Re-using Shareware

May 18, 2005 6:35 AM

How can I re-install shareware that doesn't want to be re-installed?

I downloaded 'Snipe-Monkey' for trial, but didn't use it, then had a moment when I needed to give it a try which was months later. Well, the trial period had expired, but it wouldn't let me re-install it. Is it leaving a file on my PC which it detects? Can this be bypassed?

posted by Frasermoo to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Try setting your PC clock back a few months.
posted by Optamystic at 6:55 AM on May 18, 2005

you'll probably find that you can pay them for a licence to use it.
posted by andrew cooke at 7:08 AM on May 18, 2005

err, maybe that came off as snarky. what i mean is that many programs are only free for a limited time. sounds like what you've got.

(and obviously, if it's some utility that you only need now + then, it would be somewhat questionable to keep installing it each time you neeed it)
posted by andrew cooke at 7:15 AM on May 18, 2005

Most Windows applications write their data in the registry. You can look for the keys in regedit (usually in HKLM\Software\{VendorName}\{Appname}) and delete the entire key tree.
posted by quiet at 7:27 AM on May 18, 2005

Response by poster: that's my whole point andrew. i installed it but didn't try it. then when I came to try it, it had expired.

and i'm not paying for the licence if I haven't tried it and don't know if it's any good.
posted by Frasermoo at 7:31 AM on May 18, 2005

Get jbidwatcher.

It's free, it works (or so my mom tells me), it's open source.
posted by orthogonality at 8:53 AM on May 18, 2005

Email the author about it.
posted by cillit bang at 9:16 AM on May 18, 2005

Most likely the shareware is doing one of three things.

• Tracking this information in the registry, this is the most likely choice
• Tracking this information in a file somewhere, most likely in the programs application directory
• Tracking this information over the internet

For case 1, there are a lot of tools out there that can track registry changes, but most of them are shareware as well :(. The easiest free thing to do is before you run the install, open regedit.exe, and export the entire registry into a file. Then run the install, and re-export the registry to a different file, then diff the two files to see what changed.

For case 2, there are tools that track file changes/additions/access to see what files it's checking.

For case 3, just disable your internet network connection and see what happens
posted by patrickje at 11:26 AM on May 18, 2005

What version of Snipe Monkey are you using? Email me that (my email is temporarily in my profile), and I may have a solution for you.
posted by gd779 at 4:35 PM on May 18, 2005