Transwiz

User Guide
Build 1.19.1098

ForensiT Limited, Innovation Centre Medway, Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 9FD
England.

Copyright © 2011-2021 ForensiT Limited. All Rights Reserved

Contents
Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Introducing Transwiz .................................................................................................................. 3

Installation.................................................................................................................................. 4
Licensing ........................................................................................................................................ 4

Transferring User Profiles with Transwiz ..................................................................................... 5

Welcome ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Task 1: “I want to transfer data to another computer.” .............................................................. 7
Select a User Profile ....................................................................................................................... 7
Select a Transfer File ...................................................................................................................... 9
Congratulations! .......................................................................................................................... 11
Task 2: “I have data I want to transfer to this computer.” ........................................................ 12
Select a Transfer File .................................................................................................................... 12
User Account Information ............................................................................................................ 14
Merge Profiles .............................................................................................................................. 15
Creating a local user account ....................................................................................................... 16
Transferring Profile ...................................................................................................................... 18
Congratulations! .......................................................................................................................... 19
Transferring Profiles on Windows 10 ........................................................................................... 20

Transwiz Settings and Backing up Additional Folders ................................................................ 21

Settings ........................................................................................................................................ 21
Backing up Additional Folders...................................................................................................... 23
Excluding Folders and Files .......................................................................................................... 23

Automating Transwiz Professional Edition ................................................................................ 25

Command Line Parameters .......................................................................................................... 25
Using the Command Line ............................................................................................................. 29
Creating Transfer Scripts .............................................................................................................. 30

End-User License Agreement .................................................................................................... 32

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

Introducing Transwiz
Why Transwiz?

A User Profile is where Windows stores your stuff. It is where your Desktop,
Documents, Pictures and Music files are all saved. Your User Profile is also where
Windows keeps all the information that makes your computer personal to you, like
your desktop wallpaper, Internet favorites and the lists of documents you've recently
opened.

When you get a new computer you will probably want to get it up and running with all
your personal documents and settings as quickly as possible. This is what Transwiz –
the User Profile Transfer Wizard - is for.

Transwiz has been developed to be the simplest and most efficient tool for moving
personal data from one computer to another. We hope you like it.

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I N S T A L L A T I O N

Installation
Installing Transwiz

You should run the Transwiz setup program on a single “Administrator” machine.
The setup program will install the Transwiz application files and documentation. You
can then copy and distribute the Transwiz application files from the Deployment Files
folder. You can access the Deployment Files folder from the Start menu and ForensiT
Transwiz/Deployment Files.

The only files you need to run Transwiz are Transwiz.exe and Transwiz.config. You do
NOT need to run the setup program on all the machines whose profiles you want to
migrate.

Licensing
When you purchase Transwiz you will be sent a link by email to download a
Transwiz.config file. This file contains your licensing information.

To license Transwiz you simply need to copy the license file into the same folder as the
Transwiz.exe file.

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Transferring User Profiles
with Transwiz
This chapter will show you how to use Transwiz to interactively move an existing
user profile to a new computer

In this chapter we will run Transwiz interactively in GUI mode.

Transwiz creates a transfer file in standard zip file format with the file extension
.trans.zip. This file contains the complete user profile, together with the information
that Transwiz needs to restore the data on another computer.

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Welcome
When you start Transwiz the first thing you see is the Welcome page. Here you are
asked what task you want to perform. You can choose to create a transfer file to move
your documents and settings to another computer, or to use a transfer file you have
already created to move data to the new computer.

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Task 1: “I want to transfer data to another

computer.”
This option allows you to back up a user profile so that it can be transferred to another
machine. The data will be stored in a zip file in the location you choose.

Click Next to continue

Select a User Profile

On the “Select a user Profile” page you choose the profile which you would like to
backup.

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Unassigned Profiles

Transwiz lists currently assigned profiles: that is, the profile that each user of the
machine is currently using.

Unassigned profiles are profiles that are not used by anyone. A profile can become
unassigned for a number of reasons. For example, if a local user account is deleted, the
user’s profile will remain on the machine, but it will not be used by anyone.

To list unassigned profiles, tick the "Show Unassigned Profiles" box. The first time you
do this, you will get a warning. This is because profiles sometimes become corrupted
so that Windows cannot read them. When this happens Windows creates a new profile
for a user. If you look in the profiles directory, usually “C:\Users”, you will sometimes
see profile folders with names like USER.DOMAIN. These are profiles Windows has
created because it cannot read the user's original profile. It is obviously not a good idea
to use a corrupted profile, and Transwiz warns you of the possibility.

Transwiz lists unassigned profiles with the unknown user icon. The software will
always try to resolve the domain and account associated with a particular profile.
However, this is not always possible - for example, if a domain is no longer available
on the network. In these circumstances you will only see the user account SID
(Security Identifier.) However, you should be able to work out the profile you want to
transfer by looking at the profile path.

When you have selected the profile, click Next to continue.

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Select a Transfer File

Here you specify where you would like the transfer file to be created.

Fast Pack (No Compression)

By default Transwiz compresses files to reduce the size of the transfer file.
Compressing files takes extra time. To speed up the transfer process – at the cost of
creating a larger transfer file – you can tick the “Fast Pack” option.

Click Next to continue.

You will be prompted for a password to protect the file. This is optional and if you
choose to add a password you will asked for it when you restore the profile.

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Click OK to continue.

Transwiz will now create the transfer file.

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T R A N S F E R R I N G U S E R P R O F I L E S

Congratulations!
The transfer file was successfully created.

Click Finish.

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T R A N S F E R R I N G U S E R P R O F I L E S

Task 2: “I have data I want to transfer to this

computer.”
Choosing “I have data I want to transfer to this computer” from the Welcome screen
allows you to restore a profile that you previously backed up using Transwiz.

Click Next to continue.

Select a Transfer File

Enter a path or Browse to a location where the profile which you wish to restore is
stored.

Click Next to continue.

If the Transfer File was protected with a password then you will be asked for it at this
point.

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Enter the password and Click OK.

Click Next to continue.

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User Account Information

Transwiz will read the account information for the user profile from the transfer file. If
you would like to assign the profile to the same user, just click Next to continue.

Transwiz also allows you to assign the profile to any local or domain user account that
you want. To assign the profile to a different account enter the domain and account
name of the user who will use the profile.

Rename Computer By default Transwiz will rename the computer so that it has the
same name as the computer where the profile was backed up. Uncheck the box if you
do not want to rename the computer.

Join Domain If you are migrating a domain user account profile, Transwiz will
automatically join the computer to the domain. Uncheck the box if you do not want to
Transwiz to join the domain computer.

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Set as default logon By default the Wizard will set the account you specify to be the
default logon on the machine. Remove the tick in the "Set as default logon" text box if
you do not want the default logon to change.

Merge Profiles
If a user profile already exists for the user that you have specified, Transwiz will ask
you whether you want to create a new profile for the user using the profile data in the
transfer file, or whether you want to merge the files in the transfer file with the user’s
existing profile.

If you just click Merge Transwiz will restore the files in the transfer file to the existing
profile. If the same file exists in the transfer file and in the existing profile, then, if the file
in the transfer file is newer, the file in the existing profile will be overwritten.

Let’s say there is a file called C:\Users\Joe\Documents\Sales Figures.xlsx. If the

version of this file in the transfer file is newer than the version on the hard drive, the
version on the hard drive will be overwritten. If, on the other hand, the version on the
hard drive is the most recent, then Transwiz will not overwrite it and it will remain
unchanged after the profiles have been merged.

If you tick the Overwrite existing files box, then the files in the transfer file overwrite
the files in the existing profile. If there is a C:\Users\Joe\Documents\Sales
Figures.xlsx file in the transfer file, and a C:\Users\Joe\Documents\Sales Figures.xlsx
on the hard drive, the version on the hard drive will be overwritten.

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Creating a local user account

If you assign the profile to a local user account that doesn’t exist, the wizard will can
create one for you. This is not the case for a domain user account.

Click Yes to continue.

The local user is created in 2 steps.

Step 1

Step 2

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Click Next to continue

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Transferring Profile

Click Next to continue.

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Congratulations!

Click Finish.

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Transferring Profiles on Windows 10

The only way that Windows Store Apps can be installed is from the Windows Store.
This means that it is not possible to simply copy Windows Store Apps from one
computer to another.

Transwiz is able to transfer the Windows 10 Start Menu and all your tiles. However,
the tiles will only be active if the apps are already installed on the machine.

Additionally, the data associated with a Windows Store App is not transferred. For
example, if you set the Weather app for a particular location, that set up will not be
remembered when you sign on to the transferred profile. However, in many cases the
data for a Windows Store App is stored in the cloud with your personal Microsoft
account, and so will be available as soon as you sign in with that account.

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Transwiz Settings and
Backing up Additional
Folders
This chapter discusses the settings in the Transwiz.config file

The Transwiz.config file allows you to specify settings that make running Transwiz
easier. For example, by specifying a domain administrator account Transwiz will not
have to prompt you for credentials when restoring a workstation to your domain.

Importantly, Transwiz.config is also where you can specify additional folders to backup
that are outside a user’s profile folder.

These features are not available with Transwiz Personal Edition.

Settings
<!-- ForensiT User Profile Tansfer Wizard run options-->
<!-- Note: options set here are overridden by parameters passed on the command line
-->
<Domain></Domain>
If you need to join the workstation to a different domain you can specify the new
domain name here. You can leave this blank if you are not changing domains.

<DomainAdmin></DomainAdmin>
The name of an account with the necessary permissions to add a machine to your
domain.
<DomainPwd></DomainPwd>
The <DomainAdmin> account password encrypted by a <Key>. To generated an
encrypted password run Transwiz.exe from the command line with the /KEY
parameter. See page 27.
<Key></Key>
The key to decrypt the encrypted <DomainPwd> password.

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<ArchivePwd></ArchivePwd>
The transfer file password. The password can be in plain text, but must be encrypted if
you specify a <Key>.
<NoDefault>False</NoDefault>
Do not set the user account of the restored profile as the default workstation logon.
<NoRename>False</NoRename>
Do not rename the workstation.
<Silent>False</Silent>
Do not show any error messages
<Log></Log>
Path to the log file where User Profile Wizard will write the output from the
backup/restore process.

Once the additional folders and files are backed up, Transwiz lets you choose what you
want to do with them when they are restored.
<NoRestore>False</NoRestore>

If you set the <NoRestore> value to ‘True’ Transwiz will not restore the folders to
their original locations; instead they will be kept in the user’s profile in a folder called
“Transferred Documents.”
<OverWrite>True</OverWrite>

If the <OverWrite> value is set to ‘True’ Transwiz will replace any existing files in a
folder with the files that have been backed up in the transfer file. The existing files will
be permanently lost. If <OverWrite> is set to ‘False’ the transferred files will be kept
in the user’s profile in a folder called “Transferred Documents.”
<Span>False</Span>

By default Transwiz uses the Zip64 format to create a transfer file. By using Zip64
Transwiz can store a complete profile in a single file. (Zip64 files can be 16 exabytes, or
over 16 billion gigabytes in size, and can include over 4 billion files and folders.)

The downside of using Zip64 is that the zip files created cannot be viewed in older zip
file utilities, such as the zip file support in Windows XP. If you set <Span> to ‘True’
Transwiz will span the profile backup over multiple 4Gb files that are compatible with
older versions of zip.
<CompressionLevel>1</CompressionLevel>

Sets the compression level for the transfer file. A value of 1 indicates that files should
be compressed; a value of 0 indicates no compression.

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Backing up Additional Folders

<!-- Additional Backup Settings -->
<!-- Set additional backup paths. See User Guide for more details. -->

Transwiz allows you to backup folders that are outside a user’s profile folder -
C:\Documents and Settings\username on XP or C:\Users\username on Windows 7. To
specify the additional folders you use the <Include> value in Transwiz.config.

Let’s say you want to backup a folder called C:\Data as well as the user’s profile. To do
this you would set the <Include> value as follows:
<Include>C:\Data</Include>

If you want to backup more than one additional folder you can do so by separating the
folder names with the “pipe” symbol |
<Include>C:\Data|C:\Users\Public\Documents</Include>

Here we are backing up the C:\Data and the C:\Users\Public\Documents folders.

May be though we don’t want to backup all the files in a folder: maybe we just want to
backup certain types of files. Transwiz lets you do this as well. For example, if we only
want to backup PDF, Excel and Word files from C:\Users\Public\Documents we
would set the <Include> value like this:
<Include>C:\Data|C:\Users\Public\Documents*.pdf*.xls*.docx</Include>

Note that the different folders to backup are separated by the pipe symbol | but the
types of files to backup are separated by a star *.

Excluding Folders and Files

In addition to including additional folders and files, you can also exclude folders and
specific file types from the backup of the user’s profile folder.

To exclude folders, add the <ExcludeFolders> value to your Transwiz.config file,

and separate the folder names with the “pipe” symbol |.

Folder names are relative to the profile folder, so if you want to exclude the contents
of the C:\Users\Username\Pictures folder from the backup, you just add Pictures to
the <ExcludeFolders> value:
<ExcludeFolders>Pictures</ExcludeFolders>

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If you want to exclude the C:\Users\Username\Documents\Sales folder from the

backup, you just add Documents\Sales to the <ExcludeFolders> value
<ExcludeFolders>Pictures|Documents\Sales</ExcludeFolders>

You can also exclude files by type using the <Exclude> value.

For example, to exclude some common music file types we can specify the following:
<Exclude>*.mp3*.m4p*.m4a</Exclude>

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Automating Transwiz
Professional Edition
This Chapter describes how to automate the transfer of user profiles using the
Transwiz Professional Edition Command Line and scripting.

Using the Transwiz Professional Edition command line allows you to automate the
transfer of user profiles between machines. For example, you can create a script that
will back up all the profiles on the machine.

Command Line Parameters

Type Transwiz /? at a command prompt and you will see the screen shown on the
next page.

In this section we will describe each command line parameter in turn.

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A U T O M A T I N G T R A N S W I Z

/RESTORE
This allows you to restore a profile that you previously backed up using Transwiz.

/BACKUP
This allows you to backup a profile and associated data so that it can be transferred to
another machine. The data will be stored in a zip file in a location of your choosing.

/TRANSFERFILE
If you are performing a backup, this will hold the location you would like the zip file
to be stored.

If you performing a restore this will be the location of the zip file you wish to restore.

/SOURCEACCOUNT sourceaccountname
The name of the user account whose profile will be migrated.

/TARGETACCOUNT targetaccountname (Optional)

When you restore a backed up profile, Transwiz creates a new profile on the target
machine for the user account whose profile you backed up. If you want to assign this
profile to a different user account then use this option.

/ARCHIVEPWD password (Optional)

Password which protects the archive. If you choose this option you will be need to
supply the password when restoring the profile.

/NOPATHS (Optional)
Do not backup the additional folders specified by the <Paths> value in
Profwiz.config. This is useful if you are backing up multiple profiles and you only want
to backup additional folders once.

/DOMAINADMIN domainadmin (Optional)

The name of an account with the necessary permissions to add the machine to the
domain when a profile is restored.

/DOMAINPWD password (Optional)

The DOMAINADMIN account password encrypted by KEY.

/KEY key (Optional)

The key to decrypt encrypted DOMAINPWD passwords.

To generate an encrypted password use /KEY without any other parameters.

Having plain text passwords in you script files is not good security practice. To help
you avoid this, User Profile Wizard gives you the option of encrypting your
DOMAINADMIN passwords. To do this, run the wizard with just the /KEY switch,
for example:

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C:\>Transwiz /KEY

This will bring up the “Generate an Encrypted Password” wizard.

Enter the plain text password in the “Enter the password” text box. Enter a “key”
word that Transwiz will use to encrypt and decrypt the password – this should be
completely unrelated to the password to stop anyone guessing what the password
might be. Click “Next”

The encrypted password is generated in the “encrypted password” window on the next
page. You can cut and paste the encrypted password into your Transwiz.config file, or
use it on the command line.

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/NORENAME
Do not rename the machine. By default Transwiz will rename a workstation to match
the name of the original source machine. Use /NORENAME to prevent this.

/NOJOIN (Optional)
Transwiz will automatically join a workstation to the domain of the user account
whose profile has been restored. Use /NOJOIN if you don’t want this to happen.

/NOREBOOT (Optional)
Do not reboot the machine after joining a domain.

/NODEFAULT (Optional)
Do not set the user account whose profile has been restored as the default workstation
logon.

/SILENT (Optional)
Do not show any error messages

/LOG logfile (Optional)

Write results to a log file.

Using the Command Line

Backup
Let’s say that we want to backup Steve’s user profile. His user account is on the
OLYMPIC domain. We want to create a transfer file on the Olympic1 server in the
‘Transwiz’ share and protect it with the password ‘beachball’. The command line to do
this is as follows:

C:\> Transwiz /BACKUP /SOURCEACCOUNT OLYMPIC\Steve

/TRANSFERFILE \\Olympic1\Transwiz\Steve.trans.zip /LOG c:\backup.log
/ARCHIVEPWD beachball

Note that we are also creating log file in the root of the C: drive.

Restore
We want to transfer Steve’s profile to a new machine. The machine has been imaged,
but has not been joined to the OLYMPIC domain. To transfer Steve’s profile to the
new machine we use the following command line:

C:\> Transwiz /RESTORE /TRANSFERFILE

\\Olympic1\Transwiz\Steve.trans.zip /DOMAINADMIN Administrator
/DOMAINPWD 2E8DBD06FB28F02240C579E0E4245FED20A909FFBE77D805
/KEY backup /LOG c:\backup.log /ARCHIVEPWD beachball

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This command line is very similar to the command line to back up the profile above.
This time however, we use the /DOMAINADMIN and /DOMAINPWD
parameters to give Transwiz the credentials to join the machine to the OLYMPIC
domain.

Transwiz will restore Steve’s profile and automatically join the machine to the
OLYMPIC domain. Note that we do not need to specify the OLYMPIC domain:
Transwiz keeps track of Steve’s user account details in the transfer file.

Creating Transfer Scripts

Now that we have seen a working command line, it is easy to create powerful profile
transfer solutions with some simple vbscript.

The Transwiz Professional Edition setup file installs two sample scripts. The first script
Transfer_All.vbs will back up the profiles of all users of a workstation who belong to a
given domain. To use the script you just need to edit the section where it says “Set
variables in this section”
'Set variables in this section

'Enter the your domain name here

strDomain="BRITANNIC"

'Path to backup file location

strBackupFilePath="\\britannic2\Backup"

'To exclude a user account from the backup add...

arrExcludeList=Array("ASPNET","Administrator")

Setting the strDomain variable tells the script to just back up user profiles for user
accounts on the domain you specify. To backup local accounts set strDomain=""

The strBackupFilePath variable tells the script where to back up the profiles. The
script will a create a folder at this location using the name of the workstation and save
the transfer files in the folder. A log file is also written here.

The arrExcludeList variable lets you specify accounts whose profiles you do not
want to back up. For example, you may not want to back up the Administrator
account profile.

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The second sample script is Restore_All.vbs. This script restores the profiles that the
Transfer_All.vbs script backed up. Again you need to set the path to the backup file
location at the top of the script.

There are two ways to run the Restore_All.vbs script. If you just double-click the script
file, you will be presented with an Input Box that asks you to enter the name of the
workstation whose files you want to restore:

Alternatively, you can run Restore_All.vbs and specify the computer name from the
command line:

Transfer_All.vbs and Restore_All.vbs are just the start! At ForensiT we like scripting
because it provides a powerful level of “indirection”. It gives you the freedom to
customize the core functionality of Transwiz in a way that is right for you. The
ForensiT support team has years of scripting experience and we are always happy to
help you with the development of your scripts; just email [email protected]

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End-User License
Agreement
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: This End-User License Agreement ("EULA") is a

legal agreement between you (an individual or a single entity) and ForensiT for the
ForensiT Transwiz software later referred to as the 'SOFTWARE'. By installing,
copying, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE, you agree to be bound by the terms of
this EULA. If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, do not install or use the
SOFTWARE.

SOFTWARE LICENSE
The SOFTWARE is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as
well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The SOFTWARE is licensed, not
sold.

1. GRANT AND TERM OF LICENSE. ForensiT grants you a personal, non-exclusive,

non-transferable and royalty-free right to install and use one copy the SOFTWARE on
a single computer (workstation or server) and to make a complete copy of the installed
SOFTWARE for backup purposes. This License shall continue in effect until
terminated by ForensiT, but shall terminate immediately at any time you fail to comply
with the limitations set forth in this License.

2. DESCRIPTION OF OTHER RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS. All rights of any kind in

the SOFTWARE which are not expressly granted in this License are entirely and
exclusively reserved to and by ForensiT. You may not rent, lease, modify, alter,
translate, reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile or create derivative works based
on the SOFTWARE, or remove any proprietary notices or labels that it contains.

3 CHANGED TERMS. ForensiT shall have the right to change or add to the terms of
this License at any time and to change, discontinue, or impose conditions on any
aspect of the SOFTWARE. Such changes shall be effective upon notification by any
means reasonable to give you actual or constructive notice or upon posting of such
terms on the SOFTWARE.

4. NO WARRANTIES. ForensiT expressly disclaims any warranty for the SOFTWARE.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SOFTWARE
AND ANY RELATED DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT
WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR
CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE,
OR NONINFRINGEMENT. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE REMAINS WITH YOU.

/Cont.
A U T O M A T I N G T R A N S W I Z

NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law,

in no event shall ForensiT or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever
(including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profit, business interruption,
loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of, or
inability to use, this ForensiT product, even if ForensiT has been advised of the
possibility of such damages. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow the
exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above
limitation may not apply to you.

5. PUBLICITY. Unless You notify ForensiT otherwise in writing, You hereby grant to
ForensiT a limited license to use Your trade and business names, trademarks, service
marks, logos, domain names and other distinctive brand features (whether registered
or not) (collectively, the “Brand Features”) in any presentations, marketing materials,
customer lists, and financial reports produced for, by or on behalf of ForensiT.

6. GENERAL. This License constitutes the entire agreement between you and
ForensiT with respect to the SOFTWARE and supersedes any other agreement
written or oral. If any provision of this License is held unenforceable, that provision
shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to give effect the intent of
this License, and the remainder of this License shall continue in full force and effect.
This License shall be governed by the laws of the United Kingdom.

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