by Artemis

Created on: July 27, 2010

It's hard to work with Windows alone installed. Windows itself is an operating system. It is responsible to provide and manage resources for other programs to carry on their jobs. So, Windows itself will not carry jobs most human beings will need to do, except those little simple things that WordPad, NotePad and Paint can do, and some little satisfaction like Solitaire, Freecell and Minesweeper can bring.

So, how to add more programs? Adding more programs into an operating system is called the process of "installing". Evolution of the user interface has made it much easier today to install applications. Here's what you need to know and how to perform the installation:

1. Most programs come with "setup.exe" or "install.exe", either if you download it from the Internet or you buy the CD/DVD from anywhere. Just double click on setup.exe or install.exe (if you're lucky, once you insert the CD/DVD, they'll automatically launch the setup.exe/install.exe for you), follow the given instructions, and done. Choices you need to answer usually includes user name and company name, the destination folder where the program files will be copied to, type of installation (usually for big programs: typical, full/complete or minimum install). Before the installation process is started, an overall review of the settings we choose may sometimes be shown on screen, just to confirm you made the right choice.

2. Some programs come in compressed file (mostly .rar and .zip). If this is the case, you will need to extract the files first into a folder, where "setup.exe" and "install.exe" will be located among the other files. To extract the files, compression program like WinZip and WinRAR (or some freeware alternatives) is required.

3. Important things to note: not all programs can function well by simply copying the folder in Program Files folder to another computer. Most will not work, since installation process may also include copying more files to other directories other than Program Files (usually Common Files, Windows Systems) and writing some entries into the registry.

Removing the applications is a similar reversed process:

1. Open Control Panel, you'll find Add/Remove Programs (in Windows XP) or Programs and Features (in Windows Vista and Windows 7, icons mode) or Uninstall a Program (in Windows Vista and Windows 7, category mode). You'll see a list of installed applications you can remove by clicking on the "Remove" button above. The next process is pretty straightforward, just follow the instructions on screen, usually in 2-3 clicks and you're done.

2. Some programs are not listed in the list, you'll need a separate uninstaller application to complete this task.

3. Never ever simply remove the program folder from the hard drive to remove an application, since we also need to remove registry entries and files that might be copied to some other folders.

4. Never use your own personal computer/laptop for the purpose of testing applications: install an application with the intention of uninstalling it later (only for testing purposes). The computer will get slow soon. If this is the purpose, do it on a computer which you can reformat and reinstall Windows from scratch, anytime.

So, that's how to properly add and remove an application, and hopefully, your computer stays clean with the proper procedure.

Learn more about this author, Artemis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.