I remember the program you're speaking of... but when I went searching through the forum, I couldn't find the post where it was. I know he had something he wanted to improve on it... can't remember the post though...

But.. Where activation only requires running the activation.exe file it may work fine. But you can't code in a registration key if given. If it's a program that needs to have a key entered to activate... you've got the same issue of having to be at the computer anyway.

"DefTool" I realize this is not exactly the program you have in mind. One of the members (tjchan) of this forum created a "niffty" little program that I use. It makes the whole process almost "automatic". It has worked with all types of "actvitation" Etc. with just a few clicks. It seems much simpler to me. Do a search from this site for "Un-offical Giveaway of the Day Launcher". Using it takes the hassle of different forms of "activation" away. - You will still have to use it each day instead of a "clock radio" type of alarm function. Since I've been using it, I haven't had any "false activations". Good Luck !

crap!
i thought you could activate the software anyday

It's so little time to download and install, why would you automate the process? You'd have to be at your computer within that 24 hour period to activate anyway. All the programs offered are still available for download. You can download them anytime. Just go back through the pages of past downloads. It's the free activation of those trial/demo versions that counts. Each activation is different... or somewhat different. I don't believe you could automate the activation part of the installation.

And seeing you'd have to be at your computer to activate anyway... what's another minute or two to download the program too? Even if connection speed was an issue... say you were using dial-up and thought it would take a while to download the program... you'd have to be at the computer initially to get connected... what's a few more seconds to start the download yourself?

Really it's just easier to check the site around 8:10 a.m. GMT if you like then chocks away!

True,

but I was hoping someone already would have done this. Or if a url like http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/download/?id=latest would refer to the newest download, you could simply use task planner to execute your downloadmanager using static command line instructions.

You could code yourself a bot.

Bot would be given commands, then it would pass that information onto your download manager.

Does someone know a way to automatically download the program of the day?
It would be very easy if url would be the same every day(instead of http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/download/?id=XXX). Then you could feed the url to a download manager every day, and so automatically downloading even if you're away.

Other suggestions are welcome!!!

If you cannot find how to turn off the version checking for a given program - you could always check the online help - the vendors website (some have user/support forums where you could ask the question) or even ask in these forums. There are bound to be a few people who are running the same software :P

If the program is going to force you to check or upgrade to the latest version - probably the best thing is to just get rid of it and install a free alternative (ask in here if you don't know of one). Personally I dislike software that drives the user rather than the other way around.

Hello,

As I understand from all the readmes and the warnings in GAOTD we are not entitled to tech support, the use must be non-commercial and no FREE upgrades for future versions. There is software that warns you when it discovers that a new version is available and asks you if you want to upgrade, so you can simply say 'No, but no thank you' and you can keep on using your free version.

Other programs are no so friendly and automatically upgrade to a newer version when available unless you go into the options and tell it explicitly not to get the best and latest. I imagine that if that happens to any of us and our software inadvertently gets upgraded, we will automatically lose the free license and won't be able to use the software unless we open our wallets and give them some $'s.

Are these statements accurate? Would it be much to ask the good folks at GAOTD to point to such options so that the folks that download software here are doing so because they are on a fixed income?

I just ran the CD ripper offered today and the first popup window asked me if I wanted to check for a newer version. I said no, but for the life of me I cannot find an option that would avoid such questions in the future. What are your thoughts on this topic?

-Mario