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Why do program installers always say close all programs?

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Tipycol

Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
I used to pay attention to it, but I never understood why they always said to do it. Is it to make as much ram as possible available to the installer? Other than anti-virus programs, I rarely close anything anymore, and I haven't seen any problems with programs. Should I still try to close programs or is it all right to install this way?
 
I believe it has something to do with either dll files or registry....i'm not sure.
 
There are probably a few odd programs that will either take over Windows during an instal or do other bad things. Another program could have a virus too. That would be worse. Dunno really. I always do it... not much trouble. I try to avaoid insatlling things willnilly anyway
 
its because if any of the running programs are using files that the new program needs to change or use them, windows will only allow one at a time
 
drdingo21 said:
its because if any of the running programs are using files that the new program needs to change or use them, windows will only allow one at a time

(i.e. shared .dll files and such...) Might also be the culprit of bad installs sometimes...good to know. :D
 
If the new program has to edit or replace a dll that a current program is using, it can't do it. This could cause a system hangup, failed installation, or even screw up your operating system if TWO files need to be changed and only one gets changed. How would you like to reinstall windows?

Fortunately, these problems are rare when installing programs. When installing hardware, it's another story. Especially with windows 98.
 
Hmm...well I guess even though I haven't noticed any problems, I'll start closing everything else off again whenever an installer asks me to.

Thanks for the help
Tipycol
 
Yeah, these problems are pretty darn rare, but when they do happen, they'll leave you cussing in six different languages. It usually happens when you have tons of cheap or free stuff installed. I had this problem a lot when I was new to computers and installed everything under the sun. Since I learned a lot about computers, I haven't had the problem. My old roommate continues to have the same issues constantly, though.
 
Hmm...are those problems the one's where they always have to shut the programs down? I'm starting to get those with some of my freeware things. I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, but I was about to format the windows harddrive anyway, so maybe after reinstalling those freeware, the problems won't come up.
 
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