Guest bw Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 I have a new computer. I had backed up my data to an external drive. Using Google Earth as an example, I restored it to its original location (c:\program files\google\google earth) After restoring this entire directory, I was able to run google earth as usual. But, google earth was not in the "Add or Remove Programs" list in the control panel. Why am I able to run google earth if it is not in the "Add or Remove Programs" list? Is google earth in the registry by doing this simple restore? I then "installed" google earth as usual, and the program worked just fine again, but this time, it WAS in the "Add or Remove Programs" list. So I'm curious as to what is going on here. Can someone explain how programs get into the registry and the "Add or Remove Programs" list...and WHY? Thanks so much, Bernie
Guest Tom Porterfield Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 Re: Registry Question bw wrote: > I have a new computer. I had backed up my data to an external drive. Using > Google Earth as an example, I restored it to its original location > (c:\program files\google\google earth) > > After restoring this entire directory, I was able to run google earth as > usual. > > But, google earth was not in the "Add or Remove Programs" list in the > control panel. > Why am I able to run google earth if it is not in the "Add or Remove > Programs" list? > Is google earth in the registry by doing this simple restore? > > I then "installed" google earth as usual, and the program worked just fine > again, but this time, it WAS in the "Add or Remove Programs" list. > > So I'm curious as to what is going on here. Can someone explain how > programs get into the registry and the "Add or Remove Programs" list...and > WHY? During the programs installation it will write the necessary values to the registry so that it shows up in the add/remove list. When you simply copied the files from backup you did not run the install, therefore the registry entries were not created. Most programs cannot be installed and work in the way that you did, as most programs require a number of registry entries, not just those that cause it to appear in the add/remove list, in order for the program to even run, and those entries are created at install time. Backing up and restoring data using an external hard drive is a good way to go, but for programs it is better to just reinstall them on the new machine rather than trying to restore the program files from a backup. -- Tom Porterfield
Guest bw Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 Re: Registry Question Thanks Tom, So it would seem that the "correct" procedure would be to restore the entire directory in question, and then INSTALL the program to set the registry and "Add or Remove Programs" list (which is what I did). Is this correct? Bernie "Tom Porterfield" <tpporter@mvps.org> wrote in message news:OcARCsp2HHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > bw wrote: >> I have a new computer. I had backed up my data to an external drive. >> Using Google Earth as an example, I restored it to its original location >> (c:\program files\google\google earth) >> >> After restoring this entire directory, I was able to run google earth as >> usual. >> >> But, google earth was not in the "Add or Remove Programs" list in the >> control panel. >> Why am I able to run google earth if it is not in the "Add or Remove >> Programs" list? >> Is google earth in the registry by doing this simple restore? >> >> I then "installed" google earth as usual, and the program worked just >> fine again, but this time, it WAS in the "Add or Remove Programs" list. >> >> So I'm curious as to what is going on here. Can someone explain how >> programs get into the registry and the "Add or Remove Programs" >> list...and WHY? > > During the programs installation it will write the necessary values to the > registry so that it shows up in the add/remove list. When you simply > copied the files from backup you did not run the install, therefore the > registry entries were not created. Most programs cannot be installed and > work in the way that you did, as most programs require a number of > registry entries, not just those that cause it to appear in the add/remove > list, in order for the program to even run, and those entries are created > at install time. > > Backing up and restoring data using an external hard drive is a good way > to go, but for programs it is better to just reinstall them on the new > machine rather than trying to restore the program files from a backup. > -- > Tom Porterfield
Guest Tom Porterfield Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 Re: Registry Question bw wrote: > Thanks Tom, > > So it would seem that the "correct" procedure would be to restore the entire > directory in question, and then INSTALL the program to set the registry and > "Add or Remove Programs" list (which is what I did). > > Is this correct? Unless the directory contains data files that don't get put there as part of the install, then I would skip restoring the directory and just do the straight install. -- Tom Porterfield
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