Virus Scan for SoftRescue Pro Edition

Glen Petrant This product is listed on their website for the same price of $39.95. I don't know how their offering here qualifies as a discount.

Check it out: http://www.softrescue.com/us/

Dec 29 2008 at 6:54pm Copy Link

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Merle One Yesterday price on US server was double, so I guess they aligned their price today on BdJ.

Dec 29 2008 at 9:18pm Copy Link

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Glen Petrant No, it wasn't. I checked it a week ago. I even emailed them about it, but they did not reply.

Dec 30 2008 at 1:03am Copy Link

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Dan Masterson This sells with ordinary price at $69.95/EUR 59.95 from eu server, but they have an intro price in the US at $39.95. I suppose it doesn't mater where you buy it, and that the intro price for US will expire? Anyways; this looks like something useful for a change.

Dec 30 2008 at 3:44am Copy Link

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Roger Thomasson Thanks for the diligence Dan. We're assuming that the vendor is going to raise the homepage price again after the BDJ promotion, but unfortunately can't guarantee anything. I'll let you all know as soon as we hear anything, but until then are as in the dark as you are.

Apologies!

-roger

BitsDuJour Admin - Dec 30 2008 at 3:49am Copy Link

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Dan Masterson No problem Roger ;-)

Dec 30 2008 at 4:10am Copy Link

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Jorge duenais Just finished using SoftResuce and it really was a time saver. Transferred my stuff in only a few hours. It was great not having to do it all manually!

Jan 3 2009 at 7:27am Copy Link

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Alan Carr Come up with 2 different virus detections on Comodo.

I'll pass thanks, even though this is exactly what I was looking for, as I don't like my current Acronis program.

Mar 8 2009 at 10:04pm Copy Link

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Chris McLeggen There is no virus in this program! I have also used Comodo and it reported the threat name of some programs exe files to Heur.PcK.MoleBox, which is not a virus. It is actually because the exe file is encrypted. I now use AVG Anti-virus 8.0, and it does not make that mistake.

Mar 9 2009 at 1:49am Copy Link

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Roger Thomasson Fixed now. Sorry about the price confusion folks!

-roger

BitsDuJour Admin - Mar 9 2009 at 1:50am Copy Link

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Alan Carr Comodo is somewhat hypersensitive - which is exactly why I use it! I have since tested against 7 other anti-virus programs, all of which pronounced it clean.

The interface on this is nice and simple (Acronis always leaves me less than certain it's not about to wipe my hard drive and copy an old backup onto it...). It seems a handy alternative to a total mirror image backup, which also copies everything you don't like, whilst also a lot more useful than the common "backup your data" apps that leave you without the software apps to actually RUN that data!

There's no reason not to have both - and you should always have more than one back up plan....

Mar 9 2009 at 4:43am Copy Link

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Roger Thomasson Thanks for your diligence Alan!

-roger

BitsDuJour Admin - Mar 9 2009 at 4:48am Copy Link

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Glenn Byerly Tested it by removing software I downloaded a trial version of. Discovered that the trial version will create a rescue file, but will not restore it. Would have been nice to know before testing and deleting the other software.

Mar 9 2009 at 3:19pm Copy Link

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Jean-Louis Jelpy.com TO the developper: you might find a useful comment about this program on another BitDuJour page:
http://www.bitsdujour.com.../#comments

jlp

Apr 10 2009 at 9:11am Copy Link

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Graham Langford Avira reports that this download contains a virus

Sep 7 2009 at 11:56pm Copy Link

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John Vik Hi.

This is a false-positive from Avira.
We have reported it to Avira already.

They have promised to remove the false-positive within the next release.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 7 2009 at 11:59pm Copy Link

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Charles Cowan Will this move things from Vista to Windows 7 if a re-installation is required to upgrade?

Sep 8 2009 at 1:53am Copy Link

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John Vik Sorry for the late answer.

SoftRescue moves programs from vista to 7.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 10 2009 at 12:57am Copy Link

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r anonymous Kaspersky detects a backdoor trojan with this software.

Sep 11 2009 at 10:08am Copy Link

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John Vik It is a false-positive. We have reported it to Kaspersky.
It will be removed in furhter releases of the virus database.

The problem is that Kaspersky uses a "cheap" method to detect viruses, and flags every .bin file under a certain size as a virus.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 11 2009 at 10:50am Copy Link

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John Vik By the way, this is only a problem with our trial version.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 11 2009 at 10:51am Copy Link

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Bob S Does SoftRescue allow one to migrate from a PC w/ Windows XP to a new PC w/ Windows 7?

Sep 13 2009 at 5:18pm Copy Link

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Nick Kobe Hi!

I have several laptops and a desktop computer. Consequently, my question is in regard to the licensing. I'm the only user of these computers. Is the software license per user or per computer?

Many thanks!

Nick

Sep 13 2009 at 6:26pm Copy Link

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Confused Kitty Does this remove the software and files that you are migrating from the computer you're migrating from ?

Sep 13 2009 at 7:37pm Copy Link

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John Vik Nick:

SoftRescue can not check if you are breaking the license agreement. This is up to the user to check. Example: If you choose to move Office 2007, SoftRescue will move the license but it will work on both computers.

Confused Kitty:

SoftRescue deletes nothing from your old computer.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 13 2009 at 7:46pm Copy Link

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Glen H Please clarify licensing restrictions for multiple PC- laptops-netbooks used by same person as per Nicks comment. Is this software good for only 2 different PC- laptops-netbooks used by one person? Have checked your website though i'm still not 100% certain in regard to of your licensing restrictions. Thanks, Glen

Sep 13 2009 at 7:55pm Copy Link

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John Vik I'm sorry. I misunderstood the question.

You can use SoftRescue on 4 computers at the same time.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 13 2009 at 8:01pm Copy Link

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BitsDuJUser Hi john,

I do not understand why you want to mislead users here, like you have successfully misleaded myself.

I purchased just not your software thinking that it is valid for the use on 4 computers at the same time. However your licensing terms declared the following:
---------------------------------------------------
http://srpro.anovasoft.co...e=FAQ.html
= License Agreement
You may install, use, display and run four (4) copies of the software, limited to only two (2) computers
---------------------------------------------------
So please send me the second license as per the declaration above. Either you offered a special deal here or made a mistake. In either case, you have to offer a second license to myself or allow me to use 4 copies at the same time on 4 computers, as declared.

Also, after installation on my Vista with SP 2, the software did not start even once. So I have not registered yet. Is there something i need to take care about?

I shall write you about this in the helpdesk as well.

Sep 13 2009 at 10:07pm Copy Link

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John Vik Hi Mailing World.

I am sorry for this. It is correct that you can only use it on two computers at the same time.
Then you have to release your license, and then you can use it on two new computers.

However, there is a way to get around this. If you reinstall your computer, make sure you have the same computer name. In this way you can use SoftRescue for ever on this computer.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 12:02am Copy Link

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Phyllis Goodfriend How do I get it from the old computer to the new? This says no CD or DVD and that it works while I sleep. How? Thanks.

Sep 14 2009 at 12:06am Copy Link

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John Vik You can store the transfer file to any PC compatible storage media, even onto a file server in your network. External hard drives are recommended if you have lots of games and applications that you want to transfer.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 12:13am Copy Link

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Gilles GUEDIKIAN Hi,

As many user, I will receive Windows 7 on October, 22th
the trial is a good promiss, but what does it allow to try??
I can't restore a single application to test the program.
Your trial should at least allow a full backup/restore function, limited by size...
I made a 6gigs test backup... I can't do anything with it.

Is the idea that I have to believe that it works... and buy it to try it?

Sep 14 2009 at 1:40am Copy Link

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John Vik We have considered all posibilities and found that allowing only files and settings to transferred in the demo was the best solution.

If we had a limit in size, we would never had a single sale.

By the way SoftRescue works on Windows 7.

Hope this was a good enough answer for you.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 2:04am Copy Link

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David Gilmour Will SoftRescue Pro Edition enable me to transfer my applications from one partition to another on a single PC? For instance, if I create a new Win 7 partition on my system, will SoftRescue Pro Edition help me to migrate the apps that I have installed on my Vista partition on the same system?

Sep 14 2009 at 2:40am Copy Link

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John Vik Hi Gilmour.

SoftRescue does not support dual boot.
We have planned to fix this, but it will not be for 3-4 months.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 2:52am Copy Link

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Mitch B i cant trial software in a vm?

Number 2941
Desc, invalid memory process
code 12007
----------

1. what about SID restoration? different useraccounts? hardware id's?

tested for fun in win7 x64 & app crashed
2. not x64 compatible?, any plans to?

Sep 14 2009 at 2:56am Copy Link

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John Vik Hi Mitch.

We do not perform a SID restoration, but we transfer user accounts that are not "Private".

The full version works in Win 7 x64. I'm uncertain if the latest trial version has the latest updates so it will work on x64 win 7.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 3:04am Copy Link

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John Vik Hi again Mitch.

Or to be more exact;

We transfer the data files from other user accounts, and it will be saved on your C drive under a new folder.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 3:12am Copy Link

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Experience hi john
i would like to try before any purchase, could you provide any such installer that works with win7 x64?

(you need to update your faq to because it's from faq i read x64 was incompatible)

Sep 14 2009 at 3:14am Copy Link

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John Vik Send us an email at support

softrescue.com.

And we can sort it out :)

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 3:21am Copy Link

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Gilles GUEDIKIAN John, ok it's your choice...
Backup and restore files, there's dozen's of program that can do that, I can even do that manually....

Backup and restore programs... not so much, that's your added value. Reinstalling programs is a pain...
But once again, without the ability to test that...
You should really consider allowing the restore on small programs...

Anyway, I'll purchase it because of the deal.

From Vista to seven do you also backup and restore users and user's data and registry?

Sep 14 2009 at 3:40am Copy Link

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Dave tintint do you get life time up dates if you buy this?

Sep 14 2009 at 4:46am Copy Link

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John Vik Yes, within the version number. example version 1, and 1.1 and so on.

Anovasoft AS - Sep 14 2009 at 7:40am Copy Link

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BitsDuJUser Hi John,

Now you are confusing once again due to your licensing complications.

Your licensing terms are to be corrected and old.

On this website, you have advertise that it is for installation and work on 4 computers at the same time.

Also on your website, you adrevtise that the installation is for 4 computers. It can be seen here (the pro edition):

http://www.softrescue.com/index2.html

So why are you saying that it is for two computers, where everywhere it is advertised 4 computers?

I actually have two computers and two notebooks. So I have bought your software with this offer to exchange softwares on each other.

Sep 14 2009 at 10:10am Copy Link

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Bob S Hi, appreciate your responses to the above, but didn't get an answer to my question.

Can I use SoftRescue to migrate from a PC w/ Windows XP to a new PC with Windows 7?

Sep 14 2009 at 10:34am Copy Link

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Billie Gray Neither acronis True Image nor Drive xml permit restore to a different computer using different hardware - even with same osz. Similarly a clone cannot be used on a new computer with different hardware, even with same os. Does this program permit either of these?

Sep 14 2009 at 4:27pm Copy Link

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gail f Hello. I bought this software on this deal, and have had to wipe and reinstall Vista on my laptop multiple times. Backed up software on Softrescue and planned to reinstall to fied computer. When trying to reinstall SoftRescue Pro, got a license error message that the license was invalid as it was already on 2 computers. (uh, no, same laptop).

Site suggested I go and "release" it. Impossible since the computer had been wiped clean! So here I sit with the data on an external drive and am unable to install the "locked" software due to license glitch.

Calls to the Norway phone number by myself and my assistant were not successful. Anovasoft wasn't helpful and claimed the developer contacted me. My emails to "support

softrescue.com" were returned by Roadrunner as undeliverable.

My only recourse will have to be to get a chargeback from Amex. Highly disappointing experience.

Oct 5 2009 at 1:13pm Copy Link

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John Vik Hi.

If you reinstall windows SoftRescue thinks it is a new computer. However, if you use the same computer name you can continue to use SoftRescue for ever on the same computer. It doesn't matter how many times you reinstall Windows.

Send us a ticket at support

softrescue.com, and include your license key and we will release it for you and give you some extra moves.

Anovasoft AS - Oct 5 2009 at 7:14pm Copy Link

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Peter Crocker I have purchased windows 7 and want to do a clean install. I have also purchased a larger hard drive and want to move applications to the new drive(From vista old drive). I can connect the new drive via usb to my laptop can Softrescue then migrate my program to the new drive even though only one pc used. When completed I will remove the old drive and install the large unit in my laptop.

Nov 26 2009 at 8:59am Copy Link

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Stefan Hauber Probably I would have already replaced my old XP-laptop with it's upcoming hardware problems with a new one, if there were not the horrifying task of reinstall all my programs to the new (than) win7-system. It's no fun anymore...

So the functionality of your software really sounds promising. I would save really much time...

Can your software do this: Letting me automatically reinstall my programs to another computer and another OS, i.e. XP - Win7?

In my idea I would like to 'backup' all of my apps to a USB-harddisk, ideally in one run, but in separate files, and on the new system 'restore' (only) some of them, check them, (remove these which do not work and reinstall it from the original-disks) and than restore the next group.

Is this the way it works or are all the backup'ed files mixed together?

I'm wondering a little how you could do it? Of course not in detail... Do Windows (XP) protocolize automatically somewhere which files belong to which application and which registry-entries are created for this app?

Feb 22 2010 at 5:49pm Copy Link

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BitsDuJUser Just surprising to see that this software is again here for discount.

I purchased this software because it seemed to be attractive at a discounted price through Bitsdujour.com.

After installing and trying to work with the software, I found that it is not really easy to work with. But this occurs after the use.

If you select more software, then during the backup, it will crash, if you do not have sufficient RAM and the file to be generated is a large file.

So it must actually clrealy state this, that it is not for the purpose of making backups in this way. It does not.

Now I have 269 softwares installed.

I just fail to beleive that it is impossible to make 269 exports as a seperate file by such a software manufactures. In fact, I placed a suggestion, after purchasing it from here, through the company helpdesk in this regards.

Now we do know what people mean when they write "Uh, thanks, we will include this in the future versions".

The company has done nothing in this regards. The best would have been, that the company develops this software in such that it will go through the registry, export one by one all the files with compression in one directory, which could be on a different harddrive. Thereafter one could point that directory in a different system for the import.

Otherwise, you will have to export 269 times if you have softwares and that will take at least 100 hours.

Instead of this extry ordinary painful proceedure, I suggest everyone to by a harddisk partition copying utility or a partition manager that will simply duplicate a partition.

Now since then, i.e. after purchasing through Bitsdujour, I could not use it. The software remained in my system. Recently, I made a check on my system with AVG + Lavasoft. Both (I think) declated that SoftRescue Pro has a Malware of some kind.

Now I have allowed AVG to quarantine it.

I do not know if this was a wrong warning or in fact there is some kind of programming in it that does some illigal detection, which allows any such detection utility to declare it as positive.

The company should make a declaration here if there is some maleware inserted or not and immediately contact both the manufactures to see why this is the case if it is a false warning.

I now even refused to reinstall it again because it did not allow me also.

I had the version 1.3.1 when I purchased through Bitsdujour. This declared an alarm of a Trojan Generic, or whatever by AVG Identityshield. After it was quarantined, I tried to download the latest 1.6.1. I was unsuccessful. I tried to activate the software but it said last wekend that the activation server is down. Now I do not know if this was blocked by AVG still or if the server for activation was actually down.

Somehow, I did not find any peace with this little utility that I thought would help me out in saving my time. However it increased my neverous breakdown possibility and I wasted a lot of time. Instead I would have used other things that worked and would have been a happy man.

I would love to hear from the cmpany what they have to say, especially in regards to the feature request and the AVG detection.

To Admin of Btsdujour: Please send my email address to the company for further correspondence. Thanks in advance for the lovely BitsduJour site, which I appreciate a lot.

Feb 22 2010 at 6:48pm Copy Link

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gail f I have a love--hate relationship with this software...When it works it is awesome, but can be time consuming. I have 300+ "little"/downloaded programs on my computer, most from download. This ROCKS to transfer those. Most "biggies" like Office, Adobe, Mindjet,.Smartswar etc do not transfer well. Probably had 50 that had to be manually re-loaded.

What works when you backup is to run several "smaller" batches of 20-50 programs at a time, that way if it crashes it is only a few hours lost vs 12 hours and it crashes on letter W.

Support is terrible, phone doesn't work etc, emails bounced back, no response etc. Here is what I posed about the last experience I had.

Since have used again and it has saved me. I keep this as a part of my backup....ie how would you reinstall all those programs if your computer crashed. I make an update file monthly with new programs.

==========
Hello. I bought this software on this deal, and have had to wipe and reinstall Vista on my laptop multiple times. Backed up software on Softrescue and planned to reinstall to fied computer. When trying to reinstall SoftRescue Pro, got a license error message that the license was invalid as it was already on 2 computers. (uh, no, same laptop).

Site suggested I go and "release" it. Impossible since the computer had been wiped clean! So here I sit with the data on an external drive and am unable to install the "locked" software due to license glitch.

Calls to the Norway phone number by myself and my assistant were not successful. Anovasoft wasn't helpful and claimed the developer contacted me. My emails to "support

softrescue.com" were returned by Roadrunner as undeliverable.

My only recourse will have to be to get a chargeback from Amex. Highly disappointing experience.

Feb 23 2010 at 2:47am Copy Link

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Rob Ert Hello,

Maybe (part) of an answere for Gail,
It's necessary that you give the same Computername when you want Softrescue to recognize it's the same PC !

Hope this is useful for you.

Ruud

Feb 23 2010 at 5:35am Copy Link

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gail f thanks Ruud, it had the same name so that wasn't the problem. the lack of an ability to contact the company via email, anovasoft or the phone was the problem!

curious to see if anyone can email them or call them (norway?) or if the same problems exist now.

Also, as mentioned above making a computer image is another way to do it, however if you have any "glitches" in your computer or other hardware and wanted to do a clean install, then the image doesn't help since it copies everything over. We all know a fresh install often is the best way to go, but because of software reinstalls isn't practical. That's why this is/could be a great product.

Feb 23 2010 at 6:05am Copy Link

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Rob Ert Hallo Gail,

The next site gives detailed info how to get contact :
http://srpro.anovasoft.co.../index.htm , choose 'support and update info'.
I got contact by this way.

Regards,
Ruud

Feb 23 2010 at 7:11am Copy Link

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John Vik The success of the transfer depends somewhat on the condition of the source computers. If the source computer is in a corrupted and all over bad state, you are likely to transfer corrupted installer data to your target computer. With that said; we have seen that very few of the users have come across this problem. This tells us that the condition of the source computer have to be extremely bad for SoftRescue not to transfer successfully. I can assure you that if your source computer is in fairly god shape, SoftRescue will work great as it has for thousands of satisfied users.

Anovasoft AS - Feb 24 2010 at 12:24am Copy Link

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Tom User Hi,

Does Softrescue also work on a multiboot PC ?
When installing SoftRescue in more OS on the same PC, how does it handle with the license ?
Can I still install SoftRescue then on 3 other PC's with the same license ?

Looking forward to your reply !

Feb 26 2010 at 8:33pm Copy Link

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Bob S Curious if anyone has compared this to PC Mover (http://www.laplink.com/pcmover), which I generally use when upgrading from one PC to another.

PC Mover has worked reasonably well for me in the past and the latest ver. says it will handle migration from XP to Windows 7 (without requiring all the machinations). Haven't tried that yet... waiting to be certain that works before moving to Windows 7.

Does Softrescue move both programs and data?

Feb 28 2010 at 4:42pm Copy Link

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Greg B Uh... by any chance was this website designed with TopStyle 4? Sorry... couldn't resist... :-)

Mar 1 2010 at 4:24pm Copy Link

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Tom User Hope to get an answere. I asked something !

Thank you

John

Mar 1 2010 at 5:47pm Copy Link

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Glen Hilton Purchased a license a few months back, sounded quick and simple, no it wasn't - total waste of money and ended up transferring data manually.

Mar 1 2010 at 6:25pm Copy Link

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Hennie Rheeder Your trial software is suspect. My latest Trend Micro anti trojan program identified the following and cleaned it:
BKDR-SETUPFACT.C
I consider Trend Micro to be one of the best. Please advise?

Mar 1 2010 at 7:00pm Copy Link

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A PCMOVERuser I used PC Mover to migrate from XP to Windows 7. And it really works i.e. (without requiring all the machinations).

It moved both programs & data, and I would 97% worked straightaway including MSOffice; without the need to reinstall anything!

I would thoroughly recommend it.

Mar 1 2010 at 7:06pm Copy Link

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John Vik John Merks:

Hi.

SoftRescue doesn't support dual boot. As long as you use the same computer name on your computer, you can reinstall SoftRescue as many times you want.

Anovasoft AS - Mar 1 2010 at 7:35pm Copy Link

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John Vik A PCMOVERuser:

The biggest differnce between SoftRescue and PCMover, is that SoftRescue only transfer the needed files. So SoftRescue does not transfer virus, cookies and so on.

So in the end you will have a cleaner and faster computer with SoftRescue.

Anovasoft AS - Mar 1 2010 at 11:56pm Copy Link

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Richard Blake some reviews at
http://www.amazon.com/Ame...B001P6Y27K

Mar 2 2010 at 2:27am Copy Link

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John Vik Since novemer 2009 we have released a new version of SoftRescue, which fixed alot of problems.

Since we released our new version we have had alot of happy customers given us feedback at our support.

Anovasoft AS - Mar 2 2010 at 2:43am Copy Link

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Diane Farrer I received my newsletter this morning and was interested in taking the SoftRescue for a spin before deciding to purchase. I am unable to set it up as the trial version comes with a little extra to it called, a DR/Infexor.AK dropper.
Thought you m ight like to know. Is there someway I can fix this so I can at least try the product prior to purchasing?
Thank You
Diane

Mar 2 2010 at 4:54am Copy Link

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Petter Rossler Ooh, it actually moved my Photoshop. I have to try it with Office.

Thanks.

Mar 2 2010 at 5:04am Copy Link

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jill m So what is the new version number and can previous users get a free upgrade?

I have had pretty good success with program for smaller program moving, not Adobe or Office but they are easy to reinstall.

Mar 2 2010 at 5:41am Copy Link

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David Lang Is this a complete disk clone program? I have now set everything up I want on my new Win 7 system on a 1 terabyte drive. I now want to mirror that drive to a duplicate1 terabyte drive and put it away for safe keeping. In the event of a hard drive crash or major something I can quickly be up and running with only recent data to reinstall. (backed up elsewhere.) Does Soft Rescue do this?

Mar 2 2010 at 7:18am Copy Link

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John Vik Jill M: all users get the latest version each time you start SoftRescue.

David Lang: sorry, but SoftRescue is not a complete disk clone program. It "only" moves your programs. I would recommend Acronis for a complete backup.

Anovasoft AS - Mar 2 2010 at 7:51am Copy Link

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Bob S David - I use Disk Cloner Rx (from Horizon, I think). Pleased, so far... they also have a "premium" customer support for 15% extra or so, which I got. Figured if I needed it, I wanted to be able to get an answer right away. Haven't had to restore - knock on wood!

For "real-time" backup of data, I also use online backup (Crashplan, after getting frustrated w/ a couple of others). Great service, so far.

Mar 2 2010 at 8:40am Copy Link

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aw raynor I also use CrashPlan and like it. For complete backup nothing beats Windows Home Server, I have the HP model. It's the type of product that can really save you time and your data.

Mar 2 2010 at 9:09am Copy Link

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Jon Koerner YIKES! This program sounds very appealing, in theory. I would purchase if I believed that it actually would work as advertised. But before doing so... I ask Anovasoft Development to please respond to the following concerns

In addition to several troubling negative reports posted here, I read the 6 reviews at Amazon.com -- 4 users gave it only 1 star (!), the other 2 users gave it 4&5 star ratings. Not impressive. 3 of the negative reviewers mentioned that they are EXPERT computer geeks. 3 of the negative reviews were AFTER the Nov. 2009 new release (which developer says here supposedly fixed many problems). One reviewer states that (after it totally trashed his Win7 system), he submitted a trouble ticket on Dec. 25, and FINALLY got a response 24 days later (!) (and that response only asked whether he was still having problems!). Also, some commented on very inadequate help system & documentation. YIKES!

I certainly don't want to waste my money and (more importantly) waste 4 days on trying to use the software, only to finally give up in exasperation and have to spend many more days reinstalling everything manually after all. (And then, to add insult to the injury, receive a useless response from tech support 24 days later!)

So please tell us, Anovasoft, how do you respond to these charges???

Mar 2 2010 at 9:34am Copy Link

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David Lang Thanks for the tips. I was going to purchase Acronis until I saw all the terrible reviews. I'll do some research on Disk Cloner.

I see that Windows 7 has a backup that says "Create a System Image" but am guessing that might not be a cloning feature.

Mar 2 2010 at 9:34am Copy Link

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John Vik Hi Jon Koerner,

We are aware of the ticket submitted to us on the 25th of december. The reason that he "did not" receive an answer from us was because our emails went in the spam folder.

However, when we finally got in contact with the customer we where able to check his old computer. Then we noticed that the old computer did not work at all. It started, but no programs worked and the computer was infected by viruses. SoftRescue does alot, but sorry to say it we are not magicians.

If the program doesn't work on the old computer, it most likely doesn't work on the new computer. However, we have encountered some programs working better after we moved it with SoftRescue.

Hope this answered your question.
Please ask again if something was unclear.

Anovasoft AS - Mar 2 2010 at 10:26am Copy Link

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Nico Westerdale Due to the overwhelming response Anovasoft AS has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy!

BitsDuJour Admin - Mar 2 2010 at 4:00pm Copy Link

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Diane Farrer How is this going to help anyone do anything with the trial version? If it still has problems, extending it another day isn't going to remove the items that come along with the program trial. I have Avira AntiVir which has done pretty good by me, but the errors are endless when I go anywhere near this trial.
Thank you
Diane

Mar 2 2010 at 5:51pm Copy Link

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John Vik Enjoy the extra day!

Anovasoft AS - Mar 2 2010 at 7:08pm Copy Link

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Jon Koerner To Developer: (John Vik) --
Thanks, but your response only addressed one issue out of the several extremely negative reviews which I mentioned. (No, I don't expect your program to perform miracles, transferring programs from a badly corrupted source computer!)

Again, I assure you that I (and others here, I'm sure) would gladly purchase your program, **IF** you will please explain these several negative critiques and convince us that the program will likely work for us as advertised. If it really could do what I would need, it could potentially save me 50-100 hours of work per computer, so it would be worth more than you are asking for it. But I need to know whether it's likely to be able to do that or not. All of the negative reviews I'm seeing make me doubtful, and I just really don't want to waste my money and many hours of time on something that won't.

(Please understand that due to the nature of this program -- it requires me to have a new PC ready for transferring the programs from an older PC -- it is not feasible for me to do a thorough trial evaluation within the time constraints of this BitsDuJour sale period. Thus we need to rely on reports from previous users, on the info in your website, and on your explanations of these users' reports, to decide whether the program is likely to work for us. )

1. WHY does software require Internet connection to Anovasoft in order to work???
Amazon reviewer: "... cannot use it without sending your information to the company EVEN AFTER you have licensed the product." and " it goes through your entire computer and then fails IF YOU ARE NOT CONNECTED TO ANOVASOFT website: ... --- they have no need to access my information or applications remotely." I would tend to agree with this.

WHY does your program require connection to your site??

2a. Did not work at all -- or "Freezes"
Several users have reported this, including Glen H (above)
or
2b. Worked only for archiving/transferring small-ish programs. Did not work for transferring large applications (MS Office, Photoshop, etc.) Multiple reviewers have reported this (although one user did report success with Photoshop). One user stated that he only was able to get it to work if he performed multiple archiving passes, archiving only small batches of programs on each pass.

QUESTION: Are these reports correct? Can all of the reported problems be attributed to "corrupted" source computers? While I don't expect the program to be able to work with a computer that is badly corrupted, it needs to be able to work with a computer that has been in use for some time -- I.E. a computer which has a goodly number of installed programs, some that have been uninstalled, programs and OS that have been updated/patched. All of the foregoing leave behind a measure of detritus -- that's the nature of Windows. Systems that've been in use for a while (which of course are the ones for which people would be interested in a program such as SoftRescue) are necessarily not going to be "squeaky clean" like a brand new system with a fresh Windows install and a tiny number of installed programs.

So the main question is, can we really expect this program to work with a "real-world" source computer that's been used a lot -- not one that's been neglected and is an infected, corrupted "basket-case," but one that has accumulated a lot of "stuff". Or is the program just as likely to fail in such cases as to succeed, in which case the failure is going to be attributed to a "corrupted" computer?

There are certainly lots of "little-old-lady" users out there who rarely install anything, and barely use the computer at all, merely browsing a handful of websites and viewing emailed photos of the grandkids, whose computers are still almost pristine after a few years' use, and certainly SoftRescue ought to be able to transfer their camera software, favorites and emails to the new computer.

But I would guess that many BitsDuJour users are not that type of user, but are rather very heavy users who may have installed/uninstalled hundreds of programs, updates, etc., but probably performed reasonably good maintenance/security practices. Is your software going to flounder when confronted with such systems? It's okay with me if you say yes - I recognize that automating the transferring of such systems is an enormous, perhaps impossible, challenge -- just please be honest if the program is really only suitable for the "Lite" users' systems.

3a. Exceedingly long times to archive small number of progs.
"whether you want to archive (i.e. "rescue") one application or ten applications, the software ... goes through your entire computer " WHY?

3b. No "progress meter/indicator"?
"I finally got it to run on *one* application at a time, each time it took longer and longer to scan my same computer."

3c. Apparently the program can take several hours to archive a batch of programs, but if it runs into a glitch towards the end of an archiving session, it will crash, without having saved ANY of the archived programs, so user must re-run the entire archiving session. Is that correct? If so, why isn't it at least saving the successfully archived programs prior to the crash?

4a. Malware/Spyware???
Amazon: "MCAFEE REPORTED THAT SOFTRESCUE IS BUNDLED WITH THE ARTEMIS TROJAN SPYWARE"

4b. "fails to perform its task completely if you have any sort of anti-virus. on my system" (User had to disable his antivirus in order to get the software to work).

4c. You say that "unlike PCMover," SoftRescue will not transfer viruses to the new computer. Is that simply because it just flat won't work on a source computer that's infected? Is this why some reviewers say that the program crashes after several hours into an archiving pass?

You said in your earlier response to me that the reason why the program did not work for that Amazon user (the one with the 26-day lag in getting a response from tech support), was because his computer was infected with viruses. So it sounds like you're saying that the method SoftRescue uses to not transfer viruses is to just fail to operate at all!

If it WILL work on an infected source computer, then how does it know how to not transfer virus-infected files? Does it have a built-in virus/malware scanner? If not, then I just cannot understand how you can claim that it won't transfer viruses.

Your FAQ states that it transfers only the "original" files. What is that supposed to mean? How would it know whether or not one of the files (e.g. a .dll) created during the original installation of Program X has subsequently been infected. If "original files" is just based upon original filenames, that's certainly no guarantee that they're not infected.

5. Inadequate documentation & Help:
An Amazon reviewer: "You start right out with nearly no instructions. If you run into problems the help is more sales promotion than help. (and you will run into problems.) The program tells you things you are supposed to be able to do but no detail on how to do them and it doesn't provide dropdowns for the actions you are supposed to be able to perform."

I have also studied your website's user guide, FAQs, and Troubleshooting section (more on that below), and they do indeed seem to be sparse. Plans to expand/improve these?

6. Lack of Technical Support
This has been mentioned by several reviewers. (Re: the 26-day delay incident -- why were your tech support responses getting trapped by a spam filter? Are they "spam-ish"? Why, if that customer's spam filter was trapping all of your messages, did a message from you finally get through the spam filter after 26 days of not getting through?]

Gail F (above) stated: "Support is terrible, phone doesn't work etc, emails bounced back, no response etc." and "Calls to the Norway phone number by myself and my assistant were not successful. Anovasoft wasn't helpful and claimed the developer contacted me. My emails to "support

softrescue.com" were returned by Roadrunner as undeliverable."

I see that your website now lists "nasupport

softrescue.com" for support emails, so perhaps Gail F sent to wrong email address (or was the address changed at some point?), but what about the phone calls?

7. Does it work on a multi-boot (multi-OS) computer?
You replied to John Merks' question stating "SoftRescue doesn't support dual boot. As long as you use the same computer name on your computer, you can reinstall SoftRescue as many times you want."

I don't understand why it should not be able to archive from or transfer to an OS that's installed on a multi-boot PC. For example, many multi-boot setups hide the partitions containing OSs B and C, when you boot into OS A. This program supposedly archives the installed programs within an OS -- it has nothing to do with bootup -- why should it care at all whether there might be other OS's installed on other partitions or drives within that computer???

Please explain further.

8. Win7 compatibility???
Your online FAQ states that it's compatible with 2000/XP/Vista, does not mention Win7.

Can it transfer apps from an XP machine to a new Win7 PC, or not? That would probably be the most common need for program transfers, nowadays.

9. Troubleshooting section of your website seems wacko

9a. The first entry is titled: "My Programs says [sic] I need to reinstall."
The "solution" states: "It is highly recommended to reinstall all updates for your applications prior to use. This is to ensure the highest accuracy when restoring."

HUH? This is apples and oranges. If you transfer Program X to a new computer, then the first time you try to run it, it says that program X needs to be reinstalled, what on earth does that have to do with application updates? Presumably, the updates have already been installed for Program X on the old computer. Why didn't the updated program get transferred?

Is that what you meant elsewhere by SoftRescue "only transfers the original files?" You mean it does not archive the component files of Program X that have been updated/patched since the program was originally installed??? if so, then virtually ANY program that has been updated on the old PC is guaranteed not to work on the new PC.

9b. The second entry is "My Programs does not work properly"
The Solution is: "You should try to do a repairinstall from "Add/Remove programs" in XP or Programs and Functions in Vista."

Well, if we end up having to reinstall all the programs anyway, what exactly is the point of using SoftRescue at all????

9c. the 4th entry is "The Shortcuts for my programs does not work"
Suggested Solution: "If you have restored a program which originated from another harddrive then C:\, you may encounter this problem. The fix for it is to run a repairinstall or simple make new shortcuts by copying them from your Program Files folder."

HUH? "copying shortcuts from your Program Files folder"? but that's not where shortcuts are located...

I hope you can address these concerns, as it would be really great to have a software that could do what SoftRescue claims to be able to do. But, at present.... I'm afraid that this is sounding more and more like an application-transfer program that could've been designed by my elderly Aunt Letha from Topeka....

Mar 3 2010 at 1:55am Copy Link

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John Vik Hi Jon. Sorry for the late answer.

1. SoftRescue requires Internet connection during the whole process to download the latest scripts and code. Meaning; when SoftRescue starts to backup i.e. Office it checks our servers if there is a newer version of the method to backup the program. If the answer is yes, SoftRescue starts to download it. By doing this we can launch small fixes without having to release a new version of SoftRescue. No information is sent from the computer to Anovasoft. We do not store any information about your computer or programs.

2a. We have released a new GUI that does not freeze.
2b. In the cases we have encountered that the user could only transfer small programs, was due to lack of space on c: drive, or that the drive was configured with FAT32. In order to help the user, we have now implemented a tool that checks for free space on the working drive and the drive which the file is saved. We have also implemented a fix that converts your hard drive to NTFS, so you can save large files.
There is also some computers that can only backup small programs due to the computer being so corrupted that it barely starts. Anovasoft have performed thousands of test-runs of SoftRescue on vast numbers of different computers, laptops and so on, with positive results.

Regarding the Lite users: One computer we tested it on had installed over 200 programs, and the srp-file was HUGE. And "every" program worked. We only had some minor problems with aquarium screensavers and a Chinese homemade program.

3a. I am uncertain what you mean about this. If you think about the initial scan SoftRescue has, it is just to find all files, shortcuts and registry entries on the computer.

3b. Full version has a progress indicator.

3c. Full version has a function to stop the process, check the archive file and close is properly. So you are able to use it.

4a. This is because MCAfee flags all small .bin files as Trojans. In the full version we have included the .bin file in our executable. So this is solved in the full version.

4b. Sorry to say it, but before we have a new trial version you have to disable your antivirus.

4c. SoftRescue only transfer the needed files, so we do not take the whole folders as our competitor does. If the file is corrupt or missing we will try to regenerate it from the installation file.

The virus the Amazon user had on his computer, or to be more precise the whole bunch he had, prevented SoftRescue to run simple tasks as registry editor and cmd.

Exactly how SoftRescue doesn't transfer viruses is our secret. You can find out if you apply for a job with us.

Regarding the "original files" question; see above.

5. We are working on the help section, and will have a new version up and running very soon.

6. In November and early December we had some problems with our mail servers. However; this is now fixed. The reason NAsupport@softrescue is listed as support for our customers in North America, is that we have a sales representative for this region. We can see all support cases that is sent to this address. About our phone; we are a company situated in Norway and as there is 8-10 hour time difference between USA and Norway we discontinued direct phone support. Our American sales representative provides phones support to our North American customers.

7. We have tried to fix this over a long period, but with no success. We have also been in contact with Microsoft, and the answer we got there was that it is impossible to fix.
8. It is clearly stated that SoftRescue is Win7 compatible on several pages on our web site including the front page. You can transfer from XP to Win7. Thank you for pointing out that Win7 compatibility is missing from the online FAQ. It will be corrected when the refurnishing of help and FAQ section starts.
9. The entire help section will, as mentioned, be completely renovated very soon.
9a. The online help section you are referring to applies to older versions of SoftRescue, and once again, it will be corrected.
9b. This applies if some of your transferred programs don't work properly. The simple workaround is to launch a repair install that usually takes less than a minute to complete. There is a big difference between a full install and a repair install. So; the answer is that you do not have to reinstall all the programs, but you might need to repair install some of them.
9c. Answer to this question is the same as our answer to 9b above.
Finally; I will take the opportunity to say that if your old computer is in a very bad state, don't buy SoftRescue. On the other hand if your old computer is in somewhat god shape, as it is for most people, SoftRescue will save you a lot of time.

Anovasoft AS - Mar 3 2010 at 6:21pm Copy Link

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Jon Koerner Thank you very much for your detailed response!

I think that I have only a couple of follow-up questions for you, and then I'll be satisfied to purchase the software!

11. "Original Files" -- You really didn't answer this question. All you said was: (4c) "Regarding the "original files" question; see above", but there was no mention of original files above. What, exactly, is meant by "original files"? Does this mean "only the files created at the time of the app's initial installation"? If so, what about an app's component files which have been patched or replaced by an update for the app -- are those not copied into the archive? (If not, then the app is certainly not going to work on the new computer.) How would SoftRescue know whether or not one of an app's component files (e.g. a .dll) created during the original installation of Program X has subsequently modified by a legitimate update, or by a virus?

12. I did not at all understand what you meant by (4b) "4b. Sorry to say it, but before we have a new trial version you have to disable your antivirus." ??? "...before we have a new trial version..." ???

13a. Regarding (3a): So are you saying that if I only want to archive and transfer one or two smallish apps, that SoftRescue will have to perform a very lengthy scan of the entire computer?

13b How long does this initial scan actually take? For example, what about the system with the 200 apps that you transferred successfully, which you mentioned above?

13c. As I mention in 14c below, it might be a very good idea to allow the user to manually limit this scanning to specified partitions -- which could both shorten the scan duration and (possibly) give us a workaround to the multi-boot situation.

14. Regarding multibooting computers. This is a huge bummer, if SoftRescue absolutely won't work at all on any Windows installation in a dual-booting computer.

I just cannot understand it.

14a. (I assume you are talking about a multi-boot setup where the OSs are on different partitions, and NOT a setup where you have two OSs on the same partition - correct?)

14b.Does the problem pertains to the target computer needing to have Windows installed on the same partition number (e.g. disk 1,partition 0)? If so, that's bad -- because, for one thing, what about computers that have a hidden "factory restore" partition made by the manufacturer?

For example: On a source computer, this hidden partition might be on the second partition (hdd0-partition1), with Windows on the first partition (hdd0-partition0). On the target computer, the manufacturer might have done things oppositely - put the hidden partition on the first partition (hdd0-partition0), and the Windows on the second (hdd0-partition1).

So if the issue is that our target computer's Windows must be on the same partition #, then it's not going to work in the above example.

14c. Is the problem due to the thorough scan of the "entire computer" that SoftRescue performs prior to creating an archive? Maybe it's scanning too much, i.e. if it scans a partition which contains one of the other bootable OSs. Can the scan be limited to scan only the partitions that the user specifies? (If not, I think this would be a good idea for you to consider implementing -- even on a single-boot computer, I might have ten partitions set up, but I might know that the software program's application components exist ONLY on partitions C: and D:, for example.)

14d. What is the workaround, if user has a source or target computer with dual-boot?
(a) can we, say, make a copy of our source OS into a VMWare virtual machine, so the OS thinks it's the only OS on the machine?
(b) could we copy the source computer's Windows partition temporarily onto a third computer (one would have to replace all the hardware drivers to match the hardware that's in the third computer, of course), and create our programs archive from there?

Sheesh!

15. Glad to hear that you will be updating the Help and the documentation - sounds like this is badly needed so I hope the new ones will be released soon. (?)

(P.S., my computers are not in very bad states. They are well maintained but heavily used, have lots of installed apps, and thus are complicated.)

(P.S. I got your email regarding how to purchase, since the BDJ server was down yesterday, so I'll be ready to purchase once I get a reply back from you to this message.)

Mar 4 2010 at 7:35am Copy Link

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Jon Koerner Oh, one more thing:
16. Apparently, if your computer has multiple Windows user accounts, SoftRescue requires you to perform multiple runs - at least one run for each Windows user. Apparently you have to login as User X, perform a SoftRescue archiving operation, then login as Use X on the new computer, perform a transfer operation, then do that again for every user...

16a. This is undesirable, especially since each run requires a lengthy (several hours) initial scan of the entire computer -- so with four users, this might take over 20 hours! So why can't a user with administrative privileges tell SoftRescue that we want to archive ALL programs, for ALL users, in a single pass? (as long as we have setup user accounts on the new computer with exactly the same nmes).?

16b. Doesn't this result in a lot of confusing duplication?? I mean, if we have many programs that are installed for "All Users", and some programs installed for only User X, and some other programs installed for only User Y, etc., then it would seem that when we login as User X and do an archiving operation, it is going to archive all the programs installed for only User X, AND all the programs installed for "All Users". Then, when we next login as User ^ and do another archiving operation, it is going to archive all the programs installed for only User Y, AND all the programs installed for "All Users."

So when we go to perform the (multiple times) transfer operations on the new computer, we first do User X, all is hunky-dory. But when we then do User Y transfer operation, we now are restoring all of the "All Users" programs again, a second time. Correct?

16c. (Yes, you have a step in the archiving process where the user can select WHICH programs to include in the archive, from a big long list of ALL programs, but that list does not specify WHICH of those programs in the big list are "All User" programs, and which ones are "only User X" programs. Presumably, this would allow us to avoid the redundant archiving and restoring of the "All Users" programs multiple times.

BUT -- since the big list of programs doesn't specify which programs are "All User" programs, how is the user supposed to know which ones NOT to select when archiving for Users Y, Z, etc.??

16d. OR, maybe it is true that for each User, you have to create an archive containing ALL programs (both the "All Users" and the "User Y" programs), because even the "All Users" programs do install things in the individual users' profiles (e.g., c:\Documents and Settings\User Y\Application Data folder).

Is that correct? If so, then of course the length of time required for both archiving and restoring, for each and every user, is going to be very long indeed. It could take, what, 50 hours or more, altogether???

16e. Therefore, there has GOT to be a better way to deal with this issue. Perhaps 50 hours would equal some time savings, compared to manually reinstalling everything, but not by a whole lot. There's got to be a better way, to accomplish picking everything up in one big archving pass, seems to me.

What says the developer about this????

Mar 4 2010 at 8:03am Copy Link

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dshen dshen 2 hi,

When do you expect to run this special promotion again? I was about to buy a copy of the software, however got distracted from it, I am back to the computer to finish the purchase, but the promotion is going for almost a day. Does anyone have a discount code I could use?

Thanks.

Mar 4 2010 at 4:10pm Copy Link

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John Vik We will schedule a new promotion again in April.

Anovasoft AS - Mar 4 2010 at 7:37pm Copy Link

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Jon Koerner *WHY* does running the SoftRescue program require being connected via internet to SoftRescue's server during the *ENTIRE* process of backing up the user's source computer's software programs (which can take MANY hours)? Other users of the program raised this question (they disliked it for potential privacy issues), and I posed it again on March 3.

John Vik (SoftRescue Developer) answered that question (above, on 3/4) by stating:
"1. SoftRescue requires Internet connection during the whole process to download the latest scripts and code. Meaning; when SoftRescue starts to backup i.e. Office it checks our servers if there is a newer version of the method to backup the program. If the answer is yes, SoftRescue starts to download it. By doing this we can launch small fixes without having to release a new version of SoftRescue. No information is sent from the computer to Anovasoft. We do not store any information about your computer or programs."

This answer is troublesome, and I would like to get a better answer:

17a. What about the RESTORE TO NEW COMPUTER part of the process? Does SoftRescue insist on being internet-connected to their server during the entire RESTORE process as well??

If so, then WHY????

17b. The notion that it is somehow more efficient or economical to stay connected continously to the user's computer for many hours (usually) during the entire archiving process, VERSUS just connecting once, briefly at program launch, and downloading any new or udpated scripts & code (i.e., offering to check for any program updates, and then offering to perform the updates if any are found -- a 1-5 minute process, which is a very common practice used by MANY software programs nowadays), seems to me, to put it bluntly, *SHEER NONSENSE*.

In what conceivable way does this save any time?

(Maybe it saves a tiny few minutes for the developer, since he does not have to re-compile his program. But if that's the issue, why is the developer too lazy to do an occasional recompilation?)

17c. What happens if, after we're several hours into an archiving run, the user's internet connection stutters or drops briefly??? The program freezes, or crashes, and we have to start the whole lengthy thing AGAIN??? That is a simple recipe for creating user frustration, annoyance, even anger and loud cursing! So now we've pissed off not only the customer, but his spouse & neighbors as well!

17d. As I understand it, the archiving procedure is that it first does a quck scan of the user's installed programs, then it gives the user a list, from which he can select which programs he wishes to have archived & transferred to the new computer. Only then does the lengthy process of creating the compressed archive begin.

So, why then doesn't the program simply, once the initial quick scan is completed, "phone home" and check whether there are any programs in the list for which they have a new script, and (offer to) quickly download it then, and then terminate the internet connection for the remainder of the archiving run?

17e. As for the developer's claim that "No information is sent from the computer to Anovasoft" -- this statement is just plain *FALSE*, an out-and-out lie (perhaps unintentional, or due to ignorance or misinformation provided to Mr. Vik by somebody else, but it is a falsehood nonetheless).

It just flatly contradicts the developer's own explanation in the preceding sentences for why they require an internet connection at all!!!

Dang it!! As I have said repeatedly, I would really, really like to purchase a software program that can do what SoftRescue claims it can do. Despite the several negative reviews and comments from other users, I am willing to give the developer the benefit of the doubt on these and assume that the negative reviews were due to various misunderstandings and extenuating circumstances.

But I have given the developers a clear opportunity to clarify and explain those circumstances, by giving them a clear and detailed listing of the several points of concern. To their credit, they did satisfactorily answer several of them in John Vik's message of 3/4. But there are, by my count, still 15 questions (in my posts of 3/4, at 3:35 & 4:03PM, which have not been answered yet, as of 2 days later), plus the 5 raised in this comment, for a total of 20 points that still require some clarification from the developer.

I apologize if that seems like an onerous request to make, but I'm not the one who created this program and provided inadequate documentation (which might have easily dispelled many of these concerns), nor am I one of the previous purchasers who suffered frustration and disappointment, causing them to leave negative comments.

I'm just a more-than-willing potential purchaser who has spent a LOT of time researching this program and who has taken the trouble to give the developer a detailed, written, clear-cut opportunity to dispel these areas of concern and thus convince myself and many more users to purchase his software! So I wish I could get some more answers here!

Mar 6 2010 at 8:24am Copy Link

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Jon Koerner Since, after two days, I still have not received any answer to my two comments of March 4 (above, which I had also emailed directly to their rep, John Vik), I thought that I'd try going to the "Product Website" link to see if I could find some answers there, or some other way of reaching their Tech Support..

But the website for this product, www.softrescue.com, has virtually *NO* section or link or anything for SUPPORT!!! Completely absent!! W.T.H. (what the heck)???

There are sections for "Features," for "Overview," "Requirements," "Screenshots," and "FAQ," and, of course, one for "BUY" -- but *nothing at all* for Support; no email address, no nothing. ALSO, there is *NO* section or link on the site for *Documentation*!

W.T.H. kind of product website is this, that would have no SUPPORT??? This certainly gives the appearance that SoftRescue is is amateurish, or dishonest (selling something but providing no support). I am not saying that it IS, just that it gives it that appearance.

You can go to the anovasoft.com website (Anovasoft makes SoftRescue), and there they DO have a "Support" section (though it's very meager). However, there is NO indication at all on the softrescue.com site that an anovasoft.com website even exists.

IF you click on the "BUY" section tab (that's a BIG *IF*, because of course you are unlikely to click on the "BUY" link if you have already bought the product. AND, you would also be unlikely to do so if you were trying to evaluate the downloaded trial version), then it takes you to a different website -- https:\\secure.avangate.com (which does the purchase/credit card processing for SoftRescue).

Only on THAT "BUY" page is there a link for "Help Center." THAT link takes you to the ..\anovasoft.com\support.html page, on which there is a smallish icon that (if clicked) takes you to the online user guide for SoftRescue. In addition to the smallish icon, there is also a support

softrescue.com email address, and, way, way down at the bottom, a clickable "Help Desk" icon that will take you to a Help page at anovasoft.com, where you CAN, finally, find a little bit of help.

But only an extremely motivated or exasperated user would ever be likely to find even that little bit of help, which begs the question of why Anovasoft would put up a SoftRescue website that makes it practically impossible to find any kind of support or help... Let's hope it's just due to an innocent little oversight or error in their HTML code that caused a Support tab to not show up, rather than being intentional.

But if it is indeed merely due to some innocent "sloppiness," there's an awful lot of such innocent sloppiness going on throughout the computer and software industry, and that has begun to give me a really bad attitude toward all of it.

It makes one wonder -- is that kind of innocent sloppiness equally as pervasive in other industries? Such as the auto industry? Health care? Nuclear power plants? If so, we're lucky that any of us humans are still alive enough to be able to get frustrated and have bad attitudes. But we can't expect our luck to hold out forever, if people don't start being less sloppy.

Mar 6 2010 at 8:53am Copy Link

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Billie Gray I paid for this software in September when the deal ran. I believed I had completely installed the software, but apparently I hadn't because when I tried to use it a few months later, it would not run. I re-installed it, but now I can't get into the program without providing in addition to the key - which I have - the email address and password I used, but no combination that I have tried works at all. How can I get the information I need to be able to complete the registration information and complete the software installation so I can use it. I have been in touch with the company - or the billing company - and they respond, but have not provided me with the email address and password I used, though I have given them my key. Thank you.

Mar 27 2010 at 2:58pm Copy Link

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Jon Koerner I bought this, despite some remaining unanswered questions, (Because the only alternative for migrating apps from XP to Win7 appears tobe Laplink, and they want you to pay $20 for EACH migration you do). But now, having tried to actually use it, I regret having done so. It is very poorly written. It locked up during the first attempt to archive my programs, but it's not possible to just End the App in Task Manager - you have to go to the process, which is Explorer.exe, and kill it, which means you have to kill your windows session totally, then reboot. Then when I tried to launch it again, it once again required me to enter not only my serial # but also an email address & a password. It did not accept them however, (same as happened to Billie Gray above) and it pops up a totally meaningless, misspelled error message saying:

Licens check failed
Lock computer to next lisence?

So just what in hell might this be supposed to mean?

The help, which is only on their website, not integrated into the app, is full of misspellings, and the screenshots show a totally different user interface than what the app actually has.

When the app is archiving programs, its progress meter constantly grabs the focus then releases it -- so it is impossible to type or do anything while the thing is running, which takes a LONG time.

This appears to be a very amateurish application created by sloppy amateurs, who just take your money, then won't refund it because they put the blame for its failure on some purported flaw in your system - you have viruses, you have corruption, you have disk errors, etc.

In addition, the whole issue of the app requiring a constant internet connection to their website during the entire long time that it's creating an archive of your software, is very worrisome -- their "explanation" of the reason for this does not hold water - it is utterly unnecessary, and makes me think that there may well be something nefarious going on here.

I hope Bitsdujour never offers their software again.

Mar 28 2010 at 12:01am Copy Link

0

Roger Thomasson @ Billie

Were you in touch with Anovasoft (the vendor), or Avangate (the payment processor)?

Shoot me an email at roger (at) iconico (dot) com with the details and I'll see what I can do.

Best!

-roger

BitsDuJour Admin - Mar 28 2010 at 3:56am Copy Link

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