As a small buisness this program -unique in respects- seemed perfect for us. It installed ok but crashed, TWICE Once on uploading images and second on the drawing button. We have sent an email to the creators of said software as we were deeply disapointed with said software and have uninstalled it completely from our computers!

I did try Presentation Assistant 1.6.9, it does work somewhat on Vista, but has to be Run as an Administrator. The Electronic Pointer makes it crash, but the other things I tried mostly worked, and there are hotkeys for some features. The Enable Screen Drawing hotkey gave me the Whiteboard instead of the screen, and there were some drawing bugs.

A new version of ZoomIt (4.0) is available, it has enhanced LiveZoom support on Vista and Windows 7.

A new version of Presentation Assiatant is available. It is full compatible with Vista.

Get the latest edition here:
http://www.goldgingko.com/product/presentationa.exe

Looks very handy for file backup but, having been employed as a professional "backup consultant" I can tell you that the most important aspect of backup software is the one which is most overlooked. Ability to restore. Backups you cannot restore are as useless as no backup. This requires no restrictions on installing extra copies and ideally a system-independent means of restoring content. e.g. bootable ISO

If you intend using this for system backup but lose the system with the software installed on it then you're pretty well "double-sixed".

Given these restrictions and looking at the product as a casual file-backup then there's not much that can't be done for free with say 7Zip, some batch files and a free scheduler. At least the backup content is universally transferrable. You can always AES encrypt the result using Truecrypt.

Shame, it looks a useful little program, Oh yes, the activation key didn't work in Windows 2000.

#45 Fubar,

With regards to your comment to Giovanni, I have to agree with you because I have played with Presentation Assistant after installing it and while it has many features, it is precisely the many features that make it impractical to be used in a live presentation. Frankly, no audience will appreciate the presenter firing up the PA Control Panel and getting to the features with it. A mouse and keyboard driven application, though simple, would be good enough. I have hardly come across a training or lecture where so many of the features are necessary and yes, the blue control panel is distracting.

This is a neat program, even if you are not doing a presentation. Write a note on the screen, set the timer as a reminder, use the sidebar for launching applications, magnify, and more. Interesting set of features; all of the ones I tried out worked well & quickly. Windows XP.

This is a very cool program. Installs and works well on XP SP3. Much better than any of the alternative software suggested here - not that they aren't good suggestions ;). I was reluctant to try this and explored the suggested alternatives, only to find myself back to try this one. And I am glad I did. I won't try to mess with this on the Vista but on this machine it is great. Thank you GOTD and Goldgingko.com!

#33,36,38, Lu Hulu, Process Explorer gives you information about all running processes, realtime and some historical (especially using the graphs). While I think that anyone can use it, it has an incredible number of features, so you can skip the stuff that you don't understand. Process Monitor is for tracking the detailed activity of processes, so it logs (in memory or to disk). It's not for the average user, but for those with an understanding of Windows internals. If you do a boot log, even with heavy filtering, it will capture an enormous amount of information. Under Vista, a number Sysinternals utilities will expose more options when Run as an Administrator. All Sysinternals utilities are standalone (no-install). Of course, you can always create a shortcut to them and place the shortcut someplace convenient, like Quick Launch, etc.

#39, MichaelMooreFan, your convoluted explanation says that running Setup as an Administrator fixed it for you. Did you try all of its features and settings? I had already tried that, and it still didn't function properly for me. #37, mike, yes, my security software warned about the message hooking, but it didn't matter whether I allowed it or not. Installing and running software with your security software shut down or excluding it defeats the entire purpose of security software. Except for anti-malware false positives, which are a separate exclusion from other security checks, and Internet exceptions for things like ad-blocking, I've never had to disable security for an application (some browser-related things need to be downloaded and installed outside of shut-down browsers, but security doesn't need to be turned off to do that). Bad coding is bad coding, that's the developer's fault, not Vista's. I made some reasonable efforts to get this to work, but if it won't support my normal Vista configuration, it's useless to me. Other apps, like the extremely small ZoomIt, run fine without any special requirements.

#41, Giovanni, sometimes I like your lists of alternatives, but the needless Vista-bashing doesn't suit you. The people who bash Vista are the people who aren't using it. I have news for you, Windows 7 mostly is Vista. It's marginally more efficient, somewhat less secure, and has a changed UI, but otherwise is much the same, based on much of the same code. Microsoft's goal was to make sure that all Vista programs and device drivers ran on Windows 7. Guess what, Windows 7 doesn't guarantee XP compatibility, that's why Microsoft supports XP (and lower) applications via running XP within a virtual machine (depending upon what version of Windows 7 you get). Nearly all programs that don't function properly on Vista are badly-coded. Games are notorious for bypassing clean coding standards, which is largely why some don't function on Vista.

There are a number of these types of applications, and I don't use them, but I understand their purpose and I've seen them in use. Adding more features doesn't necessarily make a better product. Some of these presentation utilities, like ZoomIt, are completely keyboard- and mouse-driven without a visible UI which would detract from whatever's being presented. You're showcasing something else, not the presentation utility.

Concerning 8.
“Useing Spotlight and Curtain to bring audience’s attention
Using spotlight and curtain can attract the audience to focus on the current key area”

More idiomatic expressions might be: 'Use Spotlight to bring the audience's attention.' and 'Using Spotlight and Curtain can attract the audience to focus on the current key area.' Fairly understandable, few adjustments required.
"...does it give me the impression that the developer is quality conscience." What does this mean? That the identity of the developer is "quality conscience"? Abstractions have learnt to create software? Plato's world of forms, perhaps? Or 'the developer HAS a quality conscience' ? Here, "quality" has not been qualified with any adjective, so remains indeterminate. One could surmise that it's use is in accord with common slang expressions peculiar to certain English subcultural groupings, where the simple declaration of "Quality!" is supposed to convey positive connotations. But this is not entirely clear.

@41 Perhaps they are getting all of the thumbs down because Vista is listed in the system requirements. They lied about that so they should get thumbs down.

The big thing to remember, with this very good software, is that it takes practice to use it during a presentation, and make its use fluid. PA is very good in my few tests so far.

A freeware alternative is picpick at http://picpick.wiziple.net/ which has many but not all of the features of Presentation Assistant.

@#22 Mags, #23 Stephanus - Excerpts from today’s GOTD comments:

*Crashed eventually leaving 2 windows on screen which wouldn’t close. Had to use Task Manager and stop Processes to get rid of them.

*Another issue is that the Electronic Pointer is flickery and almost invisible when used in drawing mode.
*Conclusion: A nice idea with a lot of very interesting details but still not ready for serious usage.

*There will be those willing to take the risk of downloading this.

*I couldn’t get this to work properly at all on Vista.

*I was really interested in getting this to work as it first looked like it was going to be easy to use and then … it hung.

*Sadly, I’m gonna have to uninstall, cos none of the functionality survives the Vista experience.

*It’s a nice idea, but a fundamentally flawed execution.

*Is a good slow and unpredictable software. Some applications however don’t work

*I don’t imagine the program’s author lied or was mistaken when Vista support was included in the app’s readme file, though obviously it could have been better tested.

There are always people who just have to learn things the hard way. I commend your bravery, and your sense of adventure installing a program from a developer who doesn’t know about spellcheckers. If you want to roll the dice that great, it is simply not worth it for me to take that risk. From reading some of the problems mentioned here, it reinforces the position I take regarding to install or to not install. Using your criteria, you would probably download a graphics program even if at the developer’s site all the illustrations were black and white stick figures. Slop is slop, and it’s counterintuitive when a developer publicizes their commitment to high quality standards.

Since you referred to something being laughable, I thought it appropriate to close out by reminding you that he, who laughs last, laughs best; and I’m starting to chuckle….lol

#20

"I so wanted to give this amazing piece of software a thumbs up. But I can’t. Not cos the software is bad. Simply cos it doesn’t work on Vista Business."


Ok!!

So this is the main and probably the only reason of its current poor (and in my humble view misleading) GAOTD users rating...right??

How about its FEATURES??

Come on guys....

How many PROGRAMS and DRIVERS out there still don't work properly with VISTA??

Microsoft hoped that VISTA would eventually have replaced XP in a few months times but this didn't happen, nor is it likely to happen either and Windows 7 is just around the corner.... so as matters stand there is any good reason to migrate to VISTA unless one is crazy or moron....LOL!!

The plain truth is that MICROSOFT has spent more money into advertizing VISTA than it did trying to fix its problems.

What came out of that was a half baked and very heavy indeed operating system that has taken more updates than can be counted to hopefully get right.

Why in your view didn't MICROSOFT abandon XP development and now is about to launch Windows 7, the new OS which should replace VISTA after just 2 years (or maybe even less) since VISTA was launched in the market?

Moreover Windows XP SP3 includes most of the same security features of VISTA so why would somebody want to give up an operating system that works pretty well for another one much more expensive that is still not compatible with many peripherals as well as with programs such as this one????


They wouldn’t, and that’s exactly what MICROSOFT found out. As simple as that...LOL!!

And it's not an accident that the market share for Windows XP is at present sitting around 66%, although VISTA was launched about 2 years ago, whereas Windows Vista has around 20% (but just because almost all LAPTOPS come with pre-installed WINDOWS VISTA as OS...LOL!!) with Mac OSX having around a combined 8 percent for Intel and PowerPC versions.

The remainder is picked up by Linux, Windows 2000 and other...that's it!!


So it's about MARKETING...get the drift guys???


So who's to blame?? The developers of nice applications such as this one or MICROSOFT itself?? LOL!!!


Anyway, as far as today's offer on SOFTPEDIA this program obtained a "Very Good" rating (4.0/5) from just 2 users (probably XP users...LOL!!).

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Other-Office-Tools/Presentation-Assistant.shtml



And even on CNET the review is quite GOOD!!


"Presentation Assistant also emulates a computer whiteboard. It basically lets the user draw basic forms and objects on the whole computer screen making it an ideal tool during presentations, video conferences or other kinds of meetings where the computer monitor is being shown. Presentation Assistant is a must have for presentations".


http://www.cnet.com.au/downloads/soa/Presentation-Assistant/0,239030384,10854769s,00.htm



Unfortunately I'm not at home now and can't give it a try, so don't know where the truth lies!!


Cheers from Italy!!

@32 - Thanks for the edjumacation. You must be a teecher or sumpin.

GREAT NEWS, VISTA USERS - PROGRAM DOES WORK FLAWLESSLY IN VISTA AFTER ALL (SEE BELOW):

1. Disable your firewall program temporarily.

2. Download zipped set-up files from GOTD (save them to desktop to make them easier to find right away).

3. Open downloaded set-up folder, right-click on setup.exe file, and click the "copy" option from the windows pop-up menu.

4. Paste the setup.exe file on your desktop, for ease and convenience.

5. Right-click on newly-pasted setup.exe file (on desktop) and choose the "Run As Administrator" option to finish installation.

6. Do Not open/launch application. Exit installation process first.

7. Activate program by double-clicking the Activate.exe file.

8. Upon successful activation, Presentation Assistant Program automatically launches.

9. Add the Presentation executable file to your anti-virus/firewall program, so that it accepts/allows this program to run smoothly.

10. Once you have completed all these steps, re-enter/re-access the program. It should now work for you as it did for me.

Enjoy the program!

#9 Fubar, #33 AO,

Got it. ZoomIt is an executable file that does not need to be installed to run, hence portable.

An *un*-educated guess is that MessageHook.dll, in the program's folder, is causing problems for folks in Vista - whether thru anti-malware or from conflicts. I don't imagine the program's author lied or was mistaken when Vista support was included in the app's readme file, though obviously it could have been better tested.

Anyway, reason I mention it is a few comments seemed really disappointed that they couldn't get the program to run -- shouldn't be a big deal to see what happened with anti-malware stuff turned off, or after making an exception etc.

#9 Fubar,

Following your recommendation, installed zoomit from Sysinternals.
Can you enlighten where is zoomit.exe located? It is not found in the Programs directory.

Its a good slow and unpredictable software. Some applications however dont work

#9 Fubar: Thank you very much for drawing my attention to ZoomIt! Excellent program, and doesn't have to be installed. May be run from a USB drive.

#9 Fubar,

Can you enlighten whether between Process Explorer and Process Monitor, which is the more useful utility?

"@23 – What is wrong with having a good conscience?"
There is nothing wrong with having a good conscience, if like me, that's the "way you roll"...
The complaint was because the earlier commenter should have used the word "conscious". Being too (LEARN TO SPELL THAT WORD, FOLKS! Too means also, to's like toward, and two is a popular prime number.) right-brained or left-brained is so much better than those who are brainless.

Doesn't work on Vista! Don't insist! The owners should correct the program and offer an update. The idea is great but I simply couldn't see it work. Sad!

This program is really cool, there is a online tutorial here: Online Tutorial. No problems with Windows XP so far. I like how you just have to click it once in the task bar or hold your mouse over the corner that you designate for it to sit and it reappears when you are moving between different parts of the program. It hasn't slowed down my system which is good as so many programs do. Thanks GAOTD and Goldgingko.

I too am unable to use the program successfully on Vist Home Premium. Great shame.

@23 - What is wrong with having a good conscience?

Warning

Do not attempt to download the first 2 freeware products mentioned by #16 MichaelMooreFan. WOT not only prevented the site from opening, but gave a warning.

I also did a google search for the first 2 products and found nada anywhere else for the first one. I did find something on Softsea for the second, but it seems the authors page is no longer available, and you can't download the program as clicking on the download link only returns one back to the information page.

As for the third option, it seems ok.

To #16, I'd highly recommend that you do a scan on your pc for malware, or run Highjackthis (SP?).

There is a Lite version.
No support:
1) Draw directly on the screen Electronic Whiteboard (but Draw freely on screen, yes).
2) Open documents and programs quickly during the presentation.
3) Playing background music conveniently during the presentation.
4) Countdown till a break is up
hummmmm

Thanks GAOTD. Another superb giveaway. I can use this for all my presentations.

The short description describes six features. Follows a quick comment on each.

These three are native to PPT, no need to install an extra program:
1)Draw freely on screen
2)Electronic Pointer
3)Screen Electronic Whiteboard

The next one can be achieved with custom animations or, more professionally, by the presenter's voice:
4)Bring audience’s attention

This I believe is also native in PPT:
5)Countdown

The next one is weird. But anyone thinking about that feature in particular should *really* take a look at pptPlex, from MS's own OfficeLabs. Google it...
6)Screen Zoom

Comment 8:"quality conscience"? And you blame the authors for grammatical or spelling errors on their website?!

@ #8 Renegade

"...there are certain things I look for that help me decide if I want to install that program. One of those indicators is the developer’s web site; does it give me the impression that the developer is quality conscience. Is it worth taking the risk that the program is not going to cause more harm than good with my PC. In this case that answer is, No! Now the occasional typo I can overlook, it’s not that big of a deal, but when errors are this blatant, the only thing that comes to my mind is “Game Over”"

I find your criteria laughable. Using your criteria you would have to rule out Source Forge then as many of the website meet your criteria. I have found Source Forge a great place for very useful and usable free software. In addition, I have found other great free and useful software from other "crappy" websites.

To bad you are missing out on a lot of great free software.

I'm going to give todays GOTD a try on my XP laptop as it could be useful, but am also going to try some of the other free options mentioned above since I also need something for my Vista PC.

Thx GOTD.

Sadly, I could not get this software to run under Vista 64 _or_ Vista 32. It's a nice idea, but a fundamentally flawed execution.

BTW - #8 (Renegade): people who are "quality conscience." should not cavil about other people's typos and diction.

Anson (Bob) Roberts

I so wanted to give this amazing piece of software a thumbs up. But I can't. Not cos the software is bad. Simply cos it doesn't work on Vista Business.

I can see what it's TRYING to achieve. And because of that, I reckon it's probably rock and roll on XP.

Sadly, I'm gonna have to uninstall, cos none of the functionality survives the Vista experience.

I HAVE installed the free Zoomit mentioned in one of the posts above. And while it doesn't do as much as this proggie does, it works on Vista, and it's darn useful. Specially if you do screen demos that you capture to video. Powerful stuff.

Blue skies
Regards
Roy

Some free althernatives

Demo Helper
http://tools.tortoisesvn.net/DemoHelper

There is also a program called Marconnit. Current version is shareware for $20, bur you can find an old version 2.0 or older, that is freeware. The old version is what I use and it is very helpful.

One key area to watch is if the program will work on a second screen. Many times you have the presentation on screen 2 ( either a projector or a large monitor) and the tool WILL NOT work unless the second screen is a duplicate of your PC or laptop. If you try to have the two seperate the tool will not work correctly.


These are invaluable for any presentation using powerpoint or still shots ( no help on an avi or flv). 10000% better than a laser pointer and really lets you focus and control the audience whether you are presenting at a conference, school assignment, committee meeting, fund raiser, sales presentation, internal meeting at work, or even a celebration like a retirement party or graduation where you want to have some fun with still images.

Downloaded fine, installed quickly, activated quickly and then ... Same as #1. Using Vista Home Premium. I was really interested in getting this to work as it first looked like it was going to be easy to use and then ... it hung. Thanks for all your efforts GAOTD. Win some, lose some.

When you give us to be install , make sure which group in out Vista,that has two different section: 32-bit Program Files(x86) and 64-bit Program Files in gato setup software. Sometimes it works in default x86 but software said use 64-bit, so you GATO must set to 64-bit Program Files Area.
Not just put into Program Files(x86) area, okay GATO?

Here are 3 freeware options (each with different & varying degrees of features & capabilities) compared with today's GiveAway.

1. Virtual Board - compatible with Win 98,2000,XP.

2. Microsoft PPT Helper - compatible with Win 98,2000,XP.

3. EduRibbon - compatible with all versions of Windows OS.

I will forego today's program, thanks to those who said it is incompatible with Vista OS.
Thanks much, GOTD, for the daily wonderful download opportunities you share with us.

A freeware alternative: DemoHelper from
http://tools.tortoisesvn.net/DemoHelperInfo
not as many functions, but free.

#3 your looking for Wink:
http://debugmode.com/wink/
To demo and 'annotate'

Wouldn't work on vista, love the features though, really gutted

#10, Szasza, Prezi is for canned presentations. Presentation Assistant and ZoomIt are for live presentations.

#12, Farrukh, the key point is that I couldn't get Presentation Assistant to work on Vista. ZoomIt, like all Sysinternals products, works, it's very small, standalone, like all Sysinternals products it supports multiple monitors (simply activate it from whatever monitor is active), it supports extremely easy-to-use static pan-and-zoom, it supports live pan-and-zoom (without drawing) on Vista, drawing can be done with or without zoom, the last drawing or all drawings can be erased, the cursor can be centered, the pen width can be changed, it supports red, green, blue, orange, yellow, and pink pen colors, it draws free-form, straight lines, rectangles, ellipses, and arrows, whiteboard and blackboard, copy or save current image, you can type text (selectable font, size, color), and it has a break timer with numerous features, including an end-of-break sound file. Otherwise, it doesn't play music, but you can always start WMP, which can be played from the Taskbar via its toolbar.

A very useful and beautiful utility. Especially for we developers, that we do not need to prepare for separate presentations like in PowerPoint to present our code. Now I can simply open Visual Studio, and present the code directly while using these utilities.

My overall view is that, it is a very unique kind of software.


#9 Fubar:
Presentation Assistant has lot more options and utilities than Microsoft Systinternals ZoomIt, except that ZoomIt is free but very limited. PA has more options for Drawing, Image, Arrows etc.
I didn't find any support in ZoomIt for Dual Monitors and not even if I can switch between monitors.

It is a simple software. It converts the computer screen into a manipulatable white/black broad and do a lot that one can do with electronic pointer, torch, chalk,whiteboard markers etc. For teachers and for business persons who may have to make presentations, this software should be handy. It will draw the listener's attention. I liked it.It does not harm windows xp sp3 computer.

Better alternative: www.prezi.com

I couldn't get this to work properly at all on Vista. I recommend Microsoft Sysinternals ZoomIt. Right-click downloaded Sysinternals utilities, select Properties, and click the Unblock button, if present, before extracting. They're all standalone, and can be executed from the web (live.sysinternals.com), although you won't get Help, if applicable.

This is an excerpt found on the developer’s web site:

“Useing Spotlight and Curtain to bring audience's attention
Using spotlight and curtain can attract the audience to focus on the current key area”

http://www.goldgingko.com/presentation-assistant/features.htm


If I have a need for a particular program, there are certain things I look for that help me decide if I want to install that program. One of those indicators is the developer’s web site; does it give me the impression that the developer is quality conscience. Is it worth taking the risk that the program is not going to cause more harm than good with my PC. In this case that answer is, No! Now the occasional typo I can overlook, it’s not that big of a deal, but when errors are this blatant, the only thing that comes to my mind is “Game Over”

nice program,
works with mutlple screens on win xp
can easily draw arrows, transparant rectangles ellipses
move all drawn objects as one object
zoom area to full screen, ctrl-wheel to zoom in/out, drag screen
magnifier near cursor (magnifies stuff from active screen only)
spotlight and curtains (top bottom) to hide stuff
switch off/on display with one button

Super gadget. It has many of the same utilities as built into PowerPoint but the functionality is different and much more versatile in the live presentation.

The program resides as a live toolbox, during the presentation, in a side-slider. To access the menu, mousing over the screen edge will bring the menu into focus to allow the many options described.

One personal favorite tool is the countdown clock. It is easy to set and makes a polite point of staying on track.

Installed fine on a Windows 2000 computer. After about 5mins I was very comfortable working the menus and transferring between 2 monitors. T do trainings and small presentations and this will work great as an add on. THANK YOU