Sorry to hear about that,hotdoge3.
Over here Driver Magician is still registered even after doing a live database update.

Come to think of it ,over here a few days ago Chameleon Startup Manager unregistered itself somehow.LOL.
Oh well..

Driver Magician has been generous with giveaways, & i don't usually criticize for what may simply be caused by a registry clean, an unintended update, not properly registered, etc....

in this case, it seems to be a recurring problem...there are other comments, but this is the thread i remember:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/4076

sorry, Driver Magician...

: (

Did you do a registy clean recently? If so, did you do a backup, and if you did, try restoring to that backup. Hopefully that will fix it :P

This is an evaluation copy of Driver Magician, you can try it for only fifteen days. After that trial period, you should either uninstall it or purchase it, which will cost you $29.95 per license. Please click the BuyNow button to get more details.

Trial time: From 12-15-2009 to 12-30-2009

Installation:Driver Magician 348 GOTD 05:01:2010 Date in AU, NZ, UK. (01-05-10 USA)

Unzip the package you`ve downloaded and install the software by running Setup.exe,
then run the activation program activate.exe which is included in the package.
* All ok till now it come with on # so out of luck

Yes, I know... I was only prodding for something a little more 'useful' than "use Windows Backup" which really doesn't help or explain the process adequately.

But for users for whom all of this sounds like rocket surgery - this is something you should learn about by reading from other windows tech related sites. Here is not the place to focus on teaching users to use windows. (There are other sites that focus on doing this much better).

I'll just say that BillW50's method is tried and true. There is no other way I'd trust in doing it except manually.

BillW50 - The correct way is to use Windows Backup or some commercial backup utility. As other methods may fail.

Hopefully your description (regedit dumps, system restores, ERUNT, and XP Repairs) might help someone.

Thank you.

"If it stopped working again, you have to delete keys that are referenced to the software with Regedit. Then export another reg file and repeat above" -- BillW50

Or you can do it this way and this actually works with Windows System Restore…

Check how far back you can go back with System Restore (but don't restore or create yet)
If you the one you want is as far back as you can go, you need to bump up the disk space it uses to like 12%
You can do this through System Restore Settings
Create a System Restore point first or use ERUNT
Restore registry back to when it worked (System Restore or ERUNT)
Check to make sure the unregistered program now is registered

Open up Regedit
File -> Export -> All (Export Range)
Give it a name and click Save
Close Regedit

Now restore back to today, so now you are back to where you started from
Now double-click on that reg file you just made from when it was registered
Everything should be fine now. :)

You don't have to edit anything with Regedit by using this second method.

Oh sorry BuBBy! I didn't see your post. And sure I can elaborate.

"It would be helpful say for an example - today you ran a program that was a Giveaway in the first week of March. It worked the first few days, but you haven't run it for at least a month - and now it doesn't work anymore. How do you fix this?" -- BuBBy

Open up Regedit
File -> Export -> All (Export Range)
Give it a name and click Save
Close Regedit

Now open up your favorite Registry utility like ERUNT (freeware)
Restore it to the last known working registered date
Check to make sure the unregistered program now is registered
Now double-click on that reg file you just saved from Regedit
Program should be registered, if so you're done!
If it stopped working again, you have to delete keys that are referenced to the software with Regedit. Then export another reg file and repeat above

WARNING: Do not use System Restore in this case for a registry utility. It will remove all of your later installed software.

"A second example - someone's computer crashed - they have possibly lost all of their giveaways. The problem is a faulty motherboard - and they need to reinstall XP again because their new motherboard is a current motherboard (their old motherboard was 4 years old). How do they get their giveaways and activations back?" -- BuBBy

Simple, do a Windows XP Repair. This reinstalls Windows XP, but leaves your applications and registry keys for them alone.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

The author released an update for his/her program a week or so later, to 3.18

If you don't want to accept the user agreement don't install.

Buy the program then you should get a years worth of updates or to it gets to 3.99

There is no reason a GAOTD program will not restore if the backup utility did it right. You need a backup of the OS, the registry, and the program files. And you should be good to go. :)

BillW50, CC: BuBBy:

I DID use a commercial backup utility, StompSoft's "Backup MyPC." I think this is the first time Backup MyPC failed to fully restore a program.

But after reading BuBBy's lucid explanation of GOTD's giveaways policy, I'm not surprised at the restoration failure.

In fact, I'm almost glad this happened as I now fully know how the site operates. The manufacturer policy is fair and makes economic sense. Thanks for the explanation, BuBBy.

It appears that even if I took note of the registration data or some kind soul provided it to me from their install, it wouldn't have mattered as, "'the giveaway' is only 'an install of the software within a 24 hour period'."

Live and learn.

BillW50. The correct way? Could you elaborate on this?

It would be helpful say for an example - today you ran a program that was a Giveaway in the first week of March. It worked the first few days, but you haven't run it for at least a month - and now it doesn't work anymore. How do you fix this?

A second example - someone's computer crashed - they have possibly lost all of their giveaways. The problem is a faulty motherboard - and they need to reinstall XP again because their new motherboard is a current motherboard (their old motherboard was 4 years old). How do they get their giveaways and activations back?

This might be useful as lots of people will be in either of the two cases - so a set of detailed steps will be handy. (naturally I don't care about the "how to install XP" but just the "get my giveaways back" part).

Thanks.

The correct way is to use Windows Backup or some commercial backup utility. As other methods may fail.

Sounds great in theory, but in reality 'the giveaway' is only 'an install of the software within a 24 hour period'. The way most of the developers who offer their software doesn't include the ability to install at some stage in the future.

This discussion has come up several times in the past and the official line is the giveaway can only be installed and activated during the 24 hours while it is "featured". If the giveaway developers wanted everyone to be able to install that version at any point in the future they could release the software as freeware.

Of course at such a time in the future when a user finds it necessary to reinstall the software - or desires to upgrade to a newer version, naturally the developer of the software would hope that the user would consider registering the program.

So the "conditions" on the giveaway restricting against future version upgrades or "re-installing" software for an indefinite period into the future, are clearly to protect the developers commercial interests in the software to ensure the potential for future software sales.

The "right" that some people they feel they are entitled to - being able to reinstall the software whenever the need arises - is something not provided under the terms and conditions of the GiveawayOfTheDay daily downloads. To have the rights and conditions normally associated with most licensed and purchased software (such as support, future upgrades, and the ability to reinstall the software in the future -after the 24hour giveaway period) the software should be registered with the developer.

And to increase sales and get new customers is the reason why software developers "giveaway" their programs. It's promotions. Marketing. It is also a great deal for users - but if "free" users weren't restricted to a 24hour install window - obviously the software would end being treated as a type of "freeware" (probably ending up on freeware software library style sites)

If the software is good enough - users will need either a carrot or a stick to motivate them to decide to register. Some users don't need much motivation - the desire for new features or bug fixes is the carrot that results in a sale. For other users, the thought of doing without their "favorite program" - the inability to install after a rebuild and the desire to keep what they have - could be viewed as the stick that results in a sale.

If the user doesn't feel the software is good enough - they will either uninstall straight away - or just leave it installed - and should it stop working or be lost through a system rebuild etc, the user just forgets about it.

But, (not directed at any individual) ask yourself... if something happens, and you lose your free software - do you want or need the software back enough to warrant purchasing a full license for maybe $30 or whatever - and getting all the benefits and future upgrades etc, or is the software such that you can just shrug your shoulders and say... "oh well, I'll just find something else to take it's place".

Finally, most software "types" are also available in the form of freeware - sometimes rivaling the commercial alternatives. Hopefully it works out that competition between the free and commercial software offerings will result in the quality improvement in both (My experience and observations often appear that freeware and open source software continues to "raise the bar" on commercial software).

Thanks for your response, BillW50.

There's no way to prove that what I'm claiming is the truth but it seems to me that those who've had a piece of registered software should be able to reinstall it from a backup as I've attempted.

I mean, it's not as if I'm trying to upgrade it for free or get support.

Yes! You can never try to upgrade or get support. As once you do, all deals are off. :(

In March, 2007, GOTD offered a registered version of Driver Magician v 3.16. I downloaded, activated and installed it and it worked fine.

Today, I guess you could say I got greedy and tried to update it to current version (3.2). After installing, got message that I had to register it unlike v 3.16 which included GOTD registration, so I uninstalled v 3.2, rebooted and via a backup program, restored v 3.16. Lo and behold, got same message that v 3.16 had to be registered between I think 3.17.07 and 3.31.07.

Frankly, surprised my backup and restore of v 3.16 didn't include registration. And I never took a screen shot of the v 3.16 GOTD registration data. Is it gone forever?

Wow.. I knew that was coming. Doesn't surprise me though. I still like the program. I like the fact that you can back up your drivers to an executable file. It is easy to use and as said already.. it's quick. As Madman said "drive carefully with this one". You just have to be careful with updating. I guess if you know your machine you won't have probs.

New version today b.t.w.

http://www.drivermagician.com/ now version 3.18

Direct download.

http://www.drivermagician.com/DriverMagician.exe

New version does not work with serial which came via activate from here.

Shame that!

93.81 is a Beta driver (still under testing)
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html

If you read the release notes (page3) the difference between 93.71 and 93.81 really won't affect most people.
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/93.81/93.81_ForceWare_Release_Notes.pdf

In regard to getting Intel drivers - Do you have any intel chipsets or maybe network card etc (or have installed them in the past). I treat the driver updates only as suggestions. Driver manager still requires some common sense and a small amout of investigation (eg - check the nvidia drivers) to determine if an upgrade is actually needed.

Driver Magician if given to a "System Tinkerer" to "play with" will probably end in grief. Like you have done with the intel drivers - know your system and use common sense. Use it as a tool to just save time - or you can always do backups and upgrades the hard way.

It's far from perfect, but it's better than nothing at all.

Probably o.e.m. or a beta driver.

With respect to nVidia.

Is everything in your computer AMD?

I have a weak AMD processor, Sepron 1.8ghz and a K8M800-M2 mobo.

I have lots of other items which driver magician found updates for, for older drivers to an older mobo which was intel.

I find a lot of so called 'driver update' programs do this.

Even when updating to a newer driver you still get told it's out-of-date.

I only use this app for backing up, well it's free so no biggy.

Shame win drivers isn't free like the good old days.

I ran driver magician in the update mode, and I'm pretty freaked out at what it came up with: For my AMD system (that hasn't ever been anything else), it came up with FOUR drivers/utilities for INTEL. And a whole pile of other stuff that is not relevant to any hardware I have. And an exciting new nvidia graphics driver, v. 93.81, that's so new that the nvidia website hasn't heard of it yet. I shudder to think what that is. Anyhoo, drive carefully if at all with this utility. I will say it was impressively FAST, but I gotta file it under fiction.

Thx Bubby... but I'm not trying to clean up drivers on my pc. So I don't need the link, but thx anyway. I have more than enough software to do that kinda thing, and I'm not having a problem... so no need to solve any problem for me. But I appreciate the help.

I was only making a point of conversation to discuss the software. Besides, there's an issue with shared dll's that I don't want to confront with those "cleaners". And I really don't want to get rid of anything in case I do swap in something that may need the dll. Then I can update it then if need be. I know the ones I have now work and I'm a firm believer in not fixing something that works.

It not only picked up ATI.. but a number of other ones as well. I was just using ATI as an example because if i didn't know what I was doing... I would have updated whatever the program said needed updating. And in this particular case with ATI, if I did update those drivers, I would have had a problem with my NVidia card.

But Lee's right... "you just don't select it". For me that's fine (and is what I did), but if I was someone that was just willing to take a program's word for it, then I might end up having problems instead of solving them.

I like the program. I'm also glad it gives you the option of CHOOSING what drivers to update. In an attempt to become more "user friendly", some software companies take out steps that they think their customers wouldn't "need" to worry about. Kudos to the devs for not assuming!

In all respects the program works great. I just think someone not as experienced may have problems if they "update" just because the driver is on the list. Because the list is picking up more than just what you REALLY need. Everybody's computer is different. I know mine is an extreme case because I'm always swapping something to try but less extreme circumstances are posible resulting with the same problem.

Thx for the replies...

Sounds like you might have a use for http://www.drivercleaner.net/
It's $10 to register - but there is the last freeware version (v1.5) still floating around if you search (but it is pretty old).

Alternatively http://www.techimo.com/forum/t173194.html explains one method to easily remove unused drivers on XP.

More than likely in your drivers lists ATI still has an entry thats not used

Thats why it picked it up.

I have used the same hard drive for 6 years, however I have changed motherboard 3 times, graphics card 3 times, now on a router, modem 3 times, added 3 cards, though I know what you're talking about, you just don't select it.

I'm constantly modifying my computer (taking out graphics cards, sometimes changing the mobo, cpu, or both... sometimes just swapping out the hard drive and putting it into another computer).

"Driver Magician" works well for most of what it was designed to do, except when using the "update" option it seemed to pick up on alot of things I didn't have installed anymore. I was able to pick and choose what I wanted updated, but a person who is unfamiliar with what they're using for drivers may have a problem if they don't know what they're doing.

In my case the "Driver Magician" indicated I had an ATI graphic driver update. But I'm no longer using ATI... (in fact I uninstalled the software altogether through Windows). I'm using an NVidia card now. "Driver Magician" also indicated I had an Nvidia graphic update as well. If I update my machine with the ATI file that I downloaded through "Driver Magician", I will screw things up for my NVidia card.

I know it's partially my fault for not REALLY cleaning up drivers and software when I uninstall something... but I really don't like deleting shared dll's (as you really don't know what programs are still sharing them or have associated themselves with them even though you've gotten rid of the original program that installed it in the first place). And so I was thinking maybe that's why it's saying I need an update for some of my drivers (even though my computer isn't using those drivers anymore).

Anybody else have similar problems?