Please stop all applications before monitoring a new installation
It is very important to stop all applications before you start monitoring an application's installation! This is the most important condition for using the installation monitor correctly. It is absolutely required and essential.
This page contains a detailed explanation of what can happen if you don't stop all applications before monitoring a new installation.
When monitoring an application's installation, the installation monitor writes to a log file information about all actions that happen on your PC. The installation monitor logs information about the following things:
- files and folders (creation, deletion, modification)
- registry keys and values (creation, deletion, modification)
- INI files (creation, deletion, modification)
- shortcuts (creation, deletion, modification)
If you monitor an installation and just the installation (setup) program runs, then only the actions performed by that program will be written to the log file. This is the correct way to monitor an application's installation.
If you monitor an installation and, along with the installation (setup) program, other programs are running, then both the setup's actions and the other running programs' actions will be recorded in the install log file.
Later when you uninstall the program using the installation log, all the actions recorded in the install log will be undone. If the install log contains just the actions that the setup program did, then only those actions will be reversed (undone). That means that the program will be removed (uninstalled) correctly.
If the install log contains, along with the setup program's actions, the actions performed by other programs, then both the actions performed by the setup program and the actions performed by the other programs that were running at the time you monitored the install will be undone. This is not a correct uninstall because it involves undoing actions done by the other programs, which have nothing to do with the setup!
Example of what can happen if you don't close your download manager before monitoring
Let's say you monitor an installation and you forget to close your download manager (a program such as GetRight or FlashGet).
During the installation you are monitoring, the download manager finishes downloading some files. It will also automatically save the list of files it is currently downloading (most download managers do this automatically every 2 or 3 minutes).
Later when you uninstall the application you have monitored, the install log will also contain information about the files saved by the download manager. So, when uninstalling the application (unless you carefully select by hand the items you want to uninstall) these files will also get deleted.
So you will lose the files you downloaded during installation and also the file in which your download manager keeps it's list of currently downloading files. When you start the download manager after the uninstall, you will discover that the file list is empty.
This can be avoided by closing your download manager before your start monitoring. This is why we recommend you to close all programs before monitoring an install.
Example of what can go wrong if you don't close Microsoft Word before monitoring
Let's say you monitor an installation. You forget to close Microsoft Word before you start monitoring the installation and you have an important document open in Microsoft Word.
During the installation Microsoft Word is open, and Word automatically saves the document (Microsoft Word has a document automatic saving setting which is on by default, and automatically saves your documents often).
The installation log produced by the monitor will also contain information about the document that Microsoft Word saved. So, when uninstalling the application (unless you carefully select by hand the items you want to uninstall) this document will also get deleted. So you will lose your document.
This can be avoided by closing Microsoft Word before your start monitoring. This is why we recommend you to close all programs before monitoring an installation, if you want to have a correct install log.
How to avoid these problems
You can easily avoid all problems if you remember to close all programs before monitoring an installation.
This is the main condition for using the installation monitor properly. Do this, and there won't be any problem. If you don't do this, then problems are almost guaranteed to appear after you uninstall a monitored application.