Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro - a must have tool for techs

[MudRock]

Man, sorry to hear this. This pandemic has been hard on everyone but I imagine it's been worse for some and better for others. It was really rough for me in the beginning but thankfully I've managed to weather this storm and bounce back.


I'm nowhere near the point of having to renew, but if I was, this would have pushed me to renew too. That's what I love about @fabs. He actually improves his program instead of letting it rot on the vine while charging ever increasing monthly subscription fees like 99% of other software companies like to do nowadays. Kudos for maintaining your software and adding new features on a consistent basis.

Do you make money with the update? Does it help close sales? It isn't expensive. I've actually renewed mine even though my change of job, and about to sell them another copy. @fabs does an amazing job and at a great price for what you get. (I myself simply forgot to renew and didn't realize it had lapsed.)

I'm glad we can support Fabs on a regular basis vs flat fee. We need more devs in the industry who think about their end users and listen to our needs, not guess what they think we need based on a business they ran 20 years ago and refuse to listen to input...

 

[fabs]

Do you make money with the update? Does it help close sales? It isn't expensive. I've actually renewed mine even though my change of job, and about to sell them another copy. @fabs does an amazing job and at a great price for what you get. (I myself simply forgot to renew and didn't realize it had lapsed.)

I'm glad we can support Fabs on a regular basis vs flat fee. We need more devs in the industry who think about their end users and listen to our needs, not guess what they think we need based on a business they ran 20 years ago and refuse to listen to input...

Surprisingly, the update is bringing "a lot" of sales (something like 30 sales in the last 3 days while I usually make 2 or 3 a day). I did not expect such a thing just because of nirsoft handling change. This was quite a big concern anyway and I'm glad I've played it this way with Defender.

Customers needs are very important to me. I'm where I am because of all of you supporting my work. Kudos!

 

[MudRock]

If any other anti-malware is running on the machine, it still needs to be manually disabled before running Fab's AutoBackup if you plan to grab passwords and/or product keys.

My experience is that Defender is the only one that goes ham on this. Worse off, it also seems if you have another A/V on and Defender is in passive mode, it STILL will catch it, especially if running from a USB drive. So far, BitDefender, AVG, Avira, and Avast are ones I can think of off the top of my head which haven't had issues (AVG/Avast throw a warning but not a block.)

Customers needs are very important to me. I'm where I am because of all of you supporting my work. Kudos!

This. So many companies forget this.

 

[seashore]

@fabs I'm running into a problem with the latest 7.8.3.4800 stalling at running any Nirsoft tool. All anti-virus inc Defender is turned off and I've tested on both a client's machine and my own one, with the same results. What's even stranger, I then tried my old previously working version 7.6.2.3791 and now it has the same problem too ...

 

[fabs]

@seashore Can you tell me more about your configuration ? Like :
- What is your Fab's path ? (is it local drive like USB hard drive, USB Thumb drive, network drive, network path...)
- Do you have all .zip files for Nirsoft tools ? (MailPV\mailpv.zip, Netpass\netpass.zip, ProduKey\produkey.zip, WebBrowserPassView\webbrowserpassview.zip, WirelessKeyView\wirelesskeyview.zip)
- Are you running user profile related tools against user account that calls them ? MailPV, NetPass and WebBrowserPassView are tools that only run against user account that launches them. If that's not the case, then their boxes will remain greyed out and won't be usable.
- Do you have some txt files in your backup ? Paths are the following :

1. X:\Path_ToBackup\...\User1\archive\MailPV\MailPV.txt,
2. X:\Path_ToBackup\...\User1\archive\Netpass\NetPass.txt
3. X:\Path_ToBackup\...\User1\archive\WebBrowserPassView\WebBrowserPassView.txt
4. X:\Path_ToBackup\...\Public\archive\Keys\Keys.txt
5. X:\Path_ToBackup\...\Public\archive\WirelessKeyView\WirelessKeyView.txt
6. X:\Path_ToBackup\...\Public\archive\WirelessKeyView\WirelessKeyViewExport.txt

If you have them, then it means that they've been run. They can be empty (like 0KB but that's not Fab's fault). For example, I have saved network credentials on another machine at work and NetPass does not grab any, even with the Nirsoft tool standalone version.

By the way, I've tested it again on my dev machine, an up to date Win 10 Pro x64 21H1 and my own user account. Fab's is on a local drive and backup target is a local drive too. Windows Defender is the only anti-malware on that rig and I left it enabled. I got all the exports so I can say that Fab's works in this configuration.

 

[seashore]

- What is your Fab's path ? (is it local drive like USB hard drive, USB Thumb drive, network drive, network path...)

SATA SSD via a USB adaptor.

- Do you have all .zip files for Nirsoft tools ? (MailPV\mailpv.zip, Netpass\netpass.zip, ProduKey\produkey.zip, WebBrowserPassView\webbrowserpassview.zip, WirelessKeyView\wirelesskeyview.zip)

Yes, all.

- Are you running user profile related tools against user account that calls them ?

Yes.

- Do you have some txt files in your backup ? Paths are the following : X:\Path_ToBackup\...\User1\archive\MailPV\MailPV.txt, X:\Path_ToBackup\...\User1\archive\Netpass\NetPass.txt, X:\Path_ToBackup\...\User1\archive\WebBrowserPassView\WebBrowserPassView.txt, X:\Path_ToBackup\...\Public\archive\Keys\Keys.txt, X:\Path_ToBackup\...\Public\archive\WirelessKeyView\WirelessKeyView.txt, X:\Path_ToBackup\...\Public\archive\WirelessKeyView\WirelessKeyViewExport.txt

No - none.

 

[fabs]

Then I have no idea about what's going on. I can't leave it like that anyway so if you can let me remote in a machine that has the problem, I must do it!

SATA SSD via a USB adaptor.

Yes, all.

Yes.

No - none

 

[seashore]

Thanks, PM sent.

 

[fabs]

Problem has been sorted : some nirsoft zip files were 0kb, so there was nothing in them, leading Fab's to stare at it. I guess it tried to download them but firewall closed the connection so they remained 0KB.
When I remoted in, I've deleted them and downloaded them again. This time, everything went fine.
I need to add some check sum control to prevent that from happening again.

Just to let everyone know : sometimes, firewalls prevent Fab's from reaching website when it tries to activate or download content like Nirsoft tools. To avoid this, whitelist the following addresses (all TCP 80 port) :
activate.fpnet.fr
download.fpnet.fr
www.fpnet.fr

 

[seashore]

Thanks again @fabs - great support.

 

[fabs]

Hello,
Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro and Fab's AutoBackup 7 Home & Office V7.8.4.4908 have just been released.

Here is the change log for both versions:

Added:
- Since they are now in password protected zip archives, Nirsoft tools are now directly bundled in setup program.
- Added a checksum control for Nirsoft tools updates. Sometimes, firewalls can block download attempts so downloaded file could be 0kb and the program could hang during backup/transfer. If download fails, the program will show a message prompt and Nirsoft tool previous version is restored. This way, the program remains functional.

Fixed:
- There could be error messages (sometimes app crashes) when using the program without active network connection while it was trying to check for Nirsoft tools updates.
- Greatly improved search time while listing files to be copied for Google Chrome, Chromium Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, Maxthon, Avant Browser, Comodo Dragon browser, Epic Privacy Browser, Avast Secure Browser, AVG Secure Browser, Comodo Dragon browser, 360 Browser and Chromium.
- Windows Defender could catch some Nirsoft tools when the program was checking their versions numbers. This was not disturbing for the rest of the process but it is now smoother.
- Improved exclusion process from Windows Defender for Nirsoft Tools. Now, the program excludes them as soon as it starts and totally cleans matching exclusions when it closes.
- Pro only: since setup package is just a container, it does not require admin privileges anymore to unpack files.
- Setup will not show End User License Agreement (EULA) as the program itself shows it at first startup. There is no need to accept it twice.

Grab it from your orders history's details on the shop's website at https://store.fpnet.fr/account.php or using the bundled updater tool (click the "Download Fab's AutoBackup 7.X" link within the program and get the updated files).

 

[cypress]

Really good update!

 

[Diggs]

Fabrice! What happened? Autobackup has for years paused before writing a backup to report the size of that backup. I rely on that. I upgraded my Autobackup and then blundered into a 300GB backup and had no idea because there is no more pause for size reporting before starting. Can that be put back again?

I've also wondered why using an older version of Autobackup I could back up a Google Chrome profile but the newer version doesn't. I thought I saw somewhere about Google encryption but why does an older version of FABs back it up where the newer doesn't? I happened to backup and restore the same customer drive with two different versions of Autobackup. The old version I got all of the Google profile with favorites, etc. Using the newer version I didn't. (I need to rerun this test again but hard to replicate as I don't think I have the older version I was using on a drive any more and the customer drive may have a drill press whole through it.... chuckles.)

 

[fabs]

Fabrice! What happened? Autobackup has for years paused before writing a backup to report the size of that backup. I rely on that. I upgraded my Autobackup and then blundered into a 300GB backup and had no idea because there is no more pause for size reporting before starting. Can that be put back again?

This option still exists. Just before running the job, there is a "show options" link at the bottom that allows you to enable the "Show total size before copy" :

I've also wondered why using an older version of Autobackup I could back up a Google Chrome profile but the newer version doesn't. I thought I saw somewhere about Google encryption but why does an older version of FABs back it up where the newer doesn't? I happened to backup and restore the same customer drive with two different versions of Autobackup. The old version I got all of the Google profile with favorites, etc. Using the newer version I didn't. (I need to rerun this test again but hard to replicate as I don't think I have the older version I was using on a drive any more and the customer drive may have a drill press whole through it.... chuckles.)

Now, let's talk about that Chrome "problem". Yes older versions used to grab ENTIRE Chrome profile. That being said, current 2018 or 2019, it appeared that full Chrome profiles restored are juste wiped out when Chrome starts up. Why ? Because most Chrome profiles settings are now encrypted and encryption key seems to be tied to Windows user's profile somehow. Chrome says that an external program has changed profile so it has reset it and everything gets lost after that. I had to limit Chrome feature to bookmarks because that's the only item that just will not get deleted.
Fab's can still get full Chrome profile but for Active Directory domain user accounts only. It still works for them.

I'm sorry about that disappointment but this is strictly not because of me. Google is to blame here.

 

[Diggs]

This option still exists. Just before running the job, there is a "show options" link at the bottom that allows you to enable the "Show total size before copy" :

Ahh - Thank you. I should have known it was user error. I've had it set for so long I forgot it might have been an option instead of the default.

 

[Diggs]

let's talk about that Chrome "problem".

Does this problem exist for Edge? Can Edge be used to manually grab Chrome's Bookmarks/Favorites before a N&P, FABs grabs those bookmarks from Edge and then back into Edge after the N&P and then after Chrome is installed use the Chrome import Bookmarks to grab those back from Edge again? A bit convoluted but it can give us techs an easier option to save a customers bookmarks/favorites at least.

 

[fabs]

Does this problem exist for Edge? Can Edge be used to manually grab Chrome's Bookmarks/Favorites before a N&P, FABs grabs those bookmarks from Edge and then back into Edge after the N&P and then after Chrome is installed use the Chrome import Bookmarks to grab those back from Edge again? A bit convoluted but it can give us techs an easier option to save a customers bookmarks/favorites at least.

It does partially at least. Saved passwords and home page do not make it. Things like bookmarks and history get transferred without issue.
If you can then use Google Sync feature. This way, when you'll enable sync on new install, Chrome will get everything, including saved passwords.

Edit: I may have found some way to get more Chrome items but just bookmarks files. The culprit here is a file named "secure preferences". That's an encrypted copy of the "preferences" file that contains most of Chrome profile settings. For once, I could make Fab's "miss" this encrypted file when restoring or transferring a Chrome profile so the rest (except saved credentials) should follow. I've tested that manually and copied profile did not get wiped out. Maybe because Chrome did not have anything "secured" to compare unencrypted preferences with... This needs more testing but it looks promising.

 

[Porthos]

@fabs You used to grab Malwarebytes license keys but it seems to be encrypted now as well.

 

[sapphirescales]

I had to limit Chrome feature to bookmarks because that's the only item that just will not get deleted.

That really sucks. The ability for Fabs to back up browser profiles is the #1 reason why I use your software.

 

[fabs]

That really sucks. The ability for Fabs to back up browser profiles is the #1 reason why I use your software.

Let's see how my next experiments with chrome stuff goes.

Edit: the Chrome tests did not give expected results. I keep getting that "Chrome detected that some of your settings were corrupted by another program and reset them to their original defaults." when I go to Chrome settings after a manual profile copy... Just be aware that Fab's works like this since 12/18/2019.

@fabs You used to grab Malwarebytes license keys but it seems to be encrypted now as well.

Ouch... I can ask them if there's a way to get it anyway. If not, I'll have to remove the feature from Fab's.

Edit 2: It appears you're right about that. Fab's grabs someting but it's all encrypted and unusable. I'm trying to reach someone I know at Malwarebytes to see if there's a work around for that. If not, I'll have no choice but remove the feature.