#95 Great comment.

This should be saved and reposted periodically as a reminder:

"For those trying to keep their GOTD applications forever, you completely misunderstand the entire purpose of GOTD. You’re not being given perpetual free software because you’re such a deserving person and the world wants to shower you with free gifts. You’re being given a no-time-limit fully-functional non-re-installable non-transferable non-upgradable trial of commercial software, offered only on the day it’s given away, to allow you to evaluate the software and generate future sales for those products which you find useful. If you want freeware, GOTD has separate listings for that, and you can go to plenty of other sites."

Reading many of these comments I feel compelled to point out that this program is not intended to allow users to make or maintain illegal copies of other software. Nor does it offer to restore hidden settings and codes such as licenses.

What this program does do is to quickly and easily maintain a record of your tweaks and settings.

One of the worst aspects of reinstalling is losing all those customizations you made over the years. With this program you can save all that information and restore things to the same look and feel they had before. But you WILL need to reinstall those programs BEFORE restoring their settings.

This will not help you keep your GAOTD programs, only restore their individual settings and tweaks after (if) you get them reinstalled.

So far it seems this software does what it claims to although I agree that there is still room for improvement. A good job by the author and I hope he keeps it up.

@Nikolai: I would like to suggest adding a small routine stored with the backup files to automatically restore them even without the presence of the main program.

I tried Niksaver yesterday because I've been needing a program that will allow me to upgrade to a newer machine without losing all of my program settings. Although Niksaver was able to find my installation of Macromedia Flash MX 2004 version 7.2 and it appears to have saved the configuration in the form of a registry file and a folder containing an activation log text file, it was unable to find this information on the new machine to restore those settings, nor did it recognize that there was a fresh installation of Flash.

Furthermore, I attempted to manually restore the settings via registry merge and file copy to the corresponding location on the new machine, but Flash came up as an unregistered trial copy.

Bottom line: Niksaver was a complete waste of time and I am thankful that GAOTD gave me a chance to try it for free, because it apparently isn't even worth the cost of a floppy disk to store it!

#90 "Maybe 50% discount".
Who want to discount - just mail to me (nikkurkov @ gmail.com) and i will give it.

sorry - german language in english words - that´s bad - not "plays" but games!

does not read settings of programs installed in an other partition but C - right? all my plays are installed in D, so I cannot save their settings.

The quality of the comments here continues to be very low--people vote based on what the software offered claims to do, rather than what it actually does. I largely agree with BladedThoth's review, but I'm much less positive on potential improvement. Some types of software cannot be developed by individual developers. No single person will ever be able to produce an OS which competes with Windows, Linux, etc.--no one can write tens of millions of lines of code. Similarly, software which claims to back up application settings cannot be usefully produced by an individual--there's no way any individual can keep up with all the applications which people use, nor the continually changing versions of those applications. NikSaver supports, at most, less than 5% of my applications. So, with more than 95% not covered, what good is it? Oh, sure, I could dig through the file system and registry and try to support them myself, but that would take forever, and I'd have to continually update it when application versions changed. Any backup program which lets you specify folders and registry keys could do that.

Those wanting to migrate to a new computer should use one of the numerous software packages written to do that--check the reviews. Personally, I strongly recommend reinstalling applications rather than migrating them.

For those trying to keep their GOTD applications forever, you completely misunderstand the entire purpose of GOTD. You're not being given perpetual free software because you're such a deserving person and the world wants to shower you with free gifts. You're being given a no-time-limit fully-functional non-re-installable non-transferable non-upgradable trial of commercial software, offered only on the day it's given away, to allow you to evaluate the software and generate future sales for those products which you find useful. If you want freeware, GOTD has separate listings for that, and you can go to plenty of other sites.

To those who complain that if their system crashes, they will have to actually BUY some replacement software, I suggest you get a job or borrow money from your mother upstairs. This software is simply an insurance policy. By taking advantage of GAOTD's generous offer today, you will only need to spend a little money IF and WHEN disaster strikes. Frankly, some of you cheapskates expect a lot from someone who has to feed his family and will never see a dime from you. To put that in perspective, next week your boss says to you, "I appreciate all you've done around here last week, but I think I will hold off on paying you to see if I will really need all that work you've done. You don't mind continuing to tidy up around here and do a few more things for me in the meantime, free, do you?" I'm just glad I'm not a software developer who has to tolerate so many self absorbed people who take but seldom give. I'm actually surprised some of you ingrates even have computers, but then that's why Mom and Christmas go together. Too bad she's also paying for your DSL.

#83--because SiteAdvisor practices guilt by association, they hold a site responsible for what another site does if they are linked. In many cases, (like this one, I believe and have so told McAfee) this unfairly penalizes in the extreme a site that is itself spotlessly clean. IMHO, the worst that should have happened is give them a yellow to warn against the links, but a red rating is overkill and dilutes (causes people to ignore the warning and click on through) the effect of a real red rating, which should be reserved for the really bad sites (unless they add another color for that!) If you agree with me, more people contacting McAfee might help change it.

I installed the program and found that it lacks certain refinemennts. Such as the list of my installed programs, in tabular form but without column headings. But what distresses me most is that it detected only a small sample of all the installed progarms, and even then could not back up some of them, such as Eudora. I am afraid that the program does only a small percentage of what it is supposed to do.

Very good idea! I hate that whenever I update my Firefox it wipes all my important bookmarks. This backed up all my bookmarks and my other personal settings, too. Thanks, Nikolai and GAOTD!

Attention NIK KURKOV - how about giving those reading here a discount if we would like to buy NikSaver in the next 24 hours? Maybe 50% discount? I suspect you would have several customers -myself included - with a big discount!

Thanks!

Nik,

I am sorry, man... I could not install your program, since the install stopped with error saying that Administrator password is required .. Unfortunately, I am a user with with partial authority only, so that utils tend to fall down while most of the games install without any problem.. Why is that it is necessary for these utils to have Admin authority to install, I wonder ?

@30 thank you robert for answering my question in #21. your program is nice while free, but file and transfer, or any hardisk utility program can do the same for free. as stated, most programs uses machine ID. it would be a waste to transfer and still have to purchase a new liscense or reinstall. one example of a company that uses machine ID is NeuralTek. again thank you, i'll have to pass

DriverMax looks indeed like a very nice program, but it does NOT do what NikSaver does. DriverMax backs up drivers only, NikSaver backs up program settings and configurations. Not alike in any way, shape, or form.

Also, to the others of you who keep suggesting Imaging software (#34, #69), who wants to waste the incredible amount of Gigabytes of space it would take up for an entire drive image? This is designed to save just the parts of programs you have customized and configured and restore them later.

I installed the program without problem but I cannot creat configurations to load and save for backup of a lot of my programs, I get an error "List index out of bounds (0) other than that the program works fine.

...forgot to add that certain features just do not work - if you remove them (the features that are not primetime ready) then the experience will be better, after all it does seem to have the capability to be an extremely sought out product. Remove the things that don't work and you've fixed the bugs! Sometimes less is more. I hope that I've helped... I really think you could be onto a winner with this concept but the program needs to come out of the Beta stage unless it's a viable stable release. Again Regards - Damian

Nikolai - I sent you an updated English language file and CC'd GAOTD - Regards, Damian

When you go to their website, McAfee SiteAdvisor lists that as a red site since it has links to filedudes.com. Why does that site link to a red site that has spyware?

The software automatically detected in the "Programs" section, 23 programs, whose settings it could backup (antivirus: Bitdefender/NOD32, firewall: Comodo, email: Thunderbird/Outlook, browsers: Opera/IE/Firefox, PDA-PIM: PalmDesktop). Other settings it will backup are "Games", and "System" (Office, WindowsXP registration, send-to, start menu, etc.).

Nice interface, very well translated (in my case, automatically detected the Spanish language, traslated into perfect Castillian Spanish - International version).

I always keep a copy of such programs, they can be very useful.

Sounds comparable to DriverMax, (http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/) which I love to use preceding a reformat/reinstall of WinBlowz. However, DriverMax is FREE FREE FREE!

#73 :
if you are a regular customer of GAOTD, instead of polluting your computer with stuffs that might break everything, you should consider to test all the gifts in a virtual box(e.g. VMWare).

@Skye-hook
Have you tried putting all of your keys in a text file stored on a flash drive?
Anyway, XXCLONE will copy everything. This software is good for when you want to do a clean install instead of restoring a backup which might have things on it you don't want anymore.

Hi guys. I have used "Files and Settings Transfer Wizard" from XP. It crashed imediately. And, if Microsoft couldn't manage this, I don't know who can. At least not an "no-name" software (sorry, Nikolai).

I do not recomand this to anybody.

It does install and 'work' from a USB drive. If you want to save to the USB drive, you have to change the config default and restart pgm. I tried to backup Firefox and restore to a different Vista system. Problem is/was that it did save the Firefox profile.ini (and also my plugins folder), but it neglected to save the profile itself! So when I started Firefox, it said was already running! A quick edit to the profile.ini with the correct profile, got it back running again. Also, it did not save the history or any bookmarks as it says it does! My copy says 'Give Away of the Day' version right on the startup screen, not the version you pay for, I'm guessing? Program does not register at all, so as someone mentioned, you can just copy the USB install folder to use!

Ca mon fellers, give us something usefull.

makingmagic (#73) It's not a matter of worry or fear, it's a matter of expanding the functionality of the application. In a nutshell, if the program will run from a flash drive without accessing registry info on the PC, it's usefulness to me has just gone up about a hundred-fold.

I'm not sure I understand your other comments. Many (most) GAoTD apps will not install at a later date even if you do have the reg keys squirelled away. The installation routine checks the registration server real-time and denies the install if the date isn't right. Also, I have my system partitioned like you, but if I have to reinstall windows, I have to reinstall all my programs too. Even though the installed program files may still reside on a separate "My Programs" partion or drive, reinstalling Windows wipes out not only all Windows' knowledge of where those files are, but all the default program behaviours (settings) as well. That's what NikSaver is supposed to do, save that knowledge.

Am I the only one who DOESN'T want to save my old settings? Bad "settings" and natural Windows deterioration ARE the reason I reinstall.

I am wondering why everyone is worried about flash drives. I have only been in GAOD for several months. I consider myself a very "newvie". I hate to do anything in the "brain" of the computer or the programs for fear of crashing my system. What I am wondering though is even the ones that talk like they know the inner workings of the computer enough to be writing the programs themselves are afraid of this program. Why? I am not. Actually, I am not afraid of any program good or bad from GAOD and as for losing reg keys why is a newbie smarter than ones who think they could do the programming.
First partition your main drive so that windows is in a separate partition. If you are a regular on GAOD the number of programs can rapidly fill your computer. Download and zip them to the free (non-windows) partition or as I do to an external drive as I am a researcher and my desktop is windows xp and 80 gig. Wasn't much room left for other things so i purchased an external drive that holds all my programs. If windows crashes - I have only had to reinstall windows to the old windows partition and everything else has been left intact and useable. If you are worried about reg keys - what is so hard about making one file in micro word that you type the name of the programs and their copy/past reg keys and save them all in the same file named "program reg keys". Come on people, I am a newbie and could figure this out.

I did find out that this program WILL backup Outlook express rules & settings, as well as many others. See a list here:
http://niksaver.com/supported_programs.html

Thanks, GAOTD.

How does NikSaver differ from CA's "Desktop DNA Migrator" if you don't mind my asking?

#44 - get a good FREE registry backup and restore here:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

This sounds like a great program - still reading comments from all. It sounds like you can install it to a flash drive, but it still puts parts of the program on your hard drive, so if you have to reformat you would have to buy the program - did I get that right?

BTW, does anyone know if this will save "message rules" settings in outlook express? I've spent more time with email rules than any other settings i think. Thanks!

I'm not sure about this software. Won't a ghost-like tool be better? For free, partimage(included in bootable System Rescue CD) or g4u might be less error-prone, especially g4u which backup every bits (but requires a ftp server to store the image).

sorry, moderators-

Errr... McAfee SiteAdvisor often marks pages red because there's a link to a download site somebody doesn't like.

Can't you download the trial version, save it, and use that to restore with? or just back up the drive NikSaver's on?

Fab's isn't extensable or can grab as much... like- add Office, and you're halfway to a free copy, right?

And wait until you hit a machine that doesn't like pcmover's usb cable- I have!

NikSaver kinda sorta works from a flash drive, but not really ONLY from a flash drive.

I installed to my flash drive and the install routine created the following directory and files on my HDD...

D:\My Documents\Computer Configuration
...config.ini
...desktop.ini
...folder.ico
...History.txt

with associated registry entries.

If I delete that directory the next launch of NikSaver prompts me to select a new SavePath. If I cancel out of that dialog the directory and files are simply recreated on drive D:. If I specify the new SavePath to be on my flash drive, the directory and associated files are recreated in that specified directory. The registry locations are also updated.

So, I installed to my drive T: (my flash), copied the entire T:\MY PROGRAMS\NikSaver directory to my desktop, then ran the uninstall routine and Ccleaner. (The uninstall is actually pretty thorough and left only a registry reference to the uninstall.exe.) That should have gotten rid of all leftover registry entries, including any password/registration info, and left me with a flash-only version of NikSaver. I copied the NikSaver program directory from my desktop back to drive T: and ran NikSaver. It prompted for the SavePath which I placed at T:\MYDOCUMENTS\NikData\, and then loaded with no issues. Help\About says it's still registered to "Give away of the day."

When I tried to save the default config I got a Registry Editor error..."Cannot Export T:\MYDOCUMENTS\NikData\7-zip\Regs.reg: Error opening the file. There may be a disk or files system error." There needs to be better error trapping; I just hadn't checked any programs to save. Doh! When I did "Select All" and save, NikSaver wrote an individual folder and reg file for each program. Load appeared to work, but then again, I did already have all the registry info onboard for the selected apps.

At any rate, it looks like running from a flash drive is doable. However, while my NikSaver program directory takes up only about 6 megs, my NikData directory takes up almost 1.3GB!!! Yikes. And that's with only with the default 17 apps and 12 system items saved. (It looks like it saves not only Outlook settings, but all the emails as well) At best, saving the recovery files on the same flash is impractical. I'm thinking I'm going to keep the app on my flash drive and set the SavePath to a network share. I guess a "portable" solution might be to burn/backup the saved files to a DVD? I'll have to mess around with it a little more.

Anyway, the apparent "bugs" and instabilities mentioned by BladedThoth others need to be addressed, but I really like the idea and implementation as far as it goes, though I wouldn't pay $35 for it in it's current state.

I have to agree that without the ability to store the backup onto a CD for later access, this giveaway is useless.

Fab's AutoBackup is free, and it works.

http://fabs.dyndns.org/index2.php?lang=en&section=freewares

@John Fowles - judging by the way it installs I suspect this program is one that's not registered by code anywhere- it's self-contained; there's the trial version, freely available- and when purchased a personalized 'full' version is made available via URL.

It's entirely on the developer's side of the question how they handle the transition from trial to full, and it's usually hard-coded before the program arrives here- thus, some have license keyfiles, some have activation routines in an executable, and some have user-entered keys.

And some come pre-activated, as 'full' versions. A fair number of games, for example. Today's GGAOTD appears to be of that type.

Nothing GAOTD can do about it in any of the scenarios.

Possibly dropping the developer a message might get you a special dispensation in the case of catastrophe- I've heard of it in the forums- but GAOTD'S hands are tied.

I just wanted to say to all you guys who are afraid that you will have to buy the program in order to restore,just take a look at:
http://niksaver.com/niksaver_crack_keygen_serial.html
and you will see that Niksaver is offering different ways to get a free key for your software.Personally I really like this.

#51...
Yes, If you lost everything, and if you had to go through all of your files, programs, configurations again... then yes, you would have to pay a ridiculous $35 to save.... probably 35 hours of work.

At least, you would still have that option! Basically, it is like an insurance were you only pay the premium AFTER you had an accident!

And your "real issue" is... what exactly? I wish everything in life could be solved that easily.

Good Job Nik and GAOTD!
This is my first time leaving a post with GAOTD, but I have often been a bit irritated by some of the posts left day after day.It always seems that even good utilities seldom get much over 50% of positive ratings.
If there is something really wrong with the program, if it is full of bugs, ir it slows down or stalls your system, installs undesired things in the background, or simply does not work, there is legitimated reason to give it a negative review, but otherwise... please stop the fake criticism; unless you think you can do better (...and if you can, please stop bashing and start coding - we are all looking forward to enjoying the fruits of your hard work... for Free! Thanks!)

1. If this program can be run from a USB stick to restore the settings, then it doesn't need any registry settings. Therefore, if you backup its entire installation folder (even on your hard drive), you should be able to restore your settings by first restoring the installation folder and then running the application from there.

2. I looked at the list of programs supported at http://niksaver.com/list_programs.htm and did not see any of Microsoft Office's modules (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) except for Outlook 2003. Nor Outlook Express. Other popular programs such as Quickbooks and Quicken are missing.

the author's site is red by macafee, susprisingly just two days ago it was green......tapash from india.

I have several flash drives and a couple of mini drives, so I can use one of them for this, I guess, but I have not yet seen an answer to the question of how big of a drive does it need in order to do it? Please, some sort of recommendation since this is important to many.

Nik, Can you tell me if your program captures customized toolbars in Office applications as well?

Thanks much!

#41, Robert
Hi Robert!
Honest as always. That's why I like your comments.

@BuBBy- "Australian Thing"
Wake up BuBBy & listen to me. I would like to speak your "King's English". Unfortunately, I can't. I'm terribly sorry of that. I think you are a brilliant moderator, as well Slava.

Why is Nik's answer (#9) marked so low? I understand people being unhappy with his answer, but that doesn't mean that it isn't useful to have an answer. The question is "Did you find this comment useful?" not "Do you like/agree with this comment?". Whether or not you like Nik's answer, there's no doubt that having an Official Answer to a widely-asked question is *useful*.

This program couldn't have come at a better time -- my new computer arrives tomorrow and this looks like an easy way to transfer my downloaded programs. I didn't want to just mirror the hard drive because that carries the muck with it.

Nik - I'm backing up to my external hard drive. It would be nice to have an option to create a new file within the program.

One of the reasons I decided to give this program a try is because Nik was willing to come on the board and answer questions. That's confidence in his program, and shows me he's serious about customer service.

I have noted the various comments about the possible/certain future problem of being able to reinstall niksave and other giveaways when the program's registration details were not given at the time of installation
(after I installed Niksave the help menu under the usual "about" merely says
"registration information
this program is registered to give away of the day
(note the spaces: not the usual user giveawayoftheday")
but no registration/licence number
Wherever possible on other programs I have made either or both a screenshot or text file showing the registration information when it was provided separately in order to help me out if I wish to reinstall later. I have therefore been inordinately pleased recently to find that several programs have included these required and to my mind essential details in the text file that is included in the zip file
For example the readme.txt file that came with the FLV Video Downloader program on 30 January 2008
included
"Serial Number

XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX"
which is excellent . May I ask BuBBy if it would be possible to do this for EVERY giveaway in future.
(and make such details available upon request (which I appreciate might be difficult unless there is an easy way to prove that you did truly download and install a particular program during the required restrictive and applicable "open" 24 hour period), because it is patently obvious that if one has to reformat then it will not be possible to reinstall because even though you have the original zip file the first thing that happens after unzipping then running the actual installation exe file is that it "phones home" and smartly/smugly informs you that this is no longer a free giveaway (as if you hadn't guessed!!) so please go away and boil your head (or words to that effect)
Note that this is not a complaint,just a sincere bit of constructive criticism, I believe the basic concept to be fantastic, although rather less emphasis on video conversion programs (one only needs just the one freeware SUPER © Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer program after all!) and screensavers would suit me better

as i promised::

Pros::
1) the start up screen is excellent
2) the main screen is divided so its easy to navigate
3) can add prgs [as mentioned]
4) supports all my favorite apps

Cons::
1) Some dialogs still in russian
2) when i click for info on NikSaver its in russian as well

i think i'll keep it but hope to see some bugs fixed.

and one more thing Nikolai i dont see an update function. i know we here don'nt get free updates but most programs have that function. hope you will add it for future versions. [i mite be able to help with this if u want]

Thank you for sharing your program with us and keep it up. i give ur prg 7.5/10 and a thumbs up.

This program still has a few bugs. It is not able to "load" from backup while on a jump drive. Also I am getting the same gibberish same as #25 when I click Configuration, or load all. I have tried it on a few different machines and it wouldn't backup XP and then load it to a 2000 machine. or vis versa. I personally use "PcMover" and have have had much success in the past.

Thanks for your time,
Klint T. BS:IT A+,Network+, Security+, MCP: XP, MCSA/MCSE:Server 2003
NewCom Computer Solutions
www.newcomcs.com