14 DAY TRIAL // The Beginning of the End
You've been working on code for about three straight months now. You've signed contracts with legal teams, publishing teams and Internet firms. You're tired, cranky, but most of all relieved that you're done. Well, you're almost done. All you need now is a setup wizard to guide your potential users to install your program. You need something that's easy-to-use, reliable and speedy. Let's put SetupStream2 to the test and see if it has what you're looking for.
I installed my installing program in a jiffy, so I hoped that was a good sign of things to come. I opened the manual, to get a quick peek at what I needed to do and everything was laid out step by step. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what you need to do. After a few minutes of reading, I felt confident enough to go ahead and give it a test run.
The Inner Workings
The first window pops up and asks if I want to create a new setup or open an existing spread sheet. I'm glad I can work on more than one project at a time. You then fill out some necessary information bars: application title, version, company and homepage.
I liked the fact that if your program is not ready for public release yet, you can designate a specific application announcement. You're given the option to choose from: company application version, company application, application and application version.
The next step got a little trickier, since you actually needed to know in which specific root folder you want the added files to go into. If you're not sure you can put all of them into a shared folder? this is when I saw the first bug of SetupCreator2. I randomly received an error when I was adding some files to the install directory, so I had to restart the whole application from scratch.
After adding the necessary files, the next window asks if I want to make registry changes. SetupCreator2 then adds your license agreement. I liked the fact that SetupCreator2 then goes ahead and asks the user what application compatibility it has with Windows (ex. Windows 98, Win2k, XP, etc.) and if your install needs a reboot afterwards.
You're then offered a default destination director and if you want to enable serial checking (which you can path directly to the appropriate DLL checking file). After this is done, you're asked to allocate correct startup desktop icons and/or quick launch ones. It takes you through DLL and OCX registration process if you have any and, finally, if you have any additional commands, it lets you input a whole lot (I didn't seem to get a limit when trying to input cmds.)
Finally, you're ready to go. You select the directory where you want your setup build to go and BAM you're done. A final option that I really liked was the fact that it lets you specify an unattended mode for your users. If you're program is really simple? or you don't think they're smart enough to hit the right buttons, this is a great way for you to bypass user interference. The last window also includes an option which lets you create packages for the media: CD-ROM/DVD, web, or a compressed data process.
I created my own setup.exe, now time to try it out. It worked, I ran my setup, it took me to the license agreement screen, the to my preferred install directory, I clicked my required files and I was done. All my files were installed in the appropriate directory, everything worked. I was indeed satisfied with my installed installer.
The Good
This is definitely an easy to use install wizard in every sense of the term. It's quick, it's easy to use and very intuitive in its design.
The Bad
I had it crash on me mid setup and had to start over from scratch, so there are still some tiny bugs left to be kinked out.
The Truth
For what it says it does, this product performed pretty well under the pressure. The end result was achieved smoothly, without too many difficulties, but there are still some bugs. But I'll repeat myself at the risk of being crude, I had a setup crash on me and had to start all over, so if you have a lot of material that you're plugging in, beware.
Check out the screenshots below.
