This is a great program. If you want to keep a copy for use any time, when you download the file, choose "run", rather than save. Then when the last screen comes up that has the dialog "launch winutilities now", stop. Go to "my Computer, and navigate to where you have your documents and settings folder, usually your C drive. So for me, that is c:, then documents and settings, then your name's documents, then local settings, and then temp. In the temp folder there will be about 5 hidden files that were all created about the same time you installed this program, all of which end in .tmp. The one you want has about 7000 kb in it (the others have 16kb-very small). These are files, not the winutil folder. Right click on the correct file and uncheck the "hidden" attribute. Then copy and paste it to your desktop. Then rename the one on the desktop "WinUtil.exe". Now you can go back to Winutilities and close everything. That file on your desktop is now an activated install program that you can put on a flash drive and use over and over again anytime.

What were the 4 temp files called. Thank you.

Are these "Free" software deals really legit? I mean, do you really get an unrestricted license? This UI looks extremely similar to Glary Utilities (like it's a rebadge or something.)

I don't like that it wants to install spyware either. Are these really worth it? I downloaded a "Free" copy of Glary Utilities Pro from one of these deals, which worked for about 1 month, now when I go to install it (b/c i upgraded to Win 7), it says "Free Offer has expired, please exit."

What's the use really?

VirginiaDC said:This is a great program. If you want to keep a copy for use any time, when you download the file, choose "run", rather than save. Then when the last screen comes up that has the dialog "launch winutilities now", stop. Go to "my Computer, and navigate to where you have your documents and settings folder, usually your C drive. So for me, that is c:, then documents and settings, then your name's documents, then local settings, and then temp. In the temp folder there will be about 5 hidden files that were all created about the same time you installed this program, all of which end in .tmp. The one you want has about 7000 kb in it (the others have 16kb-very small). These are files, not the winutil folder. Right click on the correct file and uncheck the "hidden" attribute. Then copy and paste it to your desktop. Then rename the one on the desktop "WinUtil.exe". Now you can go back to Winutilities and close everything. That file on your desktop is now an activated install program that you can put on a flash drive and use over and over again anytime.

Thanks for the tip.

Thanks to VirginiaDC for the original leg-work.

After a lot of digging around, here are some additional details which will help:

- The "Temp" folder is the system's temp folder and may be different on different machines. Best way to look it up is under System Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables. Look for variable named "TEMP" or "TMP" under the "User variables".
Mine was C:\temp

- I always have my OS set up to show hidden and system files, so it wasn't a problem for me. But do verify that "View hidden files" is checked under folder options.

- Do install the program all the way till the last prompt wherein there is a checkbox for "Start WinUtilities" (or something similar) and a Finish button. STOP right there! If you click finish, the file you are looking for gets deleted. I suspected it would happen. After copying the required file when I clicked on Finish, I did see the file being deleted

- For my installation, the file name was "we828.tmp" in my system's Temp folder. File size is 5.88 MB (6,171,760 bytes)
It appears that the file name may not be consistent. Moreover, the default search in Windows does not search through the Temp folder. So you will have to search manually in your system's Temp folder.

- COPY the file somewhere safe. It is still technically in use by the installation program, so Windows will not let you just move it.

- This is the clean installer (I hope). I tested by launching it and saw that the WinUtilities was being installed again. Didn't follow through with the installation completely.

edited for typos.

the file is zipped, there's no RUN option available only SAVE or OPEN WITH... am I missing something?
Thanks! Got it to works. Happy.

Will this procedure work for any other utility from GAOTD website?

Please excuse how ignorant I am. Where are the temp files in WIN Vista? I went to C: and find nothing...yes, I have checked "Show hidden files." Please give me a clue here. Thanks!

hugenut said:VirginiaDC said:This is a great program. If you want to keep a copy for use any time, when you download the file, choose "run", rather than save. Then when the last screen comes up that has the dialog "launch winutilities now", stop. Go to "my Computer, and navigate to where you have your documents and settings folder, usually your C drive. So for me, that is c:, then documents and settings, then your name's documents, then local settings, and then temp. In the temp folder there will be about 5 hidden files that were all created about the same time you installed this program, all of which end in .tmp. The one you want has about 7000 kb in it (the others have 16kb-very small). These are files, not the winutil folder. Right click on the correct file and uncheck the "hidden" attribute. Then copy and paste it to your desktop. Then rename the one on the desktop "WinUtil.exe". Now you can go back to Winutilities and close everything. That file on your desktop is now an activated install program that you can put on a flash drive and use over and over again anytime.

I am confused since someone indicated that this does not make the program portable.

If you are going to go through all that trouble, why not just activate it today? I did this last time it was on GOTD, and use that activated copy all the time.

Is there a way to make it always bootable from a USB drive to any computer any time you want to?

It does not make it portable. You will just end up with the activated installer that can be installed anytime. This way if you have to reinstall your operating system or have any crashes or problems you can reinstall WinUtilities and it will be activated. You should also be able to install it to any machine with the installer this way. It will not be bootable but you can copy the setup.exe to a flash drive and install it to a different computer