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Driver Magician v 3.16 reactivation

(14 posts) (5 voices)

Started 17 years ago by MidnightRambler
Latest reply from BuBBy

MidnightRambler
Member

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?

Posted 17 years ago #
BillW50
Member

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

Posted 17 years ago #
MidnightRambler
Member

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.

Posted 17 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

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).

Posted 17 years ago #
BillW50
Member

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

Posted 17 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

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.

Posted 17 years ago #
MidnightRambler
Member

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.

Posted 17 years ago #
BillW50
Member

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. :)

Posted 17 years ago #
Anonymous
Unregistered

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

Posted 17 years ago #
BillW50
Member

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

Posted 17 years ago #
BillW50
Member

"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.

Posted 17 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

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.

Posted 17 years ago #
tjchan
Member

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.

Posted 17 years ago #
BuBBy
Teh adnim

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).

Posted 17 years ago #

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