0 not only finds more of these invisible threats than other products, but also uniquely eliminates the most stubborn damage, such as homepage and search page hijacking. SpyCatcher 3.0 monitors every part of the user's PC, including memory, registry, network drives, hard disks and removable or optical drives, ensuring complete protection.
Real-Time Performance
Unlike many anti-spyware products, SpyCatcher operates automatically, in real time. The utility continually watches for secret downloads, catching spyware the moment it's installed and deleting it using Department of Defense file deletion technology. SpyCatcher then immediately notifies the user so he or she can tell what sites are generating the illicit activity. To ensure changes can be undone if desired, a work history is constantly maintained.
Further enhancing SpyCatcher 3.0 is its auto-update feature. Linked to Tenebril's frequently changing anti-spyware research directories, SpyCatcher's automatic updates ensure that new defenses are added on a regular basis, giving users the most complete and up-to-date protection.
Scanning Control
For added convenience, SpyCatcher 3.0 allows power users to specify exactly which hard drives, folders, or files will be scanned or ignored. For individuals storing large files, such as music or movies, that cannot hold spyware or adware, this feature speeds up the scanning process significantly and results in faster, more efficient results.
Pricing, Availability
SpyCatcher 3.0 is competitively priced at $29.95 and includes free auto-updates. The product can be purchased now via Tenebril's Web site, www.tenebril.com; in coming months it will be available at major online and bricks-and-mortar retailers in the U.S. and U.K.
CostCo and Target pick up GhostSurf
May 14, 2004 - Tenebril's flagship product, GhostSurf Pro, is expanding its distribution to include Target Corporation and Costco Wholesale. Target operates 1,249 large-store general merchandise formats. Costco operates a chain of membership warehouses that carry quality, brand name merchandise at substantially lower prices than are typically found at conventional wholesale or retail sources. Costco operates 320 stores in the US and Puerto Rico.
Tenebril is excited to add these important retailers to its growing list of channel partners.
Tenebril expands UK distribution
May 10, 2004 - Tenebril has partnered with London-based Transaction One (T1) to expand its products' distribution in Europe. T1 is the UK's leading electronic software download company. They host over 26 e-stores in the UK including all the big brand stores such as John Lewis, PC World, Dabs.com and Insight. These e-tailers represent 70% of the total software business conducted in the UK.
About Transaction One
Transaction One (T1) provides technology and services that enable software publishers to maximize online sales in Europe through both their own European stores and those of leading e-tailers. T1 offers publishers a complete, outsourced solution for European e-commerce including: store building and hosting; full multi-currency transaction processing; multi-language customer support; management of digital inventory and fulfillment of physical goods.
Tenebril wins Internet Commerce Excellence Award
May 5, 2004 - At its bi-annual Network Sales Summit, Digital River (DR), the world's largest e-commerce provider, announced the winners of the Internet Commerce Excellence (ICE) Awards. Tenebril Inc., a DR client since March 2003, won the Best Network Marketing Campaign category, while other renowned companies, including ScanSoft, Canon, Jasc and Symantec, took home trophies in the four remaining categories.
With the launch of StickyNote in January 2004, Tenebril used Digital River's Best Practices to drive revenue and traffic to the company's online store. The real estate offered by Digital River's Try-Before-You-Buy Network, including the homepage or download page of many prominent Web sites, such as Simtel.net, PC Magazine and Chicago Sun-Times, helped Tenebril introduce surfers to the first photorealistic 3D virtual notes software on the market.
According to Alexa.com, since the launch of StickyNote, Tenebril's Internet traffic ranking has jumped dramatically, from 120,000 to 60,000 (approximately), and the site's reach per million surfers has increased 100 percent. Additionally, Tenebril's online revenue for the first quarter of 2004 has increased 56 percent over the fourth quarter of 2003, and StickyNote has earned a reputation as an exceptional candidate for intersite sales as it is converting over 2.5 percent.
Digital River's ICE Awards are given out each spring at the Network Sales Summit. This year's ceremony was held May 5 at the Four Seasons in Newport Beach, California.
About Digital River, Inc.
Digital River, Inc., a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, builds and manages online businesses for more than 35,000 companies worldwide. Its e-commerce solution and infrastructure are designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as cut the costs and reduce the risks associated with running an e-commerce operation. The Digital River® international e-commerce suite includes site development and hosting, order management, fraud prevention, site merchandising, reporting and analytics, product fulfillment, e-marketing and multi-lingual customer service. Digital River's clients include 3M, ACT!, Autodesk, H&R Block, Motorola, Novell, Staples.com and Symantec.
Tenebril offers PC Magazine subscriptions
April 22, 2004 - Tenebril is proud to announce a partnership with PC Magazine. Beginning April 22, the purchase of any Tenebril product comes with a one-year subscription to PC Magazine. The subscription builds goodwill with customers and improves the value of Tenebril's online offering.
Visitors to Tenebril's online store see the PC Magazine offer prior to and during the initial stages of the purchase process. Additionally, anyone who leaves the store without completing his purchase sees a popup window which reminds him of the offer and gives him an opportunity to complete his order where he left off.
"Exit popups" are common in e-commerce, and often contain discounts on the items the customer was about to purchase. Although effective, this method is known to frustrate some customers who realize they would have had to pay more for the same item had they completed the purchase process directly. Tenebril's PC Magazine offer sidesteps this problem while still carrying a strong incentive.
While the PC Magazine offer is a valuable tool for Tenebril's e-commerce, it is also an important step in a wider initiative to build relationships with customers. As PC Magazine is a widely recognized and respected publication, Tenebril's offer brings clear benefit to customers at no additional cost. Tenebril is pleased to have a way to say "thank you" to its customers.
(Back to top)Tenebril joins Academic Distributing
April 14, 2004 - Tenebril Inc. has recently entered into a distribution agreement with Academic Distributing. Academic Distributing is focused solely on delivering computer products to the academic market. Their customers include over 2,000 resellers throughout the US and Canada.
"We strive to build partnerships that enable companies to successfully enter and expand into the education channel," says Jennifer Hunt, Director of Vendor Relations for Academic Distributing. "With the support of our extensive network of academic resellers, companies can effectively reach a larger audience of educators and students," says Hunt.
Tenebril will offer all of its titles including GhostSurf Pro and Lifeguard. Other Tenebril products will also be available through Academic Distributing's ESD program.
StickyNote featured on Download.com
March 12, 2004 - CNET's Download.com, one of the largest and most trusted sources for software downloads, today selected StickyNote 9.0 as its "Spotlight On" feature in the Desktop Enhancement category. The site also rated StickyNote five-out-of-five, saying, "This program may be the ultimate version of the reminder note."
Since its launch in January, StickyNote has received the highest reviews given out by many reputable download sites, including TuCows and SnapFiles, and was featured as a shareware pick in PC Magazine's newsletter. This month, StickyNote is featured on the cover of two prominent UK computer magazines, PC Plus and Microsoft Windows XP: The Official Magazine, as a choice utility.
StickyNote 9.0 continues to gain momentum and recognition for being the only virtual notes software with photorealistic 3D notes.
GhostSurf featured in retail
March 5, 2004 - Retail chain Best Buy is running a special promotion this month which features GhostSurf in high-visibility areas of its stores. Retail giant Wal-Mart and its affiliated Sam's Club have also picked up GhostSurf, offering it among the few software titles they sell.
Best Buy is the third retailer to feature GhostSurf prominently; Fry's Electronics and CompUSA both ran promotions in late 2003. Fry's and CompUSA were also involved in the launch of Tenebril's Lifeguard product as the first retailers to add it to their shelves. Over the coming months, Lifeguard will begin to appear in other retail chains where GhostSurf is sold.
B2K support goes live
January 22, 2004 - In an effort to better serve its customers, Tenebril has partnered with B2K (formerly Talisma) to provide high-quality technical support for users of its software. Tenebril's new support staff consists of highly-skilled engineers who are capable of answering a wide range of customer inquiries from high-level usability questions to low-level technical concerns. By connecting its customers directly with engineers, Tenebril hopes to improve the experience of its customers at the same time as reducing the lifetime of customer-reported issues.
Tenebril's online support resources, including its Knowledge Base, reduce the end-to-end cost of customer support to the point where offering direct access to engineer-level technicians becomes feasible. Analysis of the over 100,000 inquiries made of the Tenebril Knowledge Base in its first year indicates that those inquiries which subsequently require the assistance of a representative are, in strong majority, technical and advanced in nature. As such issues would ultimately require higher-tier consideration, Tenebril is able to eliminate tier-1 support, connecting its customers directly to tier-2 without suffering the significant cost penalties normally associated with allowing direct access to higher-skilled support representatives. In this way, Tenebril is able to transfer the efficiencies of its customer support infrastructure back to its customers, moving Tenebril forward in its persistent goal to better serve its customers.
The transition to B2K will be transparent to customers. Inquiries made prior to the switch will be handled by representatives at Tenebril's previous support provider, preserving continuity of dialogue. All new inquiries are now handled by Tenebril's engineers at B2K.
Tenebril joins DR Trial Network
January 20, 2004 - Tenebril's StickyNote product is now part of Digital River's (DR's) new Trial Network service. The Trial Network allows Tenebril to feature its products on high-traffic technology websites, including PC Magazine's software portal. StickyNote has already demonstrated strong value in this channel, jumping to PC Magazine's most popular download in its first two days.
In addition to the exposure DR's Trial Network brings, the technology behind the network allows Tenebril to track the sales leads an individual site generates. These data automate much of the process of calculating the value of a free trial download, making the connection between Tenebril's trialware policies and the resultant conversion rate shorter and more direct. Tenebril will use the tools provided by the DR Trial Network to evolve presentation and sales strategies that are used across its titles and throughout its Internet channels.
StickyNote 9 released
January 8, 2004 - Tenebril released a major upgrade to its StickyNote product today. StickyNote 9 can render users' notes photo-realistically on screen, making virtual sticky notes look just like real notes. In addition to this advance, StickyNote 9 improves support for sending notes over the Internet; supports rich text, including mixed fonts, colors, justification and automatic numbering; and synchronizes with Palm handhelds, Microsoft Outlook and other PDA devices.
Much of the behind-the-scenes technology in StickyNote has been re-engineered to make the product more capable in corporate environments. The product now allows IT administrators to manage users' address books and network settings. Past versions of StickyNote have been used with success as instant messaging solutions. The new version makes StickyNote more competitive in this market.
StickyNote 9 is offered for the same price as its predecessor at $19.95. For a limited time, existing customers will have an opportunity to upgrade for $9.95. Site license discounts are also available.
Internet Backup Service goes live
January 5, 2004 - Today, Tenebril released the Internet Backup Service (IBS) for its Lifeguard product, coinciding with the debut of Lifeguard on retail store shelves. IBS is a subscription service which allows customers of Tenebril's Lifeguard product to store their information securely on Tenebril's servers. Unlike traditional media which can be lost, stolen, or destroyed by catastrophe, Tenebril's IBS service protects customer data in encrypted form in a secure location. IBS also makes it easier for customers to back up their data automatically -- they no longer need to buy CDs and provide them as the backup occurs.
IBS accounts start at $4.99 for 50 MB of space and 250 MB of transfer bandwidth per month. The largest account size is 2 GB, with a 10 GB monthly transfer limit. Customers can upgrade or downgrade their accounts online through Tenebril's "Manage My Account" system. There are no fees for switching account levels, and all backup data is preserved.
IBS is Tenebril's first experience with subscription-model pricing and, if successful, may influence the design of Tenebril's future products to include subscription add-on services.
Lifeguard ships to retail
December 19, 2003 - The first shipment of Tenebril's Lifeguard product is on its way to US retailers. CompUSA, Fry's and Micro Center have signed on to distribute Lifeguard starting at the beginning of January. Other retailers, including Best Buy and Circut City, will adopt Lifeguard in February.
Lifeguard will take advantage of the success and recognition of Tenebril's GhostSurf product and will strengthen the Tenebril brand name. Through its debut on retail shelves, Lifeguard puts Tenebril in the very small group of software companies with multiple retail product offerings.
PC Protection Pack reaches stores
October 16, 2003 - Tenebril's PC Protection Pack, a compilation of several Tenebril products, is on shelves at Staples. Protection Pack customers get Tenebril's Slingshot, MemoryBoost and StickyNote for a reduced price. Tenebril also created three titles that are exclusively available through the Protection Pack.
The PC Protection Pack is a good fit for Staples and other office superstores for whom discount software is an important offering. It also allows Tenebril's smaller products, which would otherwise not merit stand-alone packaging, to contribute in retail channels. If this product offering is successful in Staples it may expand to other chains.
GhostSurf in full distribution
October 10, 2003 - Shipments of Tenebril's GhostSurf Pro product have reached the major US software retailers. GhostSurf is currently or will shortly be on shelves at CompUSA, Fry's, Micro Center, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, Best Buy and Circuit City. GhostSurf had previously been available only at CompUSA and Micro Center.
For the release, Tenebril and its publisher Elibrium have enhanced the GhostSurf box design. Tenebril has also updated the software to version 2.1, which offers access to Tenebril's new high-performance anonymous hub farm.
Over the coming months, Tenebril will continue to work with Elibrium and its partners to expand GhostSurf's foreign retail distribution, primarily in Europe. Currently, GhostSurf is available on shelves in Germany through Tenebril's localization partner Dr. Pott Wirtschaftberatung GmbH.
Lifeguard released
September 30, 2003 - Tenebril's new Lifeguard product, a consumer backup tool, is now on sale through Tenebril's website. Lifeguard brings ease-of-use through its unique document-centric interface, and offers speed and power through proprietary technology. Tenebril is working with its publisher, Elibrium, to bring Lifeguard to retail stores.
Lifeguard is designed to compete in both the conventional and Internet backup spaces. While supporting standard backup features (including backup to CDs, DVDs; document management; and scheduling), Lifeguard offers network and Internet features in addition. Lifeguard ships with its own network server, which allows several computers in a home or office environment to back up their data, securely, to a single location.
Lifeguard's Internet Backup Service (IBS) will launch later, and will allow Lifeguard customers, for a monthly fee, to back up their information to Tenebril's secure servers. IBS adds a new level of protection and convenience to backup. It will also represent Tenebril's first experience with a service revenue model.
Lifeguard retails for $49.95. IBS accounts are expected to start at $4.99 per month for a 50 MB account.
New product activation
September 22, 2003 - In an effort to prevent software piracy and to better serve its customers, Tenebril has updated all its products with a new product activation mechanism. Product activation allows legitimate customers to install the product they've purchased any number of times on one computer, but will prevent installation on additional computers.
Tenebril's product activation system obscures information about the customer's computer before sending this information to Tenebril. This makes it impossible to reconstruct the customer's identity, or any specific information about his computer, from the data that is broadcast. It is enough, however, to match the computer against Tenebril's database of licenses in order to allow or prevent the installation.
SAI support goes live
September 1, 2003 - Tenebril has partnered with Support Associates Inc. to provide 24-hour support for its customers. Over the coming weeks, SAI will phase in telephone support and live chat services for Tenebril. SAI's services have been seamlessly integrated with Tenebril's existing customer support solutions, including its Knowledge Base and product licensing database. The transition is not visible to Tenebril's customers.
To further enhance its support solution, Tenebril has activated an automated system for Tier 3 (technical) support. Tenebril's Tier 3 support system connects the customer's computer to Tenebril's Issue Tracker online service, allowing the customer to easily create a report describing his issue. The Tracker sends the report to Tenebril's engineers, allowing them to interact with the customer and to gather information about the problem. When the problem is fixed, the customer is notified automatically.
Tenebril signs with Elibrium
July 9, 2003 - Elibrium will manage Tenebril's GhostSurf Pro product in retail stores, handling manufacturing and channel development. Elibrium has already succeeded in expanding GhostSurf's distribution into several large retail chains, and will continue to aggressively position GhostSurf for the holiday shopping season.
Elibrium's publishing services provide high quality sales, marketing and operations management for retail software companies. Elibrium publishes more than 30 titles including products under the MySoftware, ProVenture, Boomerang, Incredimail and eXtendia brands which are available in more than 10,000 outlets including leading retailers such as Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, CompUSA, Wal-Mart, Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, Fred Meyer, Fry's and MicroCenter. As a member of the BVRP global publishing network, Elibrium offers additional distribution in France, United Kingdom, Italy and Germany.
Tenebril partners with BKA
June 12, 2003 - Tenebril has partnered with Bruce Koenigsberg and Associates (BKA), the retail channel consulting firm. BKA has played a critical role in the marketing strategy of ISS's BlackIce firewall and MusicMatch's Jukebox products.
BKA will lead Tenebril's retail effort. Beginning with GhostSurf and working through Tenebril's future products, BKA will represent Tenebril to publishers, distributors, resellers and OEM partners.
Nova to publish Tenebril Uninstaller
May 30, 2003 - Nova Development, the maker of digital imaging, printing and small business software, will publish Tenebril's Uninstaller product under the "Nova InstaClean Uninstaller" title. Tenebril's Uninstaller will be part of a larger Nova project to bring boxless titles to discount software retailers, primarily large office superstores.
PC Magazine reviews MemoryBoost
May 21, 2003 - In its June edition entitled "189 Ways to Make Your PC Work Better," PC Magazine lists MemoryBoost 2.6 among the top memory management and system optimization tools available. PC Magazine highlights MemoryBoost's unique crash prevention and "malware"-stopping features.
Internet Insider launched
May 12, 2003 - Tenebril has launched Internet Insider, its monthly newsletter. The Insider features technology news and special partner offers, and helps keep Tenebril in touch with its customers. The upcoming June edition will review leading anti-virus products.
CompUSA and Micro Center order GhostSurf
May 1, 2003 - CompUSA and Micro Center, two of the largest software retailers in the US, have ordered units of Tenebril's GhostSurf product for their stores. GhostSurf should appear on store shelves within the next month. Combined, CompUSA and Micro Center operate 240 stores.
German GhostSurf released
April 11, 2003 - In concert with its partner Blitzbox.de, Tenebril has released a German edition of its GhostSurf product. Blitzbox has already partnered with several large OEMs and software publications to distribute GhostSurf, and is looking to bring a retail version of the product to store shelves in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
PC World reviews GhostSurf
February 3, 2003 - In the February edition of PC World, editor Steve Bass awarded GhostSurf his top five-star rating. He writes, "GhostSurf Pro [is] a one-stop privacy tool for Internet addicts. It is packed with features, but it's pretty easy to learn."
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