If you ever re-installed a version of Windows operating system, you know how tedious the job is. While Windows OS can be quickly installed using USB drive as bootable media, installing all applications again and configuring them to our liking requires a lot of patience.
As you know, most of the third-party software out there for Windows don’t provide an easy-way to export their settings. We need to manually browse the registry and installed folder in search of files that include settings in order to backup application settings. There are plenty of software around to backup data and create image backup of your Windows installation but none of them allow us to backup and restore application settings.
If you have installed hundreds of programs on your Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10 computer and want to backup program settings, here is a free software for the job.
CloneApp free for Windows
CloneApp is an excellent piece of software designed to help you backup and restore app settings in Windows, meaning that you can backup program settings before re-installing Windows and restore the backup again after re-installing Windows.
The program comes in handy if you want to re-install your Windows operating system or if you want to switch to a new PC. The tool backs up configuration files and registry entries of applications that you want to backup. For instance, when you select TeamViewer from the list of supported programs, CloneApp backs up files, folders and registry entries where TeamViewer settings are saved.
The current version of CloneApp supports a little over 100 programs including popular free software like VLC Media Player, Office, Skype, WinRAR, Firefox, Malwarebytes Anti-Malwrae, KeePass, IrfanView, foobar2000, Dropbox, and Free Download Manager.
Additionally, there are options to backup and restore various Windows settings.
Backing up and restoring application settings with CloneApp is fairly simple. After downloading and running this portable application, you just need to select apps, or click the option titled Select Installed to select all installed apps. After selecting apps, click Start CloneApp button to begin the backup job.
Likewise, to restore application settings on a new Windows installation, select apps, and then click Restore button.
Note that the developer recommends you run the program with admin rights to avoid errors while backing up files, folders and registry entries from the system drive.
In order to view or change the default location of back up files, navigate to Options section of CloneApp.
Visit the developer’s page to download the latest version of CloneApp. There is a detailed PDF manual available on the download page which provides additional details about the program.
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