Initially you will have downloaded a single installation file from either the www.softswift.com website or another source. When you launch this program, it will try to detect whether you have got the Microsoft .NET Framework v1.1 installed on your PC. This software is required in order to use Enhanced Windows Backup. If you have not already installed it on your PC, you should, because it is required by a huge amount of new software that has been developed since 2003 including virtually all new Microsoft software.

If it detects that the 1.1 framework is not there, it will offer you the option to download and install the .net framework v2.0 (which also includes v1.1). You must accept this option or else the Enhanced Windows Backup software will not work when you install it. When this starts, it will in turn download the whole .NET framework from Microsoft, which is about 23MB. If you do not have broadband, this could take a long time and it might be better to order the CD from the Microsoft website or locate a copy which has been included on many other software CDs including regularly on the CDs provided on the covers of computer magazines.

Once the .NET framework is installed, the Enhanced Windows Backup installer moves on to the next stage which checks to see if you have the latest version of Windows Installer present on your PC. If you do not, it will automatically proceed to download and install this.

Finally the install will proceed to install the Enhanced Windows Backup software itself. This is quite compact and only takes a few moments to install.

When you first launch Enhanced Windows Backup from the start menu shortcuts that were created during the installation, it will ask you to complete the registration wizard. You must complete this in order to enable the software. This takes no more than 60 seconds. The first step is to accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). Secondly you have to register the software. You can do this in the wizard by entering your email address, country and city. If you are connected to the internet, the registration wizard sends this information together with the serial number of your software to softswift. If you are not connected to the internet, you have the option to register the software from a computer that is connected to the internet by going to the www.softswift.com website. Once you have registered, you move to the third step which is to enter the 15 letter activation code that you will have been emailed after step 2. Then bingo you are up and running.