curiosity question (windows programming)

[Slidey]

out of interest, in windows whats the difference between a program that you have to install into say the registry that would go into add/remove programs, and something like putty that just runs...

is it a coding thing, or a library thing, or a complexity thing?

[Mong]

"Bloat"

I assume it's to do with integration, dependencies, etc...

Oh and lots about settings, parameters etc.

And finally about copyright, licensing, registration etc.

?

M.

[W]

Originally posted by Slidey
out of interest, in windows whats the difference between a program that you have to install into say the registry that would go into add/remove programs, and something like putty that just runs...

is it a coding thing, or a library thing, or a complexity thing?

It's a "register with the windows control panel applet so it knows what files and registry entries to delete" thing. The control panel is just a service for the apps (and thus the user), if the apps don't register, windows won't know how to uninstall it, and won't list it.

And actually, when you run an installer executeable, what it mainly does is actually putting the various files in the right places (like dll's in the system folder etc)