The idea of this page is to answer a lot of common questions and reduce my E-mail inbox :)
There IS a lot of text but I'd rather write it  here once then the hundreds of times I've been doing in the past!

Programs

I wrote all the programs available on the site. they do not contain any SpyWare / AdWare / Trojans / Viruses / Worms / or other more scary sounding computing terms. The programs do not do anything that yahoo does not allow you to do; That is they don't hack into any part of yahoo messenger or send new commands or other means to yahoo. The programs simply interact with yahoo making tasks easier / quicker / simple and fun to use. Eg. with YEmote you could simply type the smileys yourself, it's just easier to click an icon that also gives you a description of what the smiley means as well as animating it the same way the viewer would see it.

Compatibility

I try to keep up with changes yahoo make to their messenger. I do not work with yahoo or have any inside info on what they will do next, if my programs fail to work with a new release I try my best to fix them but in some cases the changes yahoo make will completely disable a feature (that's life).
Compatibility with users machines is a constant battle. I test the programs on a number of operating systems and system configurations as well as use beta testers to report back bugs. Only when I'm sure the program runs on most peoples machines will I take it out of beta version. There will be (and are) always cases where users have problems getting the program to install/run/work and I try my best in the time I have available to help (fixes to common problems are in the FAQ sections of the forums). Because my time is limited it would be unrealistic to spend hours trying to resolve an individuals problem when there are 50 others with a bigger problems that needs fixed (but that's not to say I don't).

Support

My time is limited (this is just a hobby project done in my spare time). The number of E-mails I receive with questions about yahoo problems and queries about my programs has shot up over they years making it almost impossible to answer all e-mails in a timely manner. If you are lucky and I'm online you can ask me a question and get an instant reply. If I happen to be reading E-mails as yours arrives you might get a instant reply too; this is NOT guaranteed and some cases can take days especially if the question is complex and I need to find out anything in order to answer it.
*** Sometimes unpredictable and unfortunate things happen which result in less time that I'm able to spend on this (E.g. I might become ill, other commitments) so please also bear this in mind ***

Email:

• If your E-mail looks like junk it will probably be treated as junk (I have to rely on filters to remove the massive amounts of spam I receive)

• Please please please please check the forums first (you can search remember)

• If you don't hear back from me within a few days please remind me. it's not uncommon for E-mails to disappear in my inbox amidst the junk and other E-mails (I could just have forgotten!)

• If you do E-mail please give as much info as possible if it's a question.

• You should E-mail if it's a issue relating to registration problems

• Try and use common sense about E-mail, if you can please use the forums for problems

Forums:

• The forums are great for answering questions as new users can search and see the reply without asking me again!

• You don't need to register in the forums to post but it's nice if you do ;) you can then also edit posts and personalise your profile.

Donations & CamGrab-2SE/+, YEmote+

All donations are very gratefully received! The site costs a lot in time and money to keep online and provide all the support and updates.
Because I can not guarantee future compatibility I have never offered any programs for sale. It has been necessary to ask for donations because of the high costs of so many downloads. What I have done is set levels of donations over which you gain the entitlement to use some of the more advance programs (as a thank you for your help) you are welcome to donate any amount below or above these low levels. Does this mean you wont get the kind of support for if you had bought the software? No, I'm committed to updating and maintaining the programs as and when is needed or I have time; I've been updating CamGrab for well over 3 years throughout the changes to yahoo including a major update and change to how webcams were used.
"I've paid for this and now I can't get it working, I want my money back" - Please do not ask for refunds, Donations are used to keep the site running and the VERY small amount asked for the use of CamGrab/YEmote does not cover the true costs; If CamGrab/YEmote were for sale as a commercial program you can compare with similar applications and the price would be 4x the donation level. In the rare case you have a problem I'm more than happy to help and 99% of the time things can be resolved in a short amount of time.
If for example you donated money to cancer research and they never found a cure would you request your money back? I have not refused a refund where I feel genuine misunderstanding had occurred or a mistake was made (eg. ordered twice). Without donations the site would close, I don't mind making the programs available but when I have to pay for every download I do :(

- Results of donations can be seen in more frequent updates (YEmote+ was a big new release with many new features) as well as hosting the downloads on fast more reliable servers as with YEmote+ (mirror sites also available)

Unlock Keys / Registrations

I send all unlock keys manually (automated system for requesting new keys will soon be online). This means if you send a request (or make a donation) after 1am & before 9am UK time then you will not receive the unlock key until I wake up :)  There are exceptions to this, if for some reason I'm still up at 4am I will send a key if I happen to receive notification. likewise I might sleep in some days ;)
Unlock keys should not take more than a day to reach you, if you have not heard back within this time please E-mail me as things do happen (eg. you entered your E-mail address wrong when making payment)

Registration is per user. This means you can request further keys/unlocks for personal use* (e.g. Laptop/work computer). Registrations are linked to a machine so the unlock key for your laptop will not work on your desktop

Linking / Guestbook

There is little better to motivate me into spending more time on this then thanks & recognition :D  Please feel free to link to me for your website and let me know so I can link back either on the main page or here: Websites linked to me

The guestbook had to be closed but I've set aside a place in the forum for any messages here: Guestbook...

Telling others about the programs on this site can also help (friends/chat rooms/forums) so please do :)

I have YEmote2+ running all the time and can hardly use messenger without it ;) I hope you find it just as useful and fun to use.

Thanks,
              Andy Sparrow