Patch Maker, what does it provide?
The life of a software product is usually marked by the release of different versions. One version differs from the previous one by a small number of changes. Some sections of code in the executable files are different, new files may be added, some even deleted. What the author of the product usually does is provide a whole new version of the files either as a new reinstallable product or just the modified files, compressed into an installer.
The above procedure is very wasteful though. For example, if a file of 1 megabyte has only had say 10 kilobytes altered inside it, then why create an update patch that requires the full 1 megabyte? It would be far more efficient if just the altered data was stored. This is the purpose of Patch Maker, as it saves a huge amount of bytes by storing just the differences between files and even compressing this data.
This method has two distinct advantages:
- Very small update patches, independent of the size and number of files of the original installation.
- As most of the data is not stored in the update patch, it is impossible to steal your software unless you already possess a previous versions of the software.
Patch Maker is the complementary product of the Clickteam Install Creator series. They share the same intuitive, professional-looking interface and they are equally simple to use. If you have used Install Creator you will feel right at home with Patch Maker.
Free or registered?
The free version of Patch Maker is fully functional for both commercial and non commercial products. Patches built with this version contain an extra page when the patching is complete, linking back to Clickteam to spread the word about Patch Maker.
The registered version of Patch Maker is the same as the freeware version, but there is no Clickteam advertisement included. You can purchase a registered version in our online store, and fax and postal registration are also available.
Try it
Buy it
Visit the Clickteam store to purchase Patch Maker and our other products
Features
- Create patches quickly and easily using the tried and tested wizard
- Fast and powerful compression system - only the differences in the files are stored and compressed
- The professional and standard interface of the patcher is 100% configurable including all text strings, error messages and images
- Preview the final look at any time during development
- Produce multilingual updates and make your own language templates
- Patch files in the system directory
- Update several versions with the same patcher executable
- Display a report when the patch is completed
- Retrieve installation directories from INI files or the Windows registry
- Exclude several zones from the files to update, allowing you to preserve user-related data which is stored within files (like software protection or registration numbers)
- As with Install Creator, Patch Maker produces an all-in-one executable instantly. These executable have a surprisingly small size- the minimum size is only 50Kb, which equates to 10 seconds with a 56K modem connection- you save your customer some valuable connection time and you saVe yourself some valuable bandwidth.
- Compared to similar software, Patch Maker is by far the fastest option. It also has one of the best compression ratios available
- Patch Maker handles upgrades from multiple previous versions to a final version- for example, you could have in the same patch upgrades from V1.0 to V1.2 and V1.1 to V1.2