Windows 7: back up software

how do u back up softwares, ccleaner, malwarebytes, on external hard drive?

The only real way to backup installed software is an image of the disk it resides on. You can do this with Windows backup or with a third party solution such as Macrium Reflect (link in signature). There are some good tutorials on the site. You may want to start with this one. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

If by "softwares" you mean applications, basically, you can't. While you certainly could make a backup of an installer file or an installation archive (what the app used to install itself), that would not contain any of the associated registry entries.

So basically, if you later want to "restore" the application, all you can do is image off the partition -- and even then, you will not later be able to select an application to restore; instead, you will have to restore the entire partition. NOTE: Some backup solutions allow you to "mount" the backup and then copy individual files and folders, but this will not restore an application.

I keep an installer/information folder for all my free favourites. I'm always updating this. Back it up any way you like. I just do a straight copy to an external HDD.

Imaging to get your whole system back up and running quickly. Reinstalling licensed software can be very time consuming with reauthentication, reconfiguration - Imaging is the way to go.

I do not know about the others, but with ccleaner you can configure it to save files to an .ini file. Than backup the ini file from c:\program files\CCleaner\ccleaner.ini.

Click on CCleaner than ( ccleaner \ options \ advanced. ) -Save all settings to INI file.

When ccleaner is reinstalled just copy the ini file to the new C:\program files and it will recover all your settings including saved cookies.

Hope this helps,
Richard

I'm sorry, but this is completely, utterly wrong.

CCleaner is not designed for backing up applications or their settings or any cookies at all. It can save its own settings as an .ini file rather than in the registry, which is something completely different.

CCleaner is available in ZIP as a PORTABLE application which can be used ANYWHERE.

It is not restricted to C:\Program.....etc

I have this and many other applications on a separate partition which has twice this year survived Windows Security updates that trashed C:\ and required me to use Macrium Recovery Boot CD and restore a backup image.

I most especially do not allow Adobe Reader anywhere near my computer,
instead I have Portable PDF-XChange Viewer
Tracker Software Products :: Downloads

Corazon,

You are completely utterly wrong, CCleaner will indeed backup its settings, Cookies and all. I have used the ini file several times with full restore of all settings and cookies.

The end effect is the same using a "backup" or recovering an ini file. Before you criticize perhaps you should give it a try.

Richard

No, that's exactly what I said. Yes, CCleaner is portable and yes, it saves its own settings in an .ini file...but this is going off-topic and has nothing to do with backing up other applications (with their registry settings and everything).

I didn't mean to be so harsh, but what does CCleaner have to do with what the OP wants? As I've explained before, it has no capability to back up other software.

I completely agree. Reinstalling software is a long, torturous task. ShadowProtect Desktop is the best drive imaging software I've used. It does cost. I recently tried EASEUS ToDoBackup, free for home use, and have been impressed with it, but have not tried to do a restore with it.

Data backup is different. You want a program that saves a native copy of the files. Yes, you lose the benefits of compression. But drive space is cheap, and if a compressed file gets an error you've lost everything. I've found SyncBack Pro a good choice for this.

Whatever software you choose, the important thing to realize is that your OS volume and your data files have very different backup needs both in type and frequency of backup and in number of copies required for sufficient safety. We could add in terms of off-site storage as well.

Dale