#41 k,

Actually I do not know if the .tmp is a virus or malware or what. BUT I blocked it anyway. No, it is not trying to link to Firefox but as what Anti-logger said so, it was trying to copy to my registry to start with my system. I suspect it is some program that will start PA and put it to startup everytime we reboot to start our system. But I really do not know....anyway, don't think anyone will be reading this, as I am writing after the date of this GAOTD.

#40 Fubar...thanks. It works by copying the portable version to hard disk and then obviously I will be able to transfer to flash drive.

So, there is a bug when I can't copy directly to flash drive, or maybe it can but takes a light year to do so.

#35 Urban I downloaded and installed the program. As soon as it was installed the sysguard icon appeared on my quick launch tool bar and proceded to try and scan my computer and try to get me to go to it's web site.
My firewall caught the outgoing request and I blocked it. I was also able to rid myself of sysguard and a trojan downloader with my anti virus. I use Spyware Doctor with Anti Virus (the paid version) and it usually is quite good. It didn't catch it as it infested my computer however. There is no question it came from the software download here. My system was clean before that.

#40 fubar

I understand your frustration with lots of "chicken littles" running around saying the sky is falling. I see it almost on a daily basis here. I try to take my computer security seriously and maybe I don't use the anti virus and firewall of choice but they have served me well. At least I thought so.
I am being honest when I say that I got these things after my download and installation here. There is no doubt in my mind. Id dind't go anywhere else. I really appreciate all you offer here and will continue to heed your advice on what is offered.
Just know that not everyone is crying wolf. Thank you.

Upon the initial installation in the user agreements stated this is a trial program installation for a period of 30 days , so what happens after 30 days is up , its disabled ? ~ nice , thought it was full version ? Even though it says it is registered to GAOTD , i now wonder ?

installed ok XP pro SP3, tried the tools:portable option which creates a registered portable version - preserve the software and your macros, take & play/record etc. anywhere from USB/HD etc. without installing, even if you reformat your HD.

@31 lu hulu : what reg key was it being copied to? The reference you linked referred to a file size around 8 meg (perfectAuto is much smaller), and .tmp names are used by many install routines... on the face of it this may not refer to today's program.

Kaspersky did notice that it requested to link in something to firefox and I denied access, was that where the copying occured?

#29, Lu Hulu, if you try to create a portable version on a flash drive, Perfect Automation's writing process is extraordinarily inefficient, and you'll die of old age before it finishes. Create the portable version in a folder on a hard disk, and move the folder to the flash drive. Very quick.

Everyone, quit with the endless irrelevant comments about false supposed security issues (or problems with the user's PC having been previously infected with malware), which we have to put up with on most giveaways. Buy some real security software, don't use crapware security software, and learn something about computer security.

This is an interesting utility, but the vendor needs to fix many things, such as macro recording and editing, the file writing issue, global variable settings, paths, increase the number of predefined functions in the GUI scripting, etc.

I'm looking for an application that will display web pages one after another, pausing at each until a hotkey is pressed. (If it matters my stocks on CNN-Money.) Anyone know of anything like that.

While I haven't had a chance to put this through the paces, I was impressed with how small the file was for such a seemingly powerful program. I'm keeping it. Thanks GAOTD!

This is a great program because it is a great program since it can run on Windows and it is very great program if you don't know how great it is just try out this great program that worth a great welcome from those who has a great day installing it.

Wow are we really getting this lazy. Sad very very sad.

#26 Joe. I am not sure if I understood you right. Did you get the virus warning from SysGuard? Make a web-search for SysGuard.exe. I would not trust virus warnings from that program.

I tried to install the software on my other PC which is Win98.
It failed to install properly as it shows ERRORS after installation when I launch the software.

FYI.

Unlike promised, it doesn't work with WindowsME. Gives an error in Gentee.dll --> Thumbs down!

62% THUMBS DOWN for this little nice tool??

Frankly I can't understand why most of people here rate the programs without actually prove them.

Of course I'd never spend 50 bucks for this program but since it's FREE I can't understand why so many people find this GAOTD useless taking into account that this little tool can be used as a SCRIPT EDITOR + LAUNCHER + SCHEDULER + KEYBOARD & MOUSE RECORDER providing great time saving features with a considerable increase of the PC USERS' productivity into one single program, meaning that you don't need to install and use four different applications for every module.


The SCRIPT EDITOR helps users to automate any kind of task creating stand-alone executable files with no external .dll files and source code of the commands available.

With the LAUNCHER module you can launch all kinds of files, web-sites, documents and programs as well as run programs from the system tray menu, hotkeys or keywords.

With the SCHEDULER, that is integrated with LAUNCHER module, allows you to start other programs and tasks periodically and at predefined times running a task from hotkeys and several kinds of triggers.

The KEYBOARD & MOUSE RECORDER enables you to create executable and project files for the Script Editor and macro files that can be played on their own or used in any task of the Script Editor to remember active windows and activate them during the playback.


All in all a good program which is definitely worth a try and above all doesn't deserve such a ridiculous vote at all (62% THUMBS DOWN).

Please stop misleading people randomly clicking on the GAOTD user rating system !!


Cheers from Italy!

Giovanni

Alright guys, this is what I found out.

Remember the Anti-logger software offered by GAOTD recently? Well, it discovered that Perfect Automation was trying to copy an executable file into my PC's registry.

It highlighted: we211C.tmp is trying to copy itself into registry in order to be started together with system.

I blocked it. The software continued to finish its installation and is working, from my initial playing with it.

This is what I found on the web about we211c.tmp. It goes by other names we2156.tmp, or we216A.tmp.

Everytime I re-install the PA, I get a different weXXXX.tmp filename.
I blocked it each time.

This is the low-down:
http://spywaredlls.prevx.com/RRHJAJ32970458/WE214.TMP.html

Anyone encounter the same thing as me?

Sysguard seems to be a fake virus programme

According to PC Tools:
"Sysguard generates malfunctionality on the system by disabling some Windows features. It displays fake alerts in malware payloads in order to persuade users into buying the rogue antispyware products."

http://www.exterminate-it.com/malpedia/remove-sysguard

I am not able to create a portable version of the software.
It hangs when I click OK.

Anyone faces the same problem?

How do you download this to your auto? Will it work with a manual transmission? And will it change my oil on schedule? Who knows?

I scanned the files at http://www.virustotal.com/ which uses 40 different scanners from different virus programs. I also used some malware scanners locally. Nothing found, hopefully sysguard gave a false alarm.

After I installed this program . I was notified that sysguard.exe was trying to access the internet. I looked this up and it is said this was a dangerous threat originating in the Russian federation. The origin of this software. Quite dissapointing that these things are not checked out before being offered here. Now I will venture off to see if I can get it out of my system.

It took 5 minutes to figure out (without the manual) how to create an .exe file, suing one of the samples. While I use AutoHotKey, in the few minutes I've played with Perfect Automation, it is really nice to see so many tasks in the left pane that I give the parameters for, instead of having to go into the code.

This may not be exciting for the programmers among us, but it appears to fit the bill for many of us, who, like myself, do not have native predisposition to coding, syntax errors, etc. I love automating, but hate programming, and I know there are many others like myself, who may turn to intermediary tools such as Perfect Automation instead of getting right into Gentee or AutoHotkey Code.

One other note. This interpreter/compiler for Gentee is supplied by Gentee, so if you think the language does what you want, I think we can expect support and improvements from Gentee. That means a lot.
Thumbs up.

Does this work with java apps? I use AutoIT right now and it does not have the capability to work with java apps (SunAwt) other than to identify the window and then do mouse clicks according to screen coordinates :-( . If this works on that, it may be worth the trouble, but instead of downloading it first, I thought I would ask first.

I noticed people were giving my comment #15 a thumbs-down, so I tried editing a macro which I had created as a project. The macro facility, in addition to being defective, is very weak. It always creates a .pam macro file, which you can't edit. If you create a .pa project file, it still creates the uneditable macro file, and the project file references it.

Just as #12 stated, AutoIT is all you will need for automation, and more. It is heavily documented, with a strong user forum, and constantly updated, to help you with every task you could possibly manage. You can go as far as a simple login script for World of Warcraft, to making GUI's (graphical user interfaces) all within AutoIT, and it is all very simple to do. Just for example, here is a list of what I have made with autoit:

1. World of Warcraft auto login (easy to make via built in macro recorder, but you might need to add in some sleep commands in order for it to work properly)
2. Drive space monitor for my storage/media server
3. Script to test if server is on. If not, it will send a "magic packet" to wake it up (via 2nd app called wolcmd.exe).
4. Daemon Tools front end to select which game CD to insert and automatically launch which anti-copy protection tools to use based on selection.

Those are but a small example of what AutoIT can do. And as #12 stated, it is 100% free.

Same problem as #4 Kairi - can't create exe files.

Pity really - I was just starting to enjoy playing around. For example I've got a program which I use very often (to transfer 3D morphs). Usually after loading this program, I would then need to browse to and load, one of maybe three or four (commonly used) different donor files. I'd then probably choose a preset option in my program (for the morphs that I was wishing to transfer). To save all this hassle, I thought it might be sweet if I could create three or four exe files in Perfect Automation, which would allow me to sit back, whilst my program is loaded, and automatically set-up with my (most commonly used) default donor files and presets.

I'm pleased to say that it works really well - even when I'm recording the initial launch of my program with a usage of my preferred program launcher "runit" (which works by opening a menu when I right-click anywhere on the top of the screen).

At first, I was unable to create any recordings whatsoever - either .pam .pa or .exe. But changing the default choice of output folder (from $recdir$) to a directory of my choice, then made it possible for me to record, and successfully save both .pam and .pa files - but not .exe files.

The creation of .exe files appears to take the form of a two-stage process, whereby a .pam macro is created first, which is then used as the basis for the further creation of an executable. Whenever I choose to save as an .exe file, the first stage of this process seems to get completed without problems (as I am able to replay the recording). But I always get a subsequent error message stating that Perfect Automation cannot write the executable.

(I've now just read Fubar's comments about the other possibility of compiling an executable by using the "Run as Exe" button which is made available whilst a script is being edited. I'll probably try soon to see if this allows an alternative workaround that I can use to successfully create .exe files. However, this should not be necessary - and there's definitely something buggy for me in the two-stage auto creation of exe files, which is effectively the same thing).

Maybe I've missed something, but I also couldn't find any way to restore defaults for the output folders and names. Whilst experimenting I was just using the name "test" for my macros, As my recordings were being overwrtten (without warnings), I later thought it might be best to revert back to the default YYMMDD-HHMMSS format, in order to preserve my history. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to copy the necessary coding (shortdate$-$shorttime$). Had I not done so, I can't see how I might have understood how to revert back to the default, without re-installing?

I haven't yet even started to explore the Script Editor, and Scheduler features. But weighing my early experience, does tilt in favour of a definite thumbs-up for today's giveaway. I hope there's a fix for the .exe problem, as I do see a lot of potential.

#16, Urban, I agree that there are all sorts of problems with the macro facility, so I recommend against using it. That's not a big deal for me, as I have other solutions for macros.

The macro recorder doesn't work for me. As soon as press CTRL-ESC to stop recording, I get the error message, "Cannot write $recdir$90406-074226.pam". I look under preferences to see if there's a way to set the directory for recorded macros. There isn't. You can only set the script editor path.

#7: As it can also record mouse and keyboard actions, I consider this to be a possible task. Well, at least until the point where the program's installer is started. From there on it might get different to other installers.

#7 GLO. Good idea! I tried your suggestion and recorded the procedure downloading from GOTD.
Playing the recording the program again downloaded the file. I guess problems might come trying to do the installation autmatically however since this is not always done in the same way and since you can't be sure where the download will be placed on the screen.

From the short presentation Perfect Automation seems to be an interesting program which automatically can perform routine tasks and maybe more advanced by recording keyboard strokes, mouse movements and mouse events. The vendor even claims that the program can record mouse events in relative co-ordinates i.e. independent of if the active window is in the same place at the screen as when the recording was made.
There is also an option to write scripts to create your own -exe files.
The installation and registration worked without problem.
The interface is neat -but not very easy to comprehend from the start. The help files are rudimental.
The recording function works, but alas (at least in my case) only in absolute co-ordinates. There is also some bug which hinders the program from creating exe files from my recordings. So far I know that the program can start an application (for example a virus scanner) at a scheduled time which can be rather useful. If you can make the program work as it is claimed it is more powerful than the free alternative System Scheduler http://www.splinterware.com/products/wincron.htm
I have not given up on the program though and I am interested if the members of this forum has simular problems and found some solutions.

#9, Andrew, you can control macro playback speed. You can also create the macro as a script and edit it, such as adding Wait for Window, etc.

From the comments thus far, I can see that there's a lot of confusion about this. First, let me say that there's a lot to this, and there's no way that I can fully evaluate it within a short time. Installation is very clean, this is very small for what it does.

What is this? What does it do? Actually, this does a lot. It includes an application launcher (initial setup can take a very long time, if you have tons of programs like I do; just wait for it to finish). It performs automation via various methods. It has a macro recorder. It has simple GUI-based scripting, with a fair number of pre-defined operations, but not a huge number. It has its own open-source scripting language for more complex tasks. It can create a portable version of itself. It can create standalone executables of its scripts. It has its own scheduler. Someone asked about creating executables. First, look at the Preferences, Script Editor, and note where it puts things. See the Help about caching. Open the Launcher, select one of the sample files. Either use the small Script Editor button above the file list (not the big Script Editor button at the top), or right-click the file and select Script Editor. This will open the file's script, which you can look at and modify. While a file's script is being edited, a Run as Exe button is available, which will compile the script to an Exe and run it, rather than interpreting or compiling the script on-the-fly. There's all sorts of stuff, including a mini-launcher (Mini Automation) window, etc.

Is this worth it? How does it compare to other alternatives? Well, I would certainly download and install this today. If you don't want it to start with Windows, change that in the Preferences. As to how it compares to using other guided and/or free-form scripting solutions, that's largely a matter of personal preference, and the time you're willing to invest in the learning curve (the number and type of included predefined functions is also relevant). There's a link to the open-source free-form scripting language, which you don't have to use, at the top of this page.

#9 you need to insert a Wait command (see help)

If you need it, this seems like a strong (& more user friendly) alternative to AutoIt

This isn't for everyone so, if you're confused, MAYBE you should either RTFM OR uninstall.

One word.....AutoIt. Does what you are looking for. Tons of advice and tons of programs. Its a simple programming language which started as a way to automate your programs. You will never need anything else. Absolutely free...free....free.

Despite of fact that basically this program works great, i must say that it's totaly unfrendly and overcluttered. One could spend a whole day learning how to use it. However there are lots of programs
more powerfull and more intuitive to do automation jobs at likely price.

this was written in Gentee, an open open sourcce langauge. allows you to create applications of any complexity. For example, have a look at "Perfect Automation" - a program for automating Windows tasks - that contains a script editor, scheduler, launcher and a macro recorder of keyboard and mouse events. All but 2% of the source code was written in Gentee, which it uses as a scripting language. The sequence of commands defined by the user is changed to Gentee (source) code and compiled into an executable EXE file.

This is quite confusing. It seems that this is not for the average users. I do not even know what it can do. And also, on visiting their site, it seems that the screenshot given is not the same as I am having. What is the difference of this with the previous giveaway, MacroRecorder? I tried creating a macro recording of my mouse moves, works well, but it seems that it does all the mouse clicks, etc, in their exact time, without waiting for a program to finish before continuing with the next move, which is not the way anybody wants it to be when he wants to execute a series of programs one after the other, waiting for one to terminate before proceeding with the next.

It can save mouse an keyboard records as executable file.
Select 'File' combobox as Executable File (.exe) in Save groupbox on Record page.

Can this be used to automate the download and installation of GAOTD applications?

I would recommend AutoHotkey. It's free and the created scripts are portable. You can even compile the scripts to exe (which run even on computers without AutoHotkey installed). It's a very easy scripting language that's easy enough for non-programmers, but powerful enough to be considered a programming language.

really confusing Gui might have to spend the day working out how it all works it lists all your program on desktop ONLY so far. overall i dont think its any good

I can't seems to save in .exe, only works for .pam >:

SO VERY SMALL TO DO ALL THAT. wE SHALL SEE BUT SO FAR IT SEEMS TO DEPEND ON OTHER PROGRAMS. This may have use for an office worker that does the same things over and over. Then that would not be personal use. Just ignor that restriction this time.

I haven't been able to find a use yet... program starts off with a few options, none of which are considered useful in my book.

GUI confusing, may try to figure out all the options later.

Sounds really good, but can I export the recordings as executables? (The freeware nMacroRec does this.)