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
.

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