Marcus' Macro Scheduler Blog

Every now and then people ask me how they can distribute other files along with their Macro Scheduler executables, such as DLLs or image files that your script requires.

All software publishers face this problem and usually use an Install file creator, such as the free Inno Setup. You create a package of files and define how they are installed as well as what shortcuts to create etc. Most software you download is installed using software like this.

For small packages you might get by with a simple zip file, or, better, a self extracting zip file. WinZip will create one of these for you. There’s also a tool that already comes with Windows called iexpress.exe. Click Start/Run and type iexpress.exe and hit Enter.

This starts the IExpress Wizard which walks you through creating a self-extracting or self-installing package. It’s very simple to use. Just choose the files you want to be included in the package and select which one should be run on completion. You end up with an EXE you can give to your users/customers which when run will extract the files to a temporary folder and run your main script executable.

Another way is to embed the files directly into your script and have your script extract them at runtime before it does anything else. Dick Lockey describes a way you can do that here. The next version of Macro Scheduler, version 11, makes this easier. It will include a tool to import any binary file into the script and a function called ExportData to create the file at runtime. If you use this method remember to write the files to somewhere you have access to. In a least privileged user environment that won’t necessarily be the EXE’s program folder. The temp folder might be safest. And if you do that, delete them afterwards.

I recently bought a new PC. It’s one of those things I always put off. The thought of installing all my software again, finding the original disks or download links, copying over all the data and settings, and getting the new PC mirroring the old one sends shivers up my spine. It always seems to take days, and then you usually find some obscure component is missing and something just doesn’t work properly. Especially when it comes to getting development environments running in the same way.

Vista and XP have a way to copy documents and settings, but that doesn’t help with the software. So I had a look around at other solutions that might help.

I discovered that Acronis offers a plugin for True Image Echo called Universal Restore which is supposed to allow you to restore a backup of your PC to any other PC. In doing so you end up with an exact replica of the original PC. It works by detecting the hardware of the new PC and injecting the correct drivers into the Windows Hardware Abstraction Layer during restore. Sounds pretty amazing. I read a number of very positive reviews.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get it to work. I kept getting errors during restore. But I think my unusual configuration maybe to blame. I would still recommend Acronis True Image for backups though. I didn’t really want an exact mirror image anyway – just specific applications and folders.

Then I found out about PCmover from Laplink. Their website says:

PCmover is the only migration utility that moves programs, files, and settings from your old PC to your new PC. Simply install PCmover on both your old and new computers and go! PCmover will determine which programs, files, and settings need to be moved, and when the transfer is complete, your new computer will have the personality and functionality of your old PC plus all of its own pre-installed software. Works with almost any Windows operating system, from Windows 95 to Vista.

To be honest I was a little skeptical that it would work. If you’ve ever tried to just copy an application folder from one place to another you’ll know that it rarely works as there are so many other dependencies. So I was interested to know whether PCmover would live up to it’s claims.

Unfortunately there is no trial version. But I decided to purchase a license anyway and give it a whirl.

Well – I’m impressed – it works! You can let it transfer everything, or choose which applications and settings to migrate. You can undo a migration too. I initially let it transfer all the Windows settings and decided I didn’t want that so I undid the migration and started again, this time being more selective. I did a further migration to transfer a few other apps which I missed the first time around.

Afterwards, about all I had to do was re-enter some license codes. But otherwise, everything worked as if I had installed it from scratch. Only it was effortless. And all my documents and data were there too.

Next time though I reckon the way to go is virtual. My next machine will be a virtual machine. Then when it’s time to upgrade the hardware – when I buy a new physical PC – all I’d need to do is copy the virtual disk file over. Backups become easier to: just make a copy of the virtual disk files. The whole PC becomes more portable too. Copy the virtual machine files to your laptop. Now your laptop has a complete snapshot of your main environment. It’s the future! But you can do it now.

If you’re new to virtual computing checkout the following products:

• Microsoft Virtual PC (free)
• VMWare Workstation
• Parallels Workstation

We already run several virtual environments, for testing and development purposes. Much cheaper than multiple physical PCs and easier than multi-booting. And they can easily be copied to new hardware.

So you see, it is finally possible to migrate to a new PC and avoid the pain!

I can’t name names yet, but I wanted to share this story which I believe is a powerful demonstration of how beneficial software automation can be, especially under the current economic climate.

A small loan company has adopted our software to streamline a number of software processes. By doing so they have become much more efficient and have been able to speed up processing times and reduce labour costs. This has allowed them to offer smaller loans which were previously not profitable.

Within their state two thirds of their competition have gone out of business because they were not able to handle these smaller loans. With the current economic climate meaning people are no longer taking on big loans and mortgages the only way to stay in business is to make small loans pay. Software automation has helped them achieve this. Those that failed to streamline their systems have gone out of business.

This particular company attributes the fact that they are still in business in large part to their use of software from MJT Net Ltd.

There’s never been a better time to cut costs and become more efficient.