I am writing this review, hoping that it may help someone.... you will undoubtedly encounter problems with the program and Rosetta Stone's "tech support" is likely the worst I've ever spoken with. It seems their only solution is to rename a program file, erasing all data, or pay them $20 an hour and give them remote access to do the same thing, or pay more for their latest program. In our case, our children must use this version for their school program, so we needed a work around - we need the program to work and can't afford to lose months of school progress just because the computer was shut down.
Here's what our experience (and many others if you do an internet search) has been:
* We installed the program and began running it on Dec 20, 2017. All seemingly worked fine, though the computer it was installed on was never disconnected from the wall.
* Fast forward to Feb 11, 2018. We rearranged the room the computer was in, so the computer needed to be properly shut down and disconnected and moved across to an adjacent wall. Hooked everything back up and turned on the computer. One of the boys went to continue working on his course progress, but the program wouldn't run and only gave us an error 2125. We contact Rosetta Stone who explained this was a very common error and told us to follow directions they'd send us a link to, or we could pay them $20 an hour to do it for us, or we could spend a lot more money and purchase their newest program. Their online directions first suggest uninstalling various listed anti-virus software (none of which we have). Second, they instruct how to rename their "tracking" file, which comes with this lovely note: "Note: After renaming this file, your course progress won't be available in Rosetta Stone. Unfortunately, this is necessary since the file is probably corrupt and not repairable." That was enough to send everyone into a panic because they'd almost finished the first year of Spanish and all that progress would be lost (though we did find another work around for that). Thing is, Rosetta Stone says loss of data is "necessary" and that the file is "corrupt." We know neither of these things to be true. Their program has serious flaws and their only suggestions are to charge the customer/user more and more money.
* So, what can you do when you encounter error 2123 or 2125 (we received both so I can speak to these two though the solution will likely work for other error messages as well)? Run compatibility by right clicking on the original application (not the shortcut). Go to properties, click compatibility tab then check the option to run Windows Vista Service Pack 2. Open the program and it runs, picking up right where the student left off without any data loss. This work around needs to be done each time the program is launched, but it works and allows the student to move forward.
** I'd like to thank "Lightning Bolt" on You Tube for suggesting this solution. A quick internet search yields a plethora of people struggling for answers; no help from Rosetta Stone (though they love to try and get more $ out of you); and, thankfully, a large community of people who have found various work arounds they are willing to share. I hope reposting here helps someone else.
Aaron
Mom to 13 plus a zoo