Chapter 3: Installing Programs

Installing Programs

Windows includes a program called Add Or Remove Programs that helps you find and start the installation program for a new program. However, you can skip this step and run the installation program yourself, if you know how. Some older programs don't come with installation programs, and you have to perform the actions of an installation program yourself.

For most programs, putting the CD-ROM into the CD drive is all you have to do to start installing the program. An installation program usually runs automatically and steps you through the process.

Installing Programs Using the Add Or Remove Programs Window

Follow these steps to use the Add Or Remove Programs window to help you install a program:

1. Choose Start | Control Panel. You see the Control Panel window.
2. Click the Add Or Remove Programs category. Or, in Classic view of the Control Panel, run the Add Or Remove Programs program--if the icon is underlined, click it once; if not, double-click it. You can control whether you need to single-click or double-click icons to run programs.
3. You see the Add Or Remove Programs window. This window has three buttons down the left side. Click the Add New Programs button so the window looks like Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1: The Add Or Remove Programs window, when the Add New Programs button is selected

4. If you are installing a program from a floppy disk or CD-ROM, insert the disk or CD-ROM into its drive and click the CD Or Floppy button. If you are installing a program from a file on your hard disk or on a network drive, click the CD Or Floppy button anyway--you'll have a chance to tell it where to look for the program in a minute. Windows looks on any floppy disk or CD-ROM in your drives for an installation program (that is, a program named Setup.exe or Install.exe). If Windows finds an installation program, skip to step 7.
5. If Windows doesn't find an installation program, you see the Run Installation Program dialog box, which asks for the full pathname of the installation program.
6. Click the Browse button and specify the installation program you want to run in the Browse window. You can browse to any disk on your computer, or any disk accessible over your LAN, if you are connected to one. Click Open when you find the installation program.
7. When the pathname of the installation program appears in the Run Installation Program box, click the Finish button. The installation program runs. Follow the instructions on the screen to install the program.

Once you install a program, the program name usually (but not always) appears in the list that the Add Or Remove Programs window displays when you click the Change Or Remove Programs button.

Running an Install or Setup Program

If you know the pathname of the installation file for the program you want to install, you can run the installation program directly--double-click its filename in Windows Explorer or use the Start | Run command. Follow the instructions on the screen to install the program.

Installing Programs Without Installation Programs

Older programs, such as those designed to run with Windows 3.1 or DOS, don't have installation programs. Instead, the programs are delivered as a set of files. Some older programs arrive as a ZIP file, a file that contains compressed versions of one or more files. ZIP files have the extension .zip (if you can't see filename extensions in Windows, see Chapter 7, section "What Are Extensions and File Types?" to display them).

To install a program from a ZIP file, you can use the Windows compressed folders feature, which treats ZIP files like folders. Alternatively, you can install an unzipping program such as ZipMagic (http://www.ontrack.com) or WinZip (http://www.winzip.com), which come with their own commands for unzipping (uncompressing) and installing programs from ZIP files.

To install a program that you receive as a set of files or as a ZIP file, using the Windows compressed files feature, follow these steps:

1. If you received the program as a ZIP file, open the ZIP file. In an Explorer window, it appears as a folder with a little zipper on it. Otherwise, look at the set of files in an Explorer window.
2. Look at the list of files to find files with the .exe or .com extension; these are executable programs. If one file is named Setup.exe or Install.exe, run it. Then follow the instructions on the screen. The installation program may ask you a series of questions to configure the program for your system. If one file is named Readme.txt (or some other name that suggests it contains instructions), read the contents of the file. If its extension is .txt, click or double-click the filename to see the file in Notepad.
3. Otherwise, look for an executable file with a name like the name of the program; this may be the program itself. For example, if you are installing a program called Spam Be Gone version 2.3, you might find a filename such as Spambg23.exe. To run the program, click or double-click the program name. The first time you run the program, it may ask you for information with which to configure the program for your system.

Finishing Installation of a Program

After you install a program, you may still need to configure it to work with your system. Many programs come with configuration programs that run automatically, either when you install the program or when you run the program for the first time.

To make the program easier to run, you can add it to your Start menu. If the program has an installation program, the installation program may do this for you. The installation program may even put an icon on the Quick Launch toolbar (the small icons on the taskbar you can click to run a program). If not, you can add an icon yourself.

You can also add a shortcut for the program to your Windows desktop. The installation program may have created a shortcut already. You can create shortcuts right on the desktop or in a folder.

Installing and Uninstalling Programs that Come with Windows

Windows XP comes with fewer optionally installed components than did previous versions of Windows. You get just as many features, utilities, and free applications, but you no longer have a choice about installing them. For example, you no longer have the option of saving disk space by uninstalling Outlook Express, NetMeeting, Windows Messenger, or other programs that you don't want to use.

If you want to install some of the programs that come on the Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps:

1. Choose Start | Control Panel. You see the Control Panel window.
2. Run Add Or Remove Programs. You see the Add Or Remove Programs window.
3. Click the Add/Remove Windows Components button. You see the Windows Components Wizard with a list of the types of programs that come with Windows, as shown in Figure 3-2. The check box to the left of each type of program is blank (meaning none of the programs of that type are selected), gray with a check mark (meaning some, but not all, of the programs of that type are selected), or white with a check mark (meaning all the programs of that type are selected). The selections show which Windows programs have already been installed.

Figure 3-2: You can install additional programs from the Windows XP CD-ROM.

4. To select additional programs, click the type of program to install (scroll down the Components list to see the rest of the program types). A description of the programs appears just below the list. A few items have only one program of that type, such as Fax Services. Most of the items on the Components list include a number of programs.
5. To select all the programs of that type, click the check box to the left of the item. To select some of the programs, click the Details button to see the list of programs of that type. Click each of the programs you want to select and click the OK button to return to the Windows Components Wizard window. For Accessories And Utilities, choose either Accessories or Details, and click Details again to choose individual programs.
6. You can uninstall previously installed programs at the same time you install new programs. To uninstall a program, deselect it; that is, clear the check in its check box by clicking the box. Don't clear a program's check box unless you want to uninstall it.
7. After you select all the programs you want installed and deselect all the programs you don't want installed, click the Next button. Windows determines which programs you are installing and which you are uninstalling, and copies or deletes program files appropriately. The wizard may ask you to insert the Windows XP CD-ROM.
8. Depending on which programs you install, you may need to restart Windows when the installation is complete, and you may be directed to run Wizards or other configuration programs to set up the new programs.

A few programs on the Windows XP CD-ROM don't appear in the Windows Components Wizard. Look in the /Valueadd folder on the CD-ROM for Microsoft programs (in /Valueadd/Msft) and programs from other companies (in /Valueadd/3rdparty). For example, if you installed Windows XP Home Edition, the Microsoft Backup program doesn't appear as a Windows component: you have to install it yourself.