Questions tagged [installer]

An installer is a specialized program that performs the tasks necessary to install another application.

An installer is a specialized program that performs the tasks necessary to install another application. Under Mac OSX, "installer" is also the name of the system program used to extract and install applications from .pkg packages.

300 questions
135
votes
9 answers

Can I delete the folder "C:\WINDOWS\Installer\$PatchCache$"?

This folder is taking up nearly a GB of my C partition. Is it possible to just delete it?
James
  • 1,501
60
votes
7 answers

Install software: choose .msi or .exe?

Some software sites allow to download their software to be installed either as an .msi file or as an .exe file. When given the option, which one should one choose to download for installing software, i.e: what are the advantages of using the .msi…
Rabarberski
  • 8,800
48
votes
12 answers

Why aren't all applications 'portable'?

I've recently been trying to 'install' stuff a lot less on my Windows machine (I hate installers - I need to know where programs put stuff...), choosing to use portable or standalone versions of applications instead. I put them all in a 'Programs'…
Tom
  • 591
47
votes
4 answers

Midnight Commander (MC) installer for Mac OS X

I use MC on Windows and Linux and would like to use it on my Mac. Can someone point me to an URL where I can download a binary setup/install?
anjanbacchu
  • 1,457
46
votes
6 answers

what are these "online installers" for?

It is probably not the name of these installers. By online installer I mean the little executable we download and execute, which download the true software I are going to install. There are so many of them, such as in Chrome installation, Visual…
onemach
  • 2,875
32
votes
4 answers

Why do Windows Installers (.msi files) take so much longer to uninstall than other installers?

Since the Windows XP days, Windows Installers (.msi files), including InstallShield installers (which is just a bootstrap for MSI) has taken around five times longer to uninstall an application than other installers. The same is also usually true…
Chris S
  • 883
29
votes
2 answers

What folder are installation logs in?

If an installer stores a log of the installation process, where would I find that log? If there is an installer that does not log the installation process, how can I make it do so?
27
votes
4 answers

Prevent Windows 10 installer from using the preinstalled serial key without disabling UEFI

My laptop (a Lenovo Flex 2 15) came preinstalled with Windows 8 Standard (with the serial key preinstalled into the BIOS), and I've since installed an SSD (a Samsung Evo 840 120GB) & upgraded to Windows 10. When the laptop still had its hard drive,…
AStopher
  • 2,393
20
votes
2 answers

Restrict Windows CBS.log verbosity, set log level, stop hectomegabyte info madness

On Windows 7 (Home Premium 64 Bit), hundreds of megabytes of logging that nobody will ever care to read are written to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Take a look, we're counting the lines here: $ dir C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log 03.10.2015 16:21 …
Lumi
  • 1,646
  • 3
  • 15
  • 28
20
votes
5 answers

Installing a specific package version with yum

I have a Fedora system with Postgres version 8.3 and I want to downgrade to 8.2 because of a compatibility issue. I've been using yum for everything, but it's my first time with this package manager, and I don't know how to downgrade things. So how…
19
votes
8 answers

Why install for "just me" as opposed to "everybody"?

I'm using windows installer for a client's app, and they are complaining that sometimes multiple instances of an app appear on the computers they are using for testing. This problem has gone away since I hid the option install for "just me" and…
Adam B
16
votes
4 answers

Why the multiple reboots installing Windows 7?

I just installed Windows 7 on my non-PC and was struck by how many times the Windows installer reboots during installation. It even tells you on the screen during installation that the computer will reboot multiple times. I know Microsoft must have…
skue
  • 271
15
votes
2 answers

Some DLLs in root of C: drive

These two files appeared in the root of my C: drive in Windows 11. Does anybody know what created them? What is their purpose and why are they in root? appverifUI.dll vfcompat.dll
14
votes
8 answers

Why would I install a program into C:/ directly?

What are the reasons some programs install (by default or even requirement) in C:/ directly, and not, like most, into the C:/Program Files/ folder? Also, why is it so common that drivers are unzipped here? I've seen a lot of Intel, Nvidia, ATI, and…
zuiqo
  • 696
13
votes
4 answers

Break open an EXE file?

I have a sony Vaio and I have downloaded the sound driver for it. The driver claims it is being installed on a computer its not compatible with, and crashes. I know that it is wrong. I assume the driver files live inside the EXE, so I could just…
Zac
1
2 3
19 20