52% THUMBS UP only? Come on...this is an amazing program every geek should have in his arsenal.

If you don't need it, please don't give it a THUMBS DOWN...just skip rating it or everything here is going to the dogs.

With this tool you can do whatever task a PC can do without lift a finger though...great app for those like me who are eager to find a way to increase their productivity on a daily basis.

Some of these tasks are general actions everybody can do such as, running other programs, opening or printing documents, shutting down all running programs and/or your PC.

But this magic tool can also automatically perform more sophisticated tasks for you like sync folders, packing and unpacking archives, checking for and sending e-mail, executing HTTP downloads, and ping your hosts. Best part of it is the ability, given to users, to set up highly complex automation tasks, involving conditional IF/ELSE statements and custom variables.

And it's a pretty much highly customizable app since it enables users to stop and/or edit all their tasks and even save a shortcut to the task on their desktop.

So 3 huge THUMBS UP from me!


BEST FREEWARE ALTERNATIVES

* (Portable) Perfect Automation
http://www.perfectautomation.com/

* EventGhost
http://www.eventghost.org/docs/features.html

Screenshots:
http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/EventGhost-Screenshot-128712.html

How to use it:
http://www.digitalfusionmag.com/blog/software/eventghost-the-little-automation-program-which-can-change-your-life

* Pretty Flow
http://delphistep.cis.si/prettyflow.htm

* TimeComX
http://www.bitdreamers.com/products/timecomx

* SCars
http://scars.securitycadets.com

See also:
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/make-your-computer-automatically-perform-tasks-for-you/

Enjoy!!

Giovanni  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+151)

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Cool program, but a little heady for me, and I'm a geek!

Programming can be such a headache where unforeseen circumstances cause what worked yesterday to fail tomorrow, and sometimes fail miserably.

I looked at the web site, and there's no hint that this program can watch and handle unintended consequences, preventing damage, sending out an alarm, or assisting with recovery, so how would I know if an unattended script failed or ruined something beyond recovery -- I'll pass.

There's a reason we do things manually, and watch.

If I need yet another programming language beyond what comes with the operating system (DOS batch, Scheduler, PowerShell), RoboTask has a free lite version.

Just comparing features at http://www.robotask.com/lite_vs_full/ spins my head off -- I don't work in a computer support shop or web hosting company where hundreds of in-house customers need the same distribution installs.

Thanks -- nice to know this is out there if ever I need -- not cheap, though, at $120.

Peter Blaise  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+72)

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I have version 4.4 from an earlier giveaway. This is not a program that I use everyday but it has been useful at times. The installation process is smooth and easy. There is an activate.exe included to register the program. Make sure you run this file first, then run the setup. I installed this version into the same folder as version 4.4. There was no problem and I now have version 5.3. You can go to the publisher's web site and download a 240 page PDF user manual plus they offer some other free programs. The link is...

http://www.robotask.com/downloads/

Thank you GAOTD and Neowise Software

dadams  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+62)

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You can check the What's New link for changes since the 4.4 giveaway. You can access the Help from the Start menu or via F1 as #12, Oleg, indicated; the Help menu is broken in the program. We have a crippled GOTD license. I'm sure that Giovanni will list an endless array of free automation tools. It comes down to features and learning curve. The price is in line with other Windows macro/automation tools. For me, I either want a very easy-to-use macro/automation utility, or I'd rather just use a more common programming language. RoboTask falls into the guided scripting category, but I find it very hard to use. Like some others, it doesn't generate readable scripts, you have to check various dialog boxes and tabs to find out what each line does. To me, that defeats the purpose. The only easy-to-use tool I've found is WinAutomation. It's not cheap, and although they might have had a home license at one time, not now. I like having Windows automation tools around, but to be honest, I never use them. Some people, however, have a great need for them. You run into all kinds of issues with macros which I've addressed before. Even if you start with a macro, substituting more direct approaches where possible is always recommended. I might have looked at RoboTask's macros in the past, but I'm not going to bother now as I have a licensed copy of WinAutomation, which has a very good macro facility and supports on-screen image searching, which I didn't notice in RoboTask.

#4, Peter Blaise, you always post comments without even looking at the offering. RoboTask has a log, it stops scripts on errors, and it has other error handling (which I don't like). The edition comparison table is simple and straightforward.

Fubar  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+62)

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Dear users,

please make sure to follow the instructions in the readme.txt file and run Activate.exe in the first place for proper activation of Robotask.

In case you installed the application before running Activate.exe, it is essential to close Robotask (via right click in system tray)to unlock the program correctly.

--
Best regards,
GOTD team

Giveaway of the Day project team  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+53)

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