where is a program installed?

[Ken Hubbard]

I've always wondered what files are affected when I install a program such
as corel draw, or microsoft office. Can anyone give me a clue? I always
assumed the registry, something in the windows/system and of course the
location in program files or on C:\
I just wonder if there is a rule of thumb for programmers. Any
information or direction is greatly appreciated.

 

[Richard Urban]

Install a huge program, such as Microsoft Office, and damn near everything
is touched!

--
Regards

Richard Urban
aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

*****************************

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

I've always wondered what files are affected when I install a
program such as corel draw, or microsoft office. Can anyone give me
a clue? I always assumed the registry, something in the
windows/system and of course the location in program files or on C:\
I just wonder if there is a rule of thumb for programmers. Any
information or direction is greatly appreciated.

Ken

Not sure what you mean by "what files are affected"? The operating system
contains several thousand files and each one has a specific function and
they all interact with each other. If a developer is writing software for
that operating system they will program their software to use the files that
perform the functions they need or they will install their own files for
specific functionality. The program will also create registry entries that
it needs to use for it's various functions.

The "rule of thumb" would depend on what their specific program does.
operating systems have an SDK (software development kit) that defines how to
create programs for that specific operating system.

If you wish to track an installation and see exactly which files are
installed or changed and which registry entries are created or changed,
there are software programs that can do this.

--
Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP-Windows Shell/User

Please reply to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://www.mvps.org

 

[Tim Slattery]

I've always wondered what files are affected when I install a program such
as corel draw, or microsoft office. Can anyone give me a clue? I always
assumed the registry, something in the windows/system and of course the
location in program files or on C:\
I just wonder if there is a rule of thumb for programmers. Any
information or direction is greatly appreciated.

It depends. Complex programs will make entries in the registry (MS
Office puts TONS of stuff into the registry), simpler programs may
ignore the registry altogether. An executable file (*.exe) will have
to be stored on your disk someplace, and there will probably be other
files in the same place: help files, images, various data files maybe.
And DLLs (Dynamic Load Libraries) may be written into the C:\Windows
directory.

This can get very complex, and there aren't any rules. That's why the
program package is supposed to include an uninstall routine that knows
where everything is. Part of installation is supposed to be creating
an entry in the registry that points to this uninstaller. That
registry entry is what's read by the Control Panel's "Add/Remove"
applet to create the list it shows to you.

 

[Wislu Plethora]

-----Original Message-----


It depends. Complex programs will make entries in the registry (MS
Office puts TONS of stuff into the registry), simpler programs may
ignore the registry altogether. An executable file (*.exe) will have
to be stored on your disk someplace, and there will probably be other
files in the same place: help files, images, various data files maybe.
And DLLs (Dynamic Load Libraries) may be written into the C:\Windows
directory.

This can get very complex, and there aren't any rules. That's why the
program package is supposed to include an uninstall routine that knows
where everything is. Part of installation is supposed to be creating
an entry in the registry that points to this uninstaller. That
registry entry is what's read by the Control Panel's "Add/Remove"
applet to create the list it shows to you.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
(e-mail address removed)
.

How is it that a Microsoft Junior Fire Chief (mvp) doesn't
know what "DLL" stands for? It's Dynamic *Link* Library.