Fab's AutoBackup forums

K0media

Member

Registered: 2020-07-23

Posts: 8

Feedback thread for future updates and a some questions

Hey there, Fabrice. I came along just to tell you that I'm pretty amazed with your software. I've been wandering the web now and even saw the interview video you participated on YouTube. Congrats on all the hard work, really.

And yes, like many others, I'm almost in the same situation as many. I'm a technician looking forward to improve my job and AutoBackup has come like a very handy tool for many scenarios at this point. Thanks to a dev that introduced me to it. He's a veteran, so he can tell.

Like told in the Presentation page, "You wouldn't know how to live without it anymore". That's true.

Anyway, I'm here also to feedback your software and ask a few things.

Before buying a proper license of the software, I've dived in to get to know much more about its features and take almost full advantage of what it has baked in. So I took a better look at the comparative chart and other things.

Just brainstormed everything and I'll be refining as I compose this thread. Let's start.

Regarding the comparison chart, I've noted some things to have better info on them sequentially.

• 1 - QuickLaunch toolbar (XP/Vista) - can this be implemented for Windows 7 and higher or no way? That would really help for some situations.

• 2 - User's avatar - the last time I tried this on WinPE, it didn't work. Only when logged to Windows, not working properly on Windows 10 (last time I tested. It was a MS LiveID account, though). But it didn't work out either. The avatar wasn't attached the the local user. Is this an encrypted setting?

• 3 - Windows 7 gadgets and Windows Sticky Notes - Will this work for 8GadgetPack and related software too?

• 4 - Notepad++ settings - will this back up NP++ cached notes too?

• 5 - Network passwords (NirSoft NetPass) / Mail passwords (NirSoft MailPassView) / WEB passwords (NirSoft WebBrowserPassView) - this software has to be downloaded additionally, right? I tried the last times but Windows Defender deleted the files and pointed as false positives. But I saw on the changelog you fixed that in the latest versions. I was testing some older versions, though.

• 6 - Common desktop (and other common files) - this will back up all users desktops and files, right? Can this be restored to the current user regarding this user account? Or even to the current profile.

• 7 - MS Office XP to 2010 activation files - this will save all the activation for genuine MS Office, right? Will it be supported to higher versions or no way? (Since MS tends to change their activation methods due to hackers and hijackers.)

• 8 - Installed software list export - this could be improved... What about adding file (installed) versioning (to the ones that aren't shown) along with the software icons? Revo Uninstaller reports a very detailed list as well. But I wanted to run this on Fab's just for the job's sake. Don't forget to check out for the Revo Uninstaller installed software/apps/extensions lists, you might be missing out.

• 9 - Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Acrobat, etc) and some other famous products (settings), Autodesk, Sony software, CorelDRAW, Ninite/Chocolatey famous software (VLC, K-Lite Pack, SumatraPDF, Blender, ShareX, Handbrake, qBittorrent, etc...) and so on. (Or do you recommend CloneApp or another product instead?)

• 10 - Can a Telegram support group be created?

• 11 - The GUI needs some refinements... The items tend to take too much space on the screen. What do you think about a neat tree (with icons, of course) with checkboxes plus a side pane UX? Wouldn't that be better for some scenarios for small screens?

• 12 - RegFixes/scripts importation/customization - to be applied to the system whenever you just reinstall the system and have to do a few system changes; such as mouse/keyboard cursor speed, installed keyboard layouts, disable notification center, UAC, default system theme (dark/ight), hide/show hidden (system) folders, file extensions, hide "Shortcut to" prefix, take ownership, open cmd here (context menu), applied DNS... I had more to list, but I forgot right now, lol. That's more than enough, though.
  I know many of these info can be stored to Windows LiveID accounts. But it's not anyone that care about that and don't want to be bothered by creating one just to store Windows license/settings and other things to be backed up to the cloud. I'm a Google user too, so I stick mostly to G-Suite rather than MS products. The Outlook account that I created is basically for that purpose I just mentioned.

Sooo, this is it for now. I'll be really glad if you take your time to read all of it and share your thoughts and comments over these ideas. Take your time, no need to rush. I can wait.

All of best.

Fab

Administrator

Registered: 2011-05-11

Posts: 1,307

Re: Feedback thread for future updates and a some questions

• 1 - QuickLaunch toolbar (XP/Vista) - can this be implemented for Windows 7 and higher or no way? That would really help for some situations.

That's not as simple as it looks. Since Windows 7, QuickLaunch toolbar is not anymore just shortcuts to copy and paste but some dark stuff inside a binary registry value: very hard to parse and very easy to break. If it's not in Fab's, it means that I've not found out how to do it.

• 2 - User's avatar - the last time I tried this on WinPE, it didn't work. Only when logged to Windows, not working properly on Windows 10 (last time I tested. It was a MS LiveID account, though). But it didn't work out either. The avatar wasn't attached the the local user. Is this an encrypted setting?

That's just ".accountpicture-ms" files in user profile stored in "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures". Restored avatar has to be applied manually after restore from user's settings.

• 3 - Windows 7 gadgets and Windows Sticky Notes - Will this work for 8GadgetPack and related software too?

I did not know until today and the answer is yes: it works with 8GadgetPack without requiring any change.

• 4 - Notepad++ settings - will this back up NP++ cached notes too?

Since it takes everything that sits in "%AppData%\Notepad++", yes, it saves all of them.

• 5 - Network passwords (NirSoft NetPass) / Mail passwords (NirSoft MailPassView) / WEB passwords (NirSoft WebBrowserPassView) - this software has to be downloaded additionally, right? I tried the last times but Windows Defender deleted the files and pointed as false positives. But I saw on the changelog you fixed that in the latest versions. I was testing some older versions, though.

As soon as Defender is the only installed protection, then the program sets them as exceptions. You will have the issue if you have another anti-malware product as it will consider those tools as threats. There's nothing I can do anout that.

• 6 - Common desktop (and other common files) - this will back up all users desktops and files, right? Can this be restored to the current user regarding this user account? Or even to the current profile.

Public data is public data, there's no way to restore them in user folders. That's not designed to work like that. if you really want that, then you'll need to cut/paste "X:\Path_ToBackup\public\archive\desktop" content to "X:\Path_ToBackup\user_name\archive\desktop".

• 7 - MS Office XP to 2010 activation files - this will save all the activation for genuine MS Office, right? Will it be supported to higher versions or no way? (Since MS tends to change their activation methods due to hackers and hijackers.)

This is already a feature that almost never work just because of the Windows key or architecture change between a backup and a restore : Office gets deactivated in this case, no matter what. Like you said, newer versions use other methods. Among this, there's no way to get Office key for recent versions, so, working on this is just a waste of time.

• 8 - Installed software list export - this could be improved... What about adding file (installed) versioning (to the ones that aren't shown) along with the software icons? Revo Uninstaller reports a very detailed list as well. But I wanted to run this on Fab's just for the job's sake. Don't forget to check out for the Revo Uninstaller installed software/apps/extensions lists, you might be missing out.

Showing icons would require to extract icons as graphics and store them in the backup. First I would have to locate executables or their icons then get an image from them. I'm not sure how to do that, that would need some googling.
That list is a help for the tech that would need to reinstall them. I'm not sure it needs to be fancier to be useful.

• 9 - Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Acrobat, etc) and some other famous products (settings), Autodesk, Sony software, CorelDRAW, Ninite/Chocolatey famous software (VLC, K-Lite Pack, SumatraPDF, Blender, ShareX, Handbrake, qBittorrent, etc...) and so on. (Or do you recommend CloneApp or another product instead?)

That's a lot of product to know about. CloneApp would be a good start for that. I could also try tonanalyze how it works (again). I've managed to do it in the past but it did not go further.

• 10 - Can a Telegram support group be created?

Today, there's already a dedicated support forum, a facebook page, email support, my twitter account. I can also be reached on Technibble forums. Let's looks at Telegram then. I've not even tried it yet.

• 11 - The GUI needs some refinements... The items tend to take too much space on the screen. What do you think about a neat tree (with icons, of course) with checkboxes plus a side pane UX? Wouldn't that be better for some scenarios for small screens?

If I do that, that would be for a Fab's 8. That's too much design work on the plate for V7. That being said, V7 window size can be shrunk to 802x548 px.

• 12 - RegFixes/scripts importation/customization - to be applied to the system whenever you just reinstall the system and have to do a few system changes; such as mouse/keyboard cursor speed, installed keyboard layouts, disable notification center, UAC, default system theme (dark/ight), hide/show hidden (system) folders, file extensions, hide "Shortcut to" prefix, take ownership, open cmd here (context menu), applied DNS... I had more to list, but I forgot right now, lol. That's more than enough, though.
  I know many of these info can be stored to Windows LiveID accounts. But it's not anyone that care about that and don't want to be bothered by creating one just to store Windows license/settings and other things to be backed up to the cloud. I'm a Google user too, so I stick mostly to G-Suite rather than MS products. The Outlook account that I created is basically for that purpose I just mentioned.

Wow, that's definitely a ton of features that will require a full redesign: for V8 then!

---

Fab

K0media

Member

Registered: 2020-07-23

Posts: 8

Re: Feedback thread for future updates and a some questions

Thanks a lot for taking your time to check and answer for each topic.

And I'm glad to know that V8 is baking up next. I'd love to see that in future (anytime soon, if possible) coming true.

And well, those are topics that I just had a few ideas on how the software could be improved.

That's not as simple as it looks. Since Windows 7, QuickLaunch toolbar is not anymore just shortcuts to copy and paste but some dark stuff inside a binary registry value: very hard to parse and very easy to break. If it's not in Fab's, it means that I've not found out how to do it.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was complicated, but not as deep like that.

That's just ".accountpicture-ms" files in user profile stored in "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\AccountPictures". Restored avatar has to be applied manually after restore from user's settings.

I'll try that next times. You just have to double-click the file? I didn't try it yet. I'll see what can be done in future CS.

I did not know until today and the answer is yes: it works with 8GadgetPack without requiring any change.

Yeah, 8GadgetPack is such a great tool for me, works nicely on Windows 10. And glad to know it works with it as well.

Since it takes everything that sits in "%AppData%\Notepad++", yes, it saves all of them.

Nice.

As soon as Defender is the only installed protection, then the program sets them as exceptions. You will have the issue if you have another anti-malware product as it will consider those tools as threats. There's nothing I can do anout that.

Windows Defender has been taking a huge load of false positives lastly. I'm just glad that they've been considering fixing that with time too. I just hope it (hardly) happens with NirSoft tools too.

Public data is public data, there's no way to restore them in user folders. That's not designed to work like that. if you really want that, then you'll need to cut/paste "X:\Path_ToBackup\public\archive\desktop" content to "X:\Path_ToBackup\user_name\archive\desktop".

It was just a matter of curiosity. But I guess things should go fine if I restore the data to the public folders too. After all, that's how it has been designed, hehe.

This is already a feature that almost never work just because of the Windows key or architecture change between a backup and a restore : Office gets deactivated in this case, no matter what. Like you said, newer versions use other methods. Among this, there's no way to get Office key for recent versions, so, working on this is just a waste of time.

Yeah, too much work to be tinkered with. I can totally understand you here. Also, NirSoft can come in handy for these scenarios, maybe.

Showing icons would require to extract icons as graphics and store them in the backup. First I would have to locate executables or their icons then get an image from them. I'm not sure how to do that, that would need some googling.
That list is a help for the tech that would need to reinstall them. I'm not sure it needs to be fancier to be useful.

It would just look nicer to human eyes. But if it's too much work to be done, I'll see if I can keep using Revo Pro features along too.

That's a lot of product to know about. CloneApp would be a good start for that. I could also try tonanalyze how it works (again). I've managed to do it in the past but it did not go further.

At first I thought CloneApp was a software hard to work with. Not so intuitive as Fab's AutoBackup, surely. But I guess I need more researching on this. Maybe it has deeper power user mechanics in the end. It's full of plugins, so I'd need to take a better look on its features.

Today, there's already a dedicated support forum, a facebook page, email support, my twitter account. I can also be reached on Technibble forums. Let's looks at Telegram then. I've not even tried it yet.

Yes! I've been working with Telegram since 2016 (since when WhatsApp was banned here in my country before). Never got rid of it so far. I use it daily for many purposes, including the unlimited cloud storage features. And recently it has increased the file upload limit to 2 GB per file. That's astonishing, imho. I also use it to upload my customers' backups, such as used with Fab's too (password protected, of course).

I don't want to overload you with tech support, just something that can come in handy later. I also work with customer service, so I know that it might be a pain to be maintained if you don't take the proper control over it. Also, you can ping me there too on @K0media. (The phone # is hidden by default, of course. But you can make that info public if you want too.)
There are several open bots that can help to handle pesky people that might have nothing to contribute and for many other purposes, such as taking notes, restrict certain media from being sent in the chat, and a lot of other things.

If I do that, that would be for a Fab's 8. That's too much design work on the plate for V7. That being said, V7 window size can be shrunk to 802x548 px.

Thanks for the clarification.

Wow, that's definitely a ton of features that will require a full redesign: for V8 then!

These are small things I've been using on Windows so far. After a lot of years, to be honest. I tend to customize Windows like that for the customers to feel more comfortable with the overall UI. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it's too much work to be done manually. That's why I mentioned this. It would be amazing if such settings could be backed up too, so I didn't have the work to do this after a fresh install.

Again, thanks a lot for taking your time to review these ideas and share your thoughts on them. I'm glad to help here and want to see your tool being improved more and more. I'm really excited with the future of this software. It's such a handy tool indeed.

Thank you so much for maintaining this, lifesaver. 

Fab

Administrator

Registered: 2011-05-11

Posts: 1,307

Re: Feedback thread for future updates and a some questions

And I'm glad to know that V8 is baking up next. I'd love to see that in future (anytime soon, if possible) coming true.

In fact, V8 is not even in the oven. That's just ideas in my head so far
Too much work with V7 for now! I'm preparing something nice for it, still cooking and testing.

---

Fab