INSTALLATION OF SAVED PROGRAMS

[Guest]

Hi
I am in the process of trying to back up the programs, etc., from my hard
drive to have on hand in case the drive goes out, etc.
I have tried burning a program to the CD, which was successful, uninstalling
from the drive, power down and start up again to make sure the program is
gone, and then trying to install the program I saved on the CD.
When I bring up the program on the CD, all the usual icons are there (.dll,
..hlp, etc.) I click on the .exe icon, and the program will run as it
should, but it does not actually install the program .. doesn't show up on
Program Files or any where.
If I shut down and power back up, it is not there.
I'm sure this is a very simple process, but how can i get the program to
actually do a true installation.
I didn't just run here first, I've tried numerous attempts and research all
morning long, (ex. Kelly's Korner), but I am unable to find anything.
If anyone can help me, I would greatly apreciate it.

Thanks for any help ----
Robert

 

[Gordon]

Hi
I am in the process of trying to back up the programs, etc., from my
hard drive

Won't work. You've got to re-install from the original media, whether a CD
or an "exe" file you've downloaded.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I am in the process of trying to back up the programs, etc.,
from my
hard drive to have on hand in case the drive goes out, etc.

You can back up the "etc." but backing up programs doesn't do you
any good (with very few exceptions).

Almost all programs are nor self-contained, but have pieces in
several places, entries in the registry, etc. For that reason, if
you lose the drive and have to reinstall Windows, you will also
have to reinstall all your programs from their original media.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply
I am a "NEWBIE", so I'm just fumbling along.
With this in mind, how does someone "BACKUP" programs on the hard drive
(mainly ones downloaded from the internet - and others that I have the actual
CD-ROM, so those arent' any problem)?
I read some posts where someone would have a problem, and the response
contains comments like "hope you had (have) everything backed up. Other
prompts will say "Make sure you have everything backed up first".
Thanks guys
Robert

 

[Gordon]

Thanks for the reply
I am a "NEWBIE", so I'm just fumbling along.
With this in mind, how does someone "BACKUP" programs on the hard
drive (mainly ones downloaded from the internet -

You must have downloaded either an "exe" file or a "zip" file for each
program - save those to a CD.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Thanks for the reply

You're welcome. Glad to help.

I am a "NEWBIE", so I'm just fumbling along.
With this in mind, how does someone "BACKUP" programs on the
hard
drive (mainly ones downloaded from the internet - and others
that I
have the actual CD-ROM, so those arent' any problem)?

If you've downloaded a program, and lose it, you can always
download it again.

Or, if you prefer, when you download it, choose to Save it,
rather than Run it (and then run it after saving it). Then you
can backup that downloaded file, so it be reinstalled.

But, again, once it's installed, you generally can't backup that
installed version.

I read some posts where someone would have a problem, and the
response
contains comments like "hope you had (have) everything backed
up.
Other prompts will say "Make sure you have everything backed
up
first".

In general, when people say "everything" in this context, they're
referring to what you can't recreate yourself--that's generally
your data, not your programs, which *can* be reinstalled (or
re-downloaded).

Alternatively, you can create a backup image of the entire hard
drive. If you do that, and then lose the drive and get a new one,
you can restore that image and put the entire drive back the way
it was.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

Excuse my computer stupidity, but that brings me back to my original problem.
I just don't understand the steps to take to reinstall all of the parts of a
program that I have burned to a CD and have that reinstalled (or "saved")
once again to the hard drive.
And, I think I need a new keyboard .... this one misspells badly

 

[Sharon F]

Excuse my computer stupidity, but that brings me back to my original problem.
I just don't understand the steps to take to reinstall all of the parts of a
program that I have burned to a CD and have that reinstalled (or "saved")
once again to the hard drive.
And, I think I need a new keyboard .... this one misspells badly

:

When you install a program, you run a setup program. That setup program
might reside on a CD or it is a downloaded file that can be saved to the
hard drive. These are what you need to "backup" programs. Not a true backup
but it's making sure that you have the means to reinstall the program if
the need should ever arise.

Most Windows programs when installed have the bulk of the application files
into a folder specifically for the program. Additions may be made to other
locations and files, such as:
-may add files to ..\Program Files\Common Files\<specific folder>
-may add files to the Windows folder or Windows subfolders
-may add entries in the registry

Trying to backup a program by just copying the program's main folder
doesn't cover all the possible parts of the program. It only addresses that
main program folder.

It's not practical to copy the main program folder and the additional bits
and pieces. So instead, you keep a copy of whatever's needed to reinstall
the program: the downloaded setup file, the program CD or whatever.

Once in a while, you'll find a program that can run just using the files in
that main program folder. These are termed as "stand alone" meaning that
the main program folder can be moved around and the program will still run.

You have attempted to backup your programs by copying the folders in
Program Files. The results is a mix:

-A handful of programs that will run fine (these are your stand alone
programs)

-More programs that will not run at the moment. You need to formally
install these program by running their individual setup programs. You would
do this using the original CD or the saved setup file that was downloaded
or download the setup file again.

 

[Ken Blake]

In Robert - 3052 <[email protected]> typed:

First of all, please quote the message you're replying to, not
just your original message. You may have meant this as a reply to
a message I wrote, but I'm not sure, and almost missed your
message entirely.

Excuse my computer stupidity, but that brings me back to my
original
problem. I just don't understand the steps to take to reinstall
all
of the parts of a program that I have burned to a CD and have
that
reinstalled (or "saved") once again to the hard drive.

You don't reinstall "all of the parts of a program." What you do
is reinstall the entire program. You do it just as it you did it
the first time. There's no difference between reinstalling and
installing.

In most cases, what you do is double-click on a file with a name
like setup.exe. If the file is a zip file, you'll to unzip it
first, then find the setup.exe file among the unzipped files.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all of you for your time and assistance.
As a "newbie", I am slowly (emphasis on "slowly") trying to learn, and I
find the other posts submitted to this site, and the replies of their
questions.
Again, thanks
Robert

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Thanks to all of you for your time and assistance.
As a "newbie", I am slowly (emphasis on "slowly") trying to
learn,
and I find the other posts submitted to this site, and the
replies of
their questions.
Again, thanks

You're welcome, Robert. Glad to help.

And thanks for quoting this time.