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Perfect Macro Recorder Giveaway
$39.90
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — Perfect Macro Recorder

Automate your tasks by recording keystrokes, mouse actions, so you can replay later with Perfect Macro Recorder!
$39.90 EXPIRED
User rating: 150 36 comments

Perfect Macro Recorder was available as a giveaway on February 1, 2010!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$49.00
free today
Make animated videos in a snap!

Perfect Macro Recorder can help you accomplish your work quickly by performing all major tasks on your PC automatically after recording them. By "recording" we mean recording your mouse actions (movements & clicks) and keyboard actions so you can generate a macro script which allows to playback all your recorded actions!

Key Features:

  • Records keystrokes, mouse events, and clicks for later use
  • Macro script Editor so you can edit and modify your macros
  • Smart playback for your macros
  • Repeat playback a certain number of times
  • Convert your macro to an EXE-file
  • Variable playback speed
  • Pause/Resume Recording
  • Pause/Resume Playbacking
  • Auto run on Windows startup
  • Import or export any macro to/from Perfect Macro Recorder
  • Easily find specific help for a particular topic
  • Install/uninstall support

System Requirements:

Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003/Vista; Intel Pentium, Celeron, AMD or compatible processor; .NET FrameWork3.50

Publisher:

Perfection Tools Software

Homepage:

http://www.perfectiontools.com/

File Size:

1.18 MB

Price:

$39.90

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Comments on Perfect Macro Recorder

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Please add a comment explaining the reason behind your vote.
#36

@caulbox

I apologize if you took any offense by my comment, I meant only to provide an immediate review of the product.

Given your reply, I elected to give TinyTask 1.22 another try and, as you point out, I found the COMPILE button and, upon creating the executable, I fully retract my statement that GUI is a nuisance.

However, I also fully stand by my statment that, given its SLOW speed (relative to AutoHotKey and similar to Perfect Macro Recorder), I prefer to pass on TinyTask.

That all being said, as I mentioned in my previous posting, its nice to find a stand alone program (no Registry entries). Accordingly, I shall keep a copy of TinyTask 1.22 on my USB drive as a portable utility.

Thanks again, caulbox.

Regards,

Martin

Reply   |   Comment by martin  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#35

For those interested, the other major advantages for “injection” v “playback” automation technologies, I see daily, are;

1. parrallel-tasking – by not relying on screen/mouse positions, keyboard simulation nor dependent of screen resolution or focus, you can drive apps one at a time or all at once (if the app allows it). You can send 3 apps to complete a task in one automation and wait for all three to finish before say, using a single thread to continue another!

2. Long time running batch processes. Can be run for days, even weeks and wake up when something occurs in the app!

3. Apps and automations can be stuck on a virtual machine and run 100% unattended (and or hidden). They can even expose a new API (service) of the automation itself for others to call into remotely on demand. (Great for moving automations and apps to a “server” side model.

4. Can work with multiple copies of the same app at the same time. Automation tools often get confused if apps “look” the same on the screen. Injection knows the app and the objects relative to the “instance” of the app, regardless of number of instances and can control any one or all of them in context.

5. Monitoring. Injection allows you to detect when a user or the application has done something that might then determine an automation going off in another direction. Or even notify someone something has changed in the app or drive another automation on another machine!

6. You can automate applications with hidden controls, tabs, MDI Modal and Modeless forms/objects. Injection see’s all. Most automation software relies on visibility to read/perform a function.

7. Getting data out of an object that is only partially visible. Since injection see’s an objects full properties, it can see the entire (even wrapped) text from a text box, or a specific color of a control or a selected item in a list box that’s not even shown!

8. Timing. This is one of the biggest, a lot of automation software breaks because you often have to rely on sleeps and waits. True injection can wait as long as it takes (mins, hours or weeks) for an object to appear and then continue.

Bottom line, I love automation software of any kind if they do the job reliably or at least save time. (Even unreliable automations are fine if you know they are and can sit and watch and correct on the fly. However, injection automation is really for enterprise ready processes that you must rely on and/or you want to use in significant production environments.

Open for other debate. The good news is, there are products for everyone. Free and not so free.

Francis Carden, Founder, OpenSpan Inc.,

Reply   |   Comment by Francis Carden  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#34

Automation tools in general are about emulating user activity by relying on simulating keystrokes when everything is setup correctly in the first place. The more expensive products (as mentioned, like OpenSpan) use injection technology.

i.e. they inject into the run time of the application giving ‘extreme’ robustness to the automations. However this is required for the markets they serve, which is primarily to automate tasks whilst a user is actively working with the applications they use. Most automation tools are more like “set it all up”, “ready”, “set”, “go”. i.e. a lot of unattended operations or exact repetitive tasks.

Injection technology gives you access to the underlying objects themselves, and gives you the same/similar control as if you were the original developer of the app (even if you don’t own source code). All properties, methods and events of those objects are available to you. You can even prevent users from clicking stuff by intercepting a click (until something else is ready) or you can set it’s hide property so the user can’t even see it until you are ready. That level of injection means you can also wait for a real event, like an object to be created inside the app, or a text change event of window create, created, destroyed, or destroying events. Again, this level of robustness means you can build robust automations in mission critical apps and guarantee the success (or failure) of a process.

I’ve only touched at the surface here but I’ve been involved in automation technology of every kind since I was 20 (macros) and since I am now 46, love talking about and happy to help. This is all great discussion.

Reply   |   Comment by Francis Carden  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#33

#26 Martin
Unless I am missing something here, the fact that TT 1.22’s GUI opens, whenever the specific .rec file is executed, is a nuisance in my opinion. TT 1.22 is also very slow compared to AutoHotKey, and a bit slower than Perfect Macro Reader.

I was really 'recommending' TinyTask, more as a demonstration of what is possible with unbelievably minimal programming, rather than a serious contender for it's full featured rivals.

That said, TinyTask most certainly has it's uses. You can eliminate the GUI nuisance by compiling and running an executable (exe) program file, rather than loading a (.rec) saved recording.

Not sure if I understand what you mean about very slow speed? In my experience, TinyTask seems to replay it's recordings in real time accord, with the time I might have taken whilst recording. There's an option to play at fast speed, but I prefer not to use it (or only very rarely). I find that mouse clicks often don't comply with what was intended when the speed is rushed too much.

Reply   |   Comment by caulbox  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#32

How secure is a Macro recorder if it records your moves ??

Reply   |   Comment by allhadis  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#31

@david

If your "anykey" is AnyKey Simple Shell 1.20, then its no longer freeware - its shareware.

http://download.cnet.com/AnyKey-Simple-Shell/3000-2379_4-10369196.html

On the other hand, if its NOT AnyKey Simple Shell then I would be obliged if you would share the manufacturer's or developer's URL.

Thanks,

Martin

Reply   |   Comment by martin  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#30

Lol!!


Today's giveaway looks promising but this FREEBIE is definitely better:


http://www.mydigitallife.info/


What do you make of it guys?

Enjoy!

Reply   |   Comment by Unbeatable Freebie Hunter  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-4)
#29

@#1 ashraf in your “bad” you wrote:

* Has a few bugs.
That’s like asking someone for a home address and getting “North America” for an answer.

* Mouse activity is based off coordinates instead of program/window recognition.

So why is that a bad thing? Using coordinates to track mouse activity has been the standard since the invention of the mouse. I would ask if you could give an example of this program/window recognition thing you’re referring to.

* Impractical means of editing macros.

Why and what’s so impractical about it? I found editing macro’s with today’s GOTD, Perfect Macro Recorder, to be easy, and not at all impractical. It couldn’t be much simpler.

Reply   |   Comment by aRenegade  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#28

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the purpose and/or point of such a program?

Reply   |   Comment by me  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)
#27

I have had fairly good results with MacroMaker. (Not today's offering.)It's available on many of the software download sites. It is coordinates based, with all that everyone has implied about that. It requires that things be in the same place each time.

For much of my use that does not matter. I usually create a macro by recording an action that I need to perform many times at the time I record it, such as modify multiple pages in a report. (not search and replace) After recording a macro, I test it on the same instance I recorded or on the next one. I include advancing to the next one as part of the macro. The macro can be edited, but not too easily. A big advantage is that the macro playback speed can be adjusted in the program. Once I am satisfied with the action, I speed it up about 10x, so it's way faster than I am!

Another program I stumbled on yesterday looks like a real winner based on the web description. It's called Sikuli and it is graphic based. Per the demos it will execute programs, key presses, etc. It will also "look" for a part of the screen, that is an image on the screen such as a button, and go to it and press it. It's an MIT program, and is at http://groups.csail.mit.edu/uid/sikuli/

JK

Reply   |   Comment by JKEngineer  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#26

Another free alternative that has served me well for years (why I'm not testing this), but may have a larger learning curve: anykey. I use it to launch any number of windows, resize and place them where I want them, and execute mouse clicks, drags, etc or keyboard entries as needed. Launch from hotkey or double click on the script.

Reply   |   Comment by david  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#25

TINY TASK 1.22

@caulbox

Thank for the TinyTask tip! Nice to find a stand alone program (no Registry entries).

In addition to testing Perfect Macro Recorder 2.0, in response to caulbox’s recommendation, I downloaded TinyTask 1.22 and compared it to AutoHotKey and Perfect Macro Recorder.

I installed TinyTask 1.22 under Windows XP SP2.

As before, for comparison, I chose mouse clicks associated with executing Windows XP’s CHKDSK from the desktop starting with the My Computer icon. For me, this is an 11 mouse click routine.

While TT 1.22's strokes are 100% accurate, it is very SLOW compared to AHK and a bit slower than PMR. The only problem I find with TinyTask 1.22 is its' GUI opens whenever a "created" macro or script (as a .rec file) is executed. Otherwise, it works as described.

Unless I am missing something here, the fact that TT 1.22's GUI opens, whenever the specific .rec file is executed, is a nuisance in my opinion. TT 1.22 is also very slow compared to AutoHotKey, and a bit slower than Perfect Macro Reader.

CONCLUSION

Given its SLOW speed (relative to AutoHotKey and similar to Perfect Macro Recorder), and the nuisance GUI opening issue, I prefer to pass on TinyTask.

Martin

Reply   |   Comment by martin  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#24

Got to say that Autoit is going to be hard to beat. You can use window names, mouse co-ordinates or keystroke combinations and edit the script to make it perfect.

Reply   |   Comment by Phil  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-4)
#23

What does "windows-based vs control-based" mean, that you all are talking about here, and in a non-technical language?

Same with relative vs. absolute. What does that mean?

To me, a macro recorder used in such a speedy way as the Action use in Photoshop would be of great need applied elsewhere on the computer and internet use.

Reply   |   Comment by Ruth  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#22

I must be dim regarding this type of software but for the life of me I can't think of how to use it or what you would need it for. maybe if you were a computer programmer doing mundane, repetitive tasks that were EXACTLY the same it would come in handy....what am I missing here?

From the Ghost mouse download page linked by Ashraf: "The original purpose of GhostMouse is a mystery."

I'm open (and hoping) to being enlightened with a real world example.

Reply   |   Comment by BTDT  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-8)
#21

Anyone like Phrase-Express? It has looked after my needs very well for the last few years. Being only average at IT, I couldn't get my head round AutoHotKey and eventually gave up.
And if you only need 10 macros - well nothing is easier than Shortkeys Lite.
It is enough for date stamp, time stamp, email address, home address, Yours Sincerely bla bla etc which covers 90% of all known germs!

Reply   |   Comment by stormproof1  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#20

Little to add here - very little indeed!!

TinyTask provides basic automation (recording and playback). It is a case study in minimalist programming: the entire program is only 29k (with over 10k of that being images). Oh, it does find room somewhere for an EXE compiler as well!

....there's a brief overview and guidance in the (archived) topic here

Reply   |   Comment by caulbox  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)
#19

In layman terms,this program is just not that intelligent.

Reply   |   Comment by bobars  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-6)
#18

In the process of automating my site, I tried several macro recorders over the years, including todays offering. In the never-ending effort to find perfection, I was trying to find one that worked better than PTFB, but thus far, have been unable to do so. PTFB is not free, but it does everything you could want a recorder to do. With today's offering, I didn't care for making .exe's, or anything like that...I just want a button pushed, or video file converted without me needing to be there. PTFB means "Push the Freaking Button" if anyone was curious. It uses both coordinates, and windows recognition. I have 3 time lapse .avi's that get converted to .swf's then uploaded each morning. All windows/folders open, all operations take place with no user intervention. I've literally gone days on end without even looking at the machine, knowing that the operations and conversions, etc. are running as required. Besides, what good is automation, if you need to be there?

Reply   |   Comment by JEV  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#17

Nice software I like it , I'm gonna do a review about it later on my blog http://pro4all.net .

Thank you Ashraf Great Review !

Thank you GOTD !

Reply   |   Comment by Randy  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-17)
#16

@Ashraf:
Nice summary, as usual. As you say, use of absolute screen coordinates is a real problem.

@Martin:
Good comparison of two contenders, and using the same test for both! - unheard-of! ;-)

@Fubar:
Thanks for the judicious comparison of different macro tools. But please don't knock GAOTD users as "freeloaders" - some of the people commenting here show real skill at sorting out the practical tools from the junk. And nobody ever got rich by giving money away; on the contrary, the "value investor" is the one who still has more money to spend on other things - like having fun!

@GAOTD:
Thanks for arranging all these giveaways; the 2% or so I've taken advantage of have greatly improved my PC computing experience.

My take on today's giveaway:
Although I used several different Windows macro tools back in the 90s (to automate unix testing! ;-) ), I've never found one that it is easy to make respond the same way to the same window every time. That really requires:

(1) a check that the window is open (or program/process is running);

(2) window-relative (wr) coordinates (NOT absolute coord's); and

(3) window-resizing if the wr coordinates exceed current window dimensions.

Any macro tool that supports or allows these actions would have my vote.

However, as I presently have relatively few tasks worthy of automation, it's not worth the bother (and performance penalty) of adding yet another app to an already over-stuffed HD and Registry.

For those who really do need a macro recorder to speed up simple repetitive tasks, today's giveaway should do just fine - but you'll probably need the self-discipline to always put your windows in the same place.

For those willing and able to think like programmers, I'd recommend using AutoHotKey (AHK) instead, as others have.

Reply   |   Comment by Yahya  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+30)
#15

I don't find this macro recorder to be useful. As noted, like most macro recorders, it isn't very safe. In theory, you can improve reliability by having it wait for particular windows via editing the script, but that's a major pain. There's a Help file, but there didn't appear to be a way to open it in the program, not even via standard F1, nor would it open directly. Also as noted, some features don't do what they say it will do.

I have some recommendations for macro recorders, but since 99.9% of GOTD users are freeloaders, most people won't like my recommendations because they're targeted primarily at businesses.

My number one recommendation is WinAutomation. It's pricey, but it's a joy to use, very versatile, and moderately (not completely) safe if you edit the script (high-level guided scripting). I record the macro, then edit-out the junk, replace what I can with direct script commands, and add waits, searches, and checks for windows where appropriate. It has a very easy-to-use image search feature. NOTE: Microsoft made major changes to the Desktop Window Manager for Vista (changed again for Windows 7), so I've found it necessary to turn off on-screen status displays in macro recorders that have image search functions, otherwise the search fails on my PC (some always display status, so I can't even test them). WinAutomation keeps its macros internally unless you pay extra for a version that can compile them, but you can indirectly call a macro via the command-line interface (or create a shortcut which does). All of WinAutomation's modules access the Internet, but that's for standardized license verification (or your scripting).

My number two recommendation, by far the safest and most reliable, in some respects the most versatile, is VSoft Automise. It's pricey, it damages your Windows installation (I'll send them a bunch of feedback), and it's a pain to program (you have to go to a dozen different places to program an action or figure out what one does), but it supports standard scripting languages (as I recall, it can generate code in four different languages, and it supports dozens of standard languages if you want to write code). It's control-based, not windows-based. As I recall, it also uses a command-line interface if you want to call macros externally. There's a cheap version, but it's useless (no GUI automation, which is exactly what Windows macro recorders / automation tools are for).

In the seriously pricey range are products like Network Automation AutoMate, Automation Anywhere, and OpenSpan. As far as I know, only OpenSpan is reliable (it looks like it may use similar techniques to Automise), but it's aimed at a somewhat different market--linking unrelated applications via automation.

MJT Net Macro Scheduler and WinAutomation are direct competitors. As far as I know, MJT Net has been around longer, it has lots of features and programmability, it's pricey but a cheaper home license is available, and the developer really wants your business. It sounds like it's the type of product which I would prefer (very versatile and programmable), so why do I like WinAutomation better? Because Macro Scheduler is a pain to program, it uses an ad-hoc scripting language (very ad-hoc), it sets windows to their original positions and sizes to try to increase reliability (that only helps a little), which is OK for unattended macros, but is unacceptable for interactive macros. Both Macro Scheduler and WinAutomation have image search features. Macro Scheduler's is more versatile but WinAutomation's is much easier to use. Personally, I would take a look at Tronan Macro Machine before buying Macro Scheduler. Macro Machine is deceptively powerful (the UI looks like a toy), it appears to have a better-designed macro language (a link to the language reference is towards the bottom of the page), and it also claims to support browsers (I haven't found any that can automate IE worth a crap on Vista). However, I don't think that it has image-search features, and like the others, it's windows-based, so it isn't completely reliable, but you can add windows checks. Like Macro Scheduler, Macro Machine repositions windows to increase reliability (I don't think it resizes them, although you could).

Insight Macro Express Pro has interesting features, but I wasn't able to get it to work on my Vista PC. It's also hard to test multiple macro products, because they interfere with each other and you may have to disable and reinstall different products as necessary.

In the bizarre but interesting category are products like AutomationBox MouseRobot and AutoClickExtreme. MouseRobot worked pretty well on XP, not so much on Vista. It needed some changes and more development. It's still for sale, but development stopped some time ago. Most people just didn't get it, you need a programmer's mindset to use it. As far as I know it's windows-based, not control-based, but it checks the window chain, so it's capable of high reliability and can handle moved controls. It was my favorite automation tool before WinAutomation. AutoClickExtreme claims high reliability, but I found it cumbersome to use, and I ran into the image-search and status-display conflict on Vista, so I couldn't test it. There's lots of interesting information on the AutoClickExtreme website. The developer liked Tethys Solutions Workspace Macro Pro, but that's another one I had all sorts of problems with. As I recall, it required a DEP exception and wanted direct disk access, so I either didn't test it due to too many problems or it didn't run.

There are tons of other products, like RoboTask, xStarter, the free AutoIt and AutoHotkey, etc. I certainly haven't tested everything, but for now I'll stick with WinAutomation, and they pay attention to my feedback (I'll be sending them more).

For the people who didn't like my brief comment yesterday, I left a reply.

Reply   |   Comment by Fubar  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+27)
#14

Hi Everyone! Thanks GOTD for the OUTSTANDING website...i have learned a lot from this site over the years...
i have a question today about this "macr0-re-corder" software...please have patience with me on this one.
Explain what one doe's with this program?....yes, i could investigate online and receive my answer but maybe my question HERE will help others ok...so please help: give US an example what this software is for???
Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it!
Jay Allan
[snowdeep in virginia beach at the moment]

Reply   |   Comment by jay allan  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-19)
#13

Windows 7 is not supported however this WILL work in Windows 7 if you follow the following procedure –

* Install the program with an icon on the desktop;
* Right click on the icon and choose Properties;
* Click the “compatibility” tab
* Choose from the dropdown list “Windows XP SP3″
* Click apply and OK
* Run the program, et voila!!!


The compatibility feature is in all computers since Windows XP for this very reason – most programs that will not run with new operating systems can still be run if you use this feature. It is a relatively little known trick that is incredibly useful.

Reply   |   Comment by Merril  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#12

There are plenty of macro apps out there, as well as built into major apps & suites like Ofc. Some take scripting, & for less complicated uses/projects, some of those can be used to create actual programs. Ashraf notes as a con that Perfect Macro Recorder *memorizes* mouse movements &/or coordinates -- as far as being a negative, I don't disagree, but it can also be a plus... Microsoft's keyboard software for example likes to record every app you install in its section of the registry, just in case you later want to set something special; that sort of thing quickly leads to bloat. System requirements listed include .NET, which for some is a deal breaker.

I could see myself recommending Perfect Macro Recorder to casual users I know for simpler tasks, starting with things like opening their web browser & automatically heading to whatever site, rather than opening the browser & clicking/typing. I could also see them using a macro to take selected text (from a web page, document etc) & copy/paste it into a new email message -- some family members pass recipes around, & they'd love that sort of convenience. Perfect Macro Recorder is not going to replace Autoit or Python etc any time soon, but for those who have no idea what Autoit &/or Python are, it could be a pretty cool tool.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)
#11

PERFECT MACRO RECORDER 2.0

I downloaded and installed Perfect Macro Recorder 2.0 under Windows XP SP2, and it works quite well though is a bit slow compared to AutoHotKey, version 1.0.48.05 - www.autohotkey.com - my current mouse click saver, software that I have been using for about a year.

For comparison, I chose mouse clicks associated with executing Windows XP's CHKDSK from the desktop starting with the My Computer icon. For me, this is an 11 mouse click routine.

While PMR 2.0's strokes are 100% accurate, it is notably slower than AHK. However, while AHK works perfectly on about a dozen other mouse clicking process, it occasionally fails to perform the CHKDSK routine and that is why I am looking to replace it.

DO IT AGAIN 1.6

In addition to testing Perfect Macro Recorder 2.0, pursuant to Ashraf's recommendation, I downloaded Do It Again and compared it to AutoHotKey.

I downloaded and installed Do It Again 1.6 (a version released in December 2007) under Windows XP SP2.

For comparison, once again, I chose mouse clicks associated with executing Windows XP's CHKDSK from the desktop starting with the My Computer icon. For me, this is an 11 mouse click routine.

While DIA 1.6's strokes are 100% accurate, it is EXTREMELY SLOW. In fact, it is so slow that I can perform the same clicks manually in less than 1/2 the time. Otherwise, it works as described.

On a side note, I find it FUNNY that DIA's website has the word "tornado" in it. Given my experience, perhaps "molasses" would be more appropriate.

CONCLUSIONS

Do It Again 1.6 - - due to its EXTREMELY SLOW pace, I have deleted DIA 1.6 (and all of its entrails) from my PC.

Perfect Macro Recorder 2.0 - - I shall be keeping PMR 2.0 and continuing to test it against AutoHotKey with hopes of replacing it someday.

Thanks for this opportunity Perfection Tools Software and GAOTD staff,

Regards,

Martin

Reply   |   Comment by martin  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+36)
#10

This kind of macro recorder cannot work properly. The recording of absolute mouse coordinates is one of the problems. The other main problem is the impossibility to check if the right programs are running, and, when it's not the case, to launch them. Without that, it is totally useless to convert your recorded macro to an exe, as it will NEVER work properly, except if you record only very basic things, such as emptying your recycle bin automatically. Not really useful. It can be used, however, to repeat some simple mouse clicks IMMEDIATELY, as long as nothing happens that changes the current state of your desktop. But honestly, I have no good example of what it could do.

If you want to create really powerful macros, I suggest AutoIt or AutoHotkey. Both are free. OK, they are real scripting language, and that implies a relatively long learning curve. But at least, they are working well. And they have a macro recorder as well, that records relative or absolute moves. And if the automatically recorded macro doesn't work as expected when the conditions change, you can edit it to fix the problem. That's the only serious way to automate tasks.

I cannot understand how a commercial company can sell crap such as this GOTD at a very high price, while extremely more powerful applications such as AutoIt and AutoHotkey are free!

Reply   |   Comment by r0lZ  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+32)
#9

I'm sure someone will mention it (or already has & their comments haven't passed moderation yet), but McAfee red flags the developer's site. Here's the link to detailed info, so check it yourself:
[http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/perfectiontools.com/downloads/]

Today's GOTD, Perfect Macro Creator, is "Green" -- I suspect that the 2 downloads that are flagged, use monitoring techniques shared by mal-ware coders... And McAfee is a tad sensitive -- I have to turn AV monitoring off if I go anywhere near Nirsoft apps for example, while the 1/2 dozen other AV suites I've tried ignore them.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#8

This software would be overpriced if it were free, to charge for a macro maker that does not recognise windows, and button within them is ridiculous. There are macro programs infinitely better available, I used one similarly priced many years ago in my work as a programmer, sadly I cannot remember its name.

Reply   |   Comment by OldScotty  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-10)
#7

"Workspace Macro Pro" is the perfect one. It can detect the window/program, it is programmable, and can wait for a window to appear/disappear, with lot of features. It is NOT free

Reply   |   Comment by Hesh  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-10)
#6

@farrukt
Thanks for your comments but You say:
"Ashraf’s recommended Free Alternative Do it again is failing with same issue"
and then
"however seems to be working better."
Which of them ?
Perfect Macro or Do it again ?
and
in which case is it working better ?
could you please clarify
regards

Reply   |   Comment by gmar  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-16)
#5

Ashraf "forgot" to mention:

The Bad
* Needs the .NET framework installed - that makes it from the beginning less or unportable.

Over years, on occasion, I tried out a lot of automation tools; what I found again and again - even with the better ones: why should anyone be content with such limited capacities of those tools. compared to "AutoIt" or/and "AutoHotkey"? :
Most average users will soon be disaponted about "faults" by such software - not realzing that only the startup point was not controlled (is a window really open; is not menu item selected; etc. etc.)
More experiend users want more power: abilities to test and controll situations etc. And those needs cant be satisfied with the limitations of such a tool.

Finally: its so easy to carry along an old and very small version of AutoHotkey (just about 100 K !!!) and "your" macros, which will be sufficient for allmost all situation - unlike today´s giveaway.
Even better: Just run macros (.ahk - or "compiled" standalone .exe) and end everything when the job is done: No crap that permanently occupies your valuable memory.

Reply   |   Comment by ws  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+53)
#4

Pursuant to Ashraf's recommendation, I downloaded Do It Again and compared it to my current mouse click saver, AutoHotKey (www.autohotkey.com), a program that I have been using for about a year.

I downloaded DIA 1.6 (a version released in December 2007) and ran it in Windows XP SP2. For comparison, I chose the mouse clicks associated with running Windows XP's CHKDSK from the desktop starting with the My Computer icon. For me, this is an 11 mouse click routine.

While DIA 1.6's strokes are 100% accurate, it is EXTREMELY SLOW. In fact, it is so slow that I can perform the same clicks manually in less than 1/2 the time. Otherwise, it works as described.

Unfortunately, due to its EXTREMELY SLOW pace means I will be deleting DIA 1.6 (and all of its entrails) from my system.

On a side note, I find it FUNNY that DIA's website has the word "tornado" in it. Given my experience, perhaps "molasses" would be more appropriate.

Now I think I shall try the current GAOTD product, Perfect Macro Recorder, and compare it against AutoHotKey.

Thanks for this opportunity Perfection Tools Software and GAOTD staff,

Regards,

Martin

Reply   |   Comment by martinsmithson  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+22)
#3

BTW, Ashraf's recommended Free Alternative Do it again is failing with same issue, i.e. Mouse activity is based off coordinates instead of program/window recognition., however seems to be working better.

Reply   |   Comment by Farrukh  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+35)
#2

Ashraf is right: Mouse activity is based off coordinates instead of program/window recognition.

I did a funny thing with it :). Started Explorer and then started recording the macro. Browsed to my e-book location, opened the book and navigated some pages and then closed and stopped the recording.

Now I simply closed the Explorer and played the macro: it moved the mouse cursor on the Windows coordinates but there was nothing to find.

Reply   |   Comment by Farrukh  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+47)
#1

The Good
* Records all mouse (strokes, clicks, scrolls, etc.) and keyboard activity.
* Supports the use of hotkeys for recording and playback.
* Allows user to manually edit the macro after it has been recorded.
* Allows user to export macro to standalone EXE file.
* Allows user to playback macro slower or faster than normal pace and to repeat playback X amount of times.

The Bad
* Has a few bugs.
* Mouse activity is based off coordinates instead of program/window recognition.
* Impractical means of editing macros.
* No help file.

Free Alternatives
Do It Again

For final verdict, recommendations, and full review please click here.

Reply   |   Comment by Ashraf  –  14 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+54)
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