I’m happy to report that I’ve finally automated the registration email process for Yasu. Up until yesterday, I was manually processing payments by downloading data from Paypal and importing it into a customized FileMaker database I created for parsing and sending registrations.

The biggest problem using this method was if I needed to be away from my machine for an extended amount of time (like going to the day job), users had to wait until I returned for their code to be sent to them. That always bothered me.

Now, users should get their codes within 15 minutes of their payment clearing Paypal, which means I can just sit back and watch the bucks roll in. Just kidding. What it really means though is I won’t be as tethered to the old iBook as I have been for the past four months — diligently checking several times a day for registrations to roll in. I may actually be able to take a weekend trip with the family and not worry about coming home to a “Where’s my code!” message in my inbox anymore.

I’ve also (finally) opted to remove the “hard and fast” dollar amount of $3.50 from the Paypal donation form, leaving the amount open to the user. I’ve had several people recommend I do this over the past few months, and I kind of feel silly for not doing it sooner, since it’s already paid off huge.

Of the eight donations received over the last two days, only 2 users chose to stick to the recommended $3.50 amount. The other six amounts ranged anywhere from $5 to $20. A huge thanks goes out to those who feel Yasu is worth a little (lot) more than the price tag I put on it.

So there you have it. A couple of changes to make users lives–and my own life–just a little bit easier.

As promised, the new version of Yasu has been released, and is available for download. Go grab yours on the Yasu page. This version fixes the following:

• Fixed authorization window UI issue that would allow it to be closed and cause Yasu to get stuck
• Fixed a bug in the “Reset home permissions” option that would pop up if the User Cache folder was already empty, or didn’t exist
• Changed the version checking option to default to off on new installations for those who still use dial-up

And if you haven’t donated yet, now’s the time to do it!

Just a quick note to say that I’ve not been totally slack in my duties around here. A maintenance release of Yasu is nearly complete which fixes a rare bug in the “Reset home permissions” option, as well as fixing a UI issue in the authentication window.

Same goes for an updated version of Cache Out X, which will add browser cache paths for the latest version of Opera, and straighten out some system cache paths that aren’t quite right under Tiger which could cause Intel users some troubles.

Both should be ready for public consumption mid to late next week.