Selling Software Online, Installer, Packaging, and Packing Software, Desktop Automation, and More

Selling software online is deceptively simple. Actually making money out of it can be much more difficult.
http://www.cio.com/article/2388308/enterprise-software/14-tips-for-selling-software-and-services-online.html
http://www.quora.com/What-is-best-way-to-sell-software-online
http://www.softwarecasa.com/sell-software-i-4.html?ModPagespeed=noscript
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2013/05/21/why-your-online-program-just-wont-sell/
http://www.fastspring.com/selling-software-online

Heaps of packaging/installer programs out there. Some cross platform solutions out there as well. Interestingly, just like a lot of businesses out there (even a restaurant that I frequent will offer you a free drink if you 'Like' them via Facebook) now they make use of guerilla style marketing techniques. Write a blog article for them and they may provide you with a free license.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_installation_software

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-apps-for-creating-installation-packages/
http://www.advancedinstaller.com/free-license.html
http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_package_management_systems
http://www.flexerasoftware.com/producer/products/software-installation/installshield-software-installer/
http://www.flexerasoftware.com/producer/resources/free-trials/#installshield

I've always wondered how much money software manufacturers make from bloatware and other advertising... It can vary drastically. Something that to watch for are silent/delayed installs though. Namely, installation of software even though it doesn't show up the Window's 'Control Panel'.
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2015/05/crapware-is-a-horrible-problem-and-its-all-our-fault/
http://www.howtogeek.com/168691/how-to-avoid-installing-junk-programs-when-downloading-free-software/?PageSpeed=noscript
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/11/unchecky-ensures-you-never-accidentally-install-bundleware-again/
http://unchecky.com/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fight-toolbar-installer-bloatware-opinion/
https://www.google.com/admob/monetize.html
http://www.mobyaffiliates.com/blog/how-to-make-more-money-from-your-app-monetization-tips-from-appflood/
http://www.codefuel.com/developers
http://www.incomediary.com/7-best-plugins-for-monetization
http://www.amonetize.com/
http://installmonetizer.com/
http://www.sterkly.com/installer-monetization/

https://unityads.unity3d.com/help/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions/faq
http://www.revenyou.com/
http://www.buzinga.com.au/buzz/how-to-make-money-from-apps/

Even though product activation/DRM can be simple to implement (depending on the solution), cost can vary drastically depending on the company and solution that is involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_activation
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3481594/how-to-program-a-super-simple-software-activation-system
https://activatar.codeplex.com/
https://www.fingoo.net/lib/asp/packages.asp
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/822468/is-there-an-open-source-drm-solution
http://www.fatbit.com/fab/launch-best-gaana-clone-script-features-website-details-confirm/
http://www.fileopen.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_protection

Sometimes you just want to know what packers and obfuscation a company may have used to protect/compress their program. It's been a while since I looked at this and it looks like things were just like last time. A highly specialised tool with few genuinely good, quality candidates...
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Reverse_Engineering/File_Formats
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1271550/how-to-detect-what-was-the-pe-packer-used-on-the-given-exe
http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools/index.php/Category:Packer_Identifiers
http://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/3184/packers-protectors-for-linux
http://ntinfo.biz/
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-get-started-with-packer-on-an-ubuntu-12-04-vps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable_compression
http://upx.sourceforge.net/
https://malwr.com

A nice way of earning some extra/bonus (and legal) income if you have a history being able to spot software bugs.
https://bugcrowd.com/list-of-bug-bounty-programs
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/twitter-hackerone-bounty-program-2014-9
http://www.siteslike.com/similar/vupen.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn2Own

If you've never used screen/desktop automation software before there are actually quiet a few options out there. Think of it as 'Macros' for the Windows desktop. The good thing is that a lot of them may use a scripting language for the backend and have other unexpected functionality as well opening up further opportunities for productivity and automation gains.
http://alternativeto.net/software/sikuli/
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11497613/what-better-tool-than-sikuli-to-use-for-screen-automation-on-windows-7-or-prefe
https://answers.launchpad.net/sikuli/+question/141373
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6337629/how-to-send-ctrl-c-in-sikuli
https://answers.launchpad.net/sikuli/+question/185777
https://answers.launchpad.net/sikuli/+question/232900

A lot of partition management software claim to be able to basically handle all circumstances. The strange thing is that disk cloning to an external drive doesn't seem to be handled as well. The easiest/simplest way seems to be just using a caddy/internal in combination with whatever software you may be using.
http://forum.easeus.com/viewtopic.php?t=20183
http://kb.easeus.com/art.php?id=10039
http://www.partition-tool.com/easeus-partition-manager/disk-copy.htm

There are some free Australian accounting solutions out there. A bit lacking feature wise though.
http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/forums/index.php?threads/free-accounting-software-australia-recommendations.29338/
http://www.bit.com.au/Review/344651,7-accounting-packages-for-australian-small-businesses-compared-including-myob-quickbooks-online-reckon-xero.aspx
http://bas-i.com.au/
http://l-lists.com/en/lists/rn52ao.html

Every once in a while someone sends you an email in a 'eml' format which can't be decoded by your local mail client. Try using 'ripmime'...
http://superuser.com/questions/187106/extract-save-a-mail-attachment-using-bash

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

FOSS Hard Drive Imaging Software, Random Stuff, and More

Ever since computers have started to come without restoration disks for 'environmental reasons', users have often had to rely on proprietary backup methods in order to create rescue methods (but which often have flaws with them as well). I've experimented with several different means through which to achieve free backup. 

- FOSS imaging options include G4U, G4L, Partimage (via System Rescue CD), Clonezilla:

- G4U

Cons: BSD based, minimal hardware support, minimal documentation on the actual disk itself

Benefits: small, fast, easy to use provided you know how to setup a FTP server and have a DHCP server already in your network, one file only to deal with

- G4L

Cons: can be a steep learning curve for those new to imaging

Benefits: Linux based, good hardware support, option of both CLI and menu based interface systems, good options for compression of image, one file only

- Clonezilla

Cons: seems to output to multiple files in a directory as opposed to a single file

Benefits: simple to use

- Partimage

Cons: unless I'm mistaken can only save/restore partitions

Benefits: easy to use, pretty much just a bunch of menu options

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/FtpFs

http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_Network

http://www.partimage.org/Partimage-manual_Network-support

http://www.partimage.org/Partimage-manual

http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml

- G4U, G4L and Clonezilla are designed to be used from a rescue boot disc since they can't handle live imaging but ironically Clonezilla can be installed to your Linux installation much of the time. They're basically a bunch of menu based scripts

- going from a smaller to larger drive is actually handled pretty well by most FOSS software but not going from larger to smaller drive. For this use, gparted to shrink hard disk drive

https://medium.com/@giuliodn/clone-and-backup-with-gparted-e1100219c1d7

dd to copy hard disk drive, sgdisk to copy partition table if testdisk can't recover the proper partition table, sfdisk to change disk label to something unique via uuidgen

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/12986/how-to-copy-the-partition-layout-of-a-whole-disk-using-standard-tools

- Paragon's Partition Magic for a long time the go to option but there are lots of free options out there now. It always handled the situations that free products couldn't handle

http://www.paragon-software.com/business/adaptiveimagingtools/

- Easeus Partition Magic is actually free. The basic free version handles most scenarios that you'll deal with at home. For more complex situations you'll have to go with the paid version
https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/free-download-partition-magic-full-version.html

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/