Upgrade Question

[SJAndrew]

Will I save any money to upgrade from version 5.X to version 6.X?

We're currently using version 5.X (we bought it literally 1 week before QBik acquired Winate, I can't remember the exact version) at work and the license has expired. I would like to use the latest version. Will I have to purchase the new version from scratch? Is there an upgrade offered / license extension that will save our company some money?

Thanks in advance.

[adrien]

Hi

Normally WinGate licenses do not expire. So there should have been nothing stopping your license from working, so long as there is no problem with the license.

There are upgrades available from version 5 to version 6, or you can activate a valid version 5.x key in WinGate 6.0 as well if you are happy to live without a couple of the newer features. The following link has more details:

http://www.wingate.com/wingate-licensing.php

PS, we didn't acquire WinGate - we always owned it. We simply terminated our distribution contract with our previous distributors.

[SJAndrew]

Hi

Normally WinGate licenses do not expire. So there should have been nothing stopping your license from working, so long as there is no problem with the license.

There are upgrades available from version 5 to version 6, or you can activate a valid version 5.x key in WinGate 6.0 as well if you are happy to live without a couple of the newer features. The following link has more details:

http://www.wingate.com/wingate-licensing.php

PS, we didn't acquire WinGate - we always owned it. We simply terminated our distribution contract with our previous distributors.

Thanks for the response.

Actually, GateFilter is what's expired. Can I buy an extension, or will I have to buy a new version? Also, will the new version of GateFilter work with my older version of WinGate (5.07)?

[SJAndrew]

Okay, I've spent the better part of today trying different settings/setups.

Here's what I have: Wingate 5.2.2 was running fine for months (2 locations, 2 spearate licenses). On 9/9, my GateFilter license expired. This expiration occured exactly as all remaining functionality of WinGate stopped working (WWW Proxy, POP3 Proxy, SMTP Proxy). Basically, after the GateFilter license expired, WinGate ceased to work. No clients can connect via port 80 WWW Proxy...it's just an instant 404 not found message. Also, no client can receive e-mails over 110/25 proxies. They just get an instant username/password not-found/rejected.

From what I understand, the license expiration of GateFilter should not stop WinGate from working, but it has done preceisely so.

Exaspirated, I uninstalled WinGate 5.2.2 and re-installed 5.2.2. On a new install, I get the same problem (using the same WinGate license I had before, without installing GateFilter). Although this was a new install, it used old settings: I exported my old registry settings and re-imported them on the new GateFilter-less install. This did re-establish all the users and settings fine, but it's still broken.

Ala, the ONLY thing I could do to make it work was to install the trial version of 6.0.2 (I think, the laterst version as of today). Now it works. But, I don't want to re-buy a program that's only a year old.

Why has the expired GateFilter stopped WinGate from working? What am I doing wrong?

Also, I checked, the license for WinGate is indeed showing as not expired.

[Pascal]

You're right - it should definately not do that. One of two options - I can talk you through manually removing all traces of GateFilter from that registry import (In which case it should be fine with 5.2.2)

However, you can use 6.0.2 with your 5.2.2 license key. You will not get the new features in 6.x, but you will get everything you had with 5.2.2

[SJAndrew]

You're right - it should definately not do that. One of two options - I can talk you through manually removing all traces of GateFilter from that registry import (In which case it should be fine with 5.2.2)

However, you can use 6.0.2 with your 5.2.2 license key. You will not get the new features in 6.x, but you will get everything you had with 5.2.2

Thank you very much Pascal.

The features I use are extremely limited: WWW Proxy/POP3 Proxy/SMTP Proxy/Remote Control.

We use WinGate to allow clients only to have access to specified sites. I will try my existing 5.2.2 key on 6.0.2 and see what happens.

Also, I think I can completely remove the existing install (I can just manually delete the Qbik entry in the regisrtry or do a re-install of Win2000).

The thing that makes this not so desireable is that the list I have of specified sites is very long and I didn't want to manually re-enter them all.

Anyway, I will try my old key and see what happens.

Thanks for your help.

[adrien]

Hi

It is highly unlikely that GateFilter expiriing took out your WinGate license. It is more likely that there was some problem with your license key which cause WinGate to disable itself on validation with our server.

If you would like to check this hypothesis, please email your license key and name to me at adrien at qbik dot com and I can verify that there is nothing wrong with your license.

Another way you can check this yourself, is by entering these details into our upgrade wizard on our purchase page at

https://commerce.qbik.com/purchase.php

This will tell you if there is any problem with your license.

Adrien

[Pascal]

Okay. If you go the other way - it shouldn't be necessary to lose your list of configured sites. (There's only two places in the registry (WinGate's) that PureSight / GateFilter should appear)

Did you have Puresight / GateFilter configured for mail scanning as well?

[SJAndrew]

Okay. If you go the other way - it shouldn't be necessary to lose your list of configured sites. (There's only two places in the registry (WinGate's) that PureSight / GateFilter should appear)

Did you have Puresight / GateFilter configured for mail scanning as well?

I'm using a different type of filtering, within WinGate itself (not with PureSight/GateFilter).

Each group of clients has a list of phrases that satisfy criteria for loading their page. There are about 20 or so legitemate sights these clients may use. Each sight contains a keyword. So, if http://www.qbik.com was an approved sight, I would "whitelist" 'qbik'. Then, any sight containing 'qbik' in the URL would satisfy the criteria for loading.

I have set this up in the advanced tab for each group within the Proxy server...not with GateFilter/PureSight. In fact, the only thing GateFilter does is prevent porn/gamlbing viewing whilst the clients are unfiltered (lunch, before/after work).

Basically, my boss wanted a system by which each client may only view the sights which are approved during working hours. This was easier than monitoring the viewing habits of all the clients and then the blacklisting time-wasting sights they frequent. It's like positive filtering as ooposed to negative filtering.

In any event, I don't use PureSight/GateFilter for this. If 6.0.2 will still provide WWW/POP3/SMTP proxy and RemoteControl with my 5.X Key, I will be happy. Even if I have to re-enter all the white0listed terms.

Here's a couple of screenshots of what I'm talking about:

[SJAndrew]

If you would like to check this hypothesis, please email your license key and name to me at adrien at qbik dot com and I can verify that there is nothing wrong with your license.

E-Mail sent.

Thanks.

[adrien]

Those keys were all fine, so it must be some other problem. We will keep digging.

Thanks

Adrien