Officially, installation is the process of installing a program on your computer. During installation, the program copies itself (most often) to the “Program Files” folder, writes the data it needs in the system registry, and sometimes places additional libraries or system files in the operating system itself.
The installation process is handled by a special program - installer. Most often, the installer includes the program itself and internal instructions for installing it.
This official explanation, as practice shows, is not clear to everyone.
Imagine your own kitchen. It will be like a computer. The food processor that you want to install in your kitchen is the program that you are going to install on your computer.
Now everything is simple. You bought a food processor. It is semi-assembled in a box, not connected to electricity. Of course, such a combine in a box is of no use. He does not work.
Now you, with a packed harvester in your hands, are an installer. What will you do as an installer? And there are instructions about this inside the box with the combine. You take it out, read it and do everything according to the instructions - remove the components and assemblies of the combine from the box, connect them in a certain sequence, and connect the combine to the power supply. You put away the attachments and spare parts from the combine that you don’t need right now, along with the box, in a special cupboard.
Now your food processor is ready for use (the program is installed on the computer).
Second question(Is it possible to simply copy the installed program to another computer), I think now it has become more clear to you. “Can an installed food processor be moved to another kitchen?” The answer is no.
In another kitchen, the food processor must first be connected to electricity (the program must be registered in the system registry). Unlike sticking a plug into a socket, manually writing a program in the registry is more complicated and more dangerous for the operating system. In addition, if you want to use some functions of the program (change the attachments in the food processor), you will find that they are not in the new place (the attachments remained in the cabinet in the old kitchen). And for the program, perhaps these files will be very necessary, and the program will completely refuse to start (and may even cause the operating system to crash).
Well, the third question(if I no longer need the program, why can’t I just erase it), I think it’s completely obvious to you now. Because garbage remains in the operating system. You threw out the combine, but the wire from it remained in the socket. And a box with now unnecessary attachments and spare parts takes up space in the closet.
To properly remove a program from your computer, you need a special program - an uninstaller. This program contains instructions on what and where it was copied, laid out, and installed. And the uninstaller correctly deletes all files, folders and system registry keys that contained a program that you no longer need.
In conclusion, I would like to say that not all programs are so complex. Some programs allow you to copy themselves from one computer to another, and each time they start, they check whether everything is in order with their files in the system and the keys in the registry, and, if necessary, carry out the installation themselves. As a rule, they do not perform uninstallation, and garbage accumulates in the system after them.
There are also programs that do not need installation at all. They do not install anything into the system and can be launched from a flash drive or CD.
The article describes ways in which you can transfer data from one computer to another with a guarantee of data safety and without much effort. Transferring files, settings and programs to a new computer can be difficult and intimidating for the user, especially if he does not know how to do it correctly and where to start.
Often it all comes down to the user copying the most necessary and important data from the old PC to an external storage medium, and then copying it to the hard drive of the new computer. This method also exists, but it is associated with the risk of data loss during the process and/or as a result of information transfer. But what about applications and operating system settings?
In fact, there are several ways that will help you transfer data from one computer to another with better quality and with less effort, and, very importantly, with a guarantee of safety.
Content:Data Migration Tools
There are many utilities for transferring data, settings and programs to a new computer. To use them, you just need to install such a program on both computers and use them to transfer your files, applications and settings.
A tool with this functionality is also provided free of charge by Microsoft - Windows Easy Transfer. And although, starting with Windows 10, it is no longer available as a built-in utility in the operating system, Microsoft offers to use another third-party application - PCmover Express.
The principle of operation of the program is as follows: connect an external storage device to your computer and launch the application; transfer your data from your computer to an external drive and then connect it to another PC to which you need to transfer the data; run this application on a new computer and transfer data from external media to this computer.
Backup and restore files
The system's built-in File Backup and Restore tool also allows you to transfer files and system settings to another computer.
Using this tool you can create a system image. This will be a complete image of the operating system, including system files, installed programs and personal files. It is enough to simply deploy the system image that was created from the old computer on a new computer.
Just copy the files
Also, do not forget about the possibility of copying files manually, this way you can transfer personal files from computer to computer. To do this, connect an external storage medium of sufficient capacity to your computer (for example, an external hard drive) and copy all the files that need to be transferred to it. After this, connect this drive to the new computer and transfer the necessary files.
If all your files on your computer are well organized and you know their location on your hard drive, then you will not have any difficulties implementing this method.
This way, you will be able to transfer files, but not settings. If you also need to transfer browser bookmarks, you will need to export/import them using the functions of the browser itself. All modern browsers also have synchronization functions, with which you can import all settings.
Cloud storage
Cloud storage services can store user data, settings, and other data, and do a good job of it. To do this, just install the service client on your computer and configure data saving with its help. On another computer, it will be enough to install the same client and log into the account you created earlier, and you will have access to all the data saved in it.
There are many such services at the moment, the most popular of which are Dropbox and Google Drive, as well as Microsoft OneDrive integrated into Windows. You can use any one convenient for you.
If your computer crashes
If the transition to a new computer is due to the inoperability of the old one, then the user’s personal data can also be transferred from it.
To do this, connect the hard drive of the old computer to the new one and check how it is detected by the operating system (it all depends on the reasons for the failure of the old PC). If it is recognized by the computer as another hard drive and all files are available for use on it, then it is enough to carry out the actions described in paragraph "Just copy the files". You can only copy them directly to the hard drive of your new computer.
If hard drive files from your old computer are not displayed, you can recover them using a hard drive data recovery program - Hetman Partition Recovery. To do this, launch it and scan your hard drive. Save all files detected by the program to a new computer hard drive.
Switching to a new computer should not be difficult for the user. Some tools even provide the ability to transfer installed programs and applications. But the most important factor in data transfer is the user's personal files, which should not be damaged or lost during the process or as a result of the data transfer. The methods described above should help the user avoid such unpleasant consequences.
In the absence of a distribution kit, many programs and games can simply be copied from one computer to another. In this case, on another machine the program will work as correctly as on one installed from the distribution kit. But you also often come across instances that are not enough to simply copy - to run them, you need certain keys in the registry that are created during installation. I will give an example of restoring the necessary registry branches in such cases.
If in the folder with your program there is an install.log file, which stores all the information about the installation procedure, consider that you will not have any problems with this program. In addition to the list of copied files, this file (you can open it with Notepad) contains information about the installed registry branches. Let's look at the example of the game Pro Evolution Soccer 2008.
RegDB Val: F:\Games\PES08\
RegDB Name: installdir
RegDB Root: 2
RegDB Key: SOFTWARE\KONAMI\PES2008
RegDB Val: NA9C97ANHSLC46R5JYM9
RegDB Name: code
RegDB Root: 2
RegDB Key: SOFTWARE\KONAMI\PES2008
RegDB Val: 1.00.0000
RegDB Name: version
RegDB Root: 2
RegDB Key: SOFTWARE\KONAMI\PES2008\1.00.0000
RegDB Val:
RegDB Root: 2
This is an excerpt from the install.log file. Here is information about the four keys added to the registry. If you can access a computer with a correctly installed program, then it will be enough to save the necessary branches in a reg file. Otherwise, you will need to create these branches manually.
Let's say the very first key is created as follows: open the registry editor (Start -> Run -> regedit), tab HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE. Right-click on the SOFTWARE partition and select “Create Partition”, then enter the partition name KONAMI. Then in the KONAMI section we create the PES2008 section in the same way. Now the path to the key fully matches the entry in install.log, all that remains is to create the key.
Open the KONAMI section and right-click on the right side of the window, select “New” -> “String Parameter”. Enter the name of the parameter installdir, press Enter and double-click on the key you just created. We write the value F:\Games\PES08\ into it. This completes the creation of the key. The remaining keys are created in the same way.
You can go another way - create a file in Notepad with the reg extension with the following information:
"installdir"="F:\Games\PES08\"
“code”=”NA9C97ANHSLC46R5JYM9″
"version"="1.00.0000″
Here the path to the key is indicated in square brackets, below is the name of the key and its value. Keys located at the same address are written one after another. You can record as many keys as you like in one file. Useful when the program needs to be transferred to several computers. If the file is created correctly, then it will be enough to simply run it on each machine.
When purchasing a new computer or reinstalling the operating system, all software, including all its settings, must be reinstalled each time. This trend makes many users reluctant to switch to another operating system or computer. The solution to this problem is a special utility called PickMeApp.
PickMeApp software is designed to save and package automatic deployment packages of installed software on the user's computer. This means that this program assembles installed applications, including all settings and parameters. After assembly, all programs can be easily restored on a new computer or system, immediately configured.
The convenience of using PickMeApp lies in the fact that you do not need the installation packages of all programs, and archiving and installation occurs by pressing a few buttons, after which everything will be done automatically.
Advantages of the PickMeApp utility:
- Convenient graphical interface;
- Ease of use;
- Ability to work without the need for installation (portable version);
- Works on new OS Windows 7, 8(8.1).
PickMeApp instructions
After launching the utility, the user is automatically taken to the main screen of the program
The main program window is divided into two main parts. On the left side of PickMeApp you will see all the software that is present on your computer and that you can transfer. The utility itself will automatically scan all system folders and build a list of applications. The list can be sorted by the most necessary criteria: name, size, version...
To select an application to transfer, you need to check the box next to its name on the left side. The best option is to use the “Mark All” button to automatically mark all applications. This way you can immediately select all the necessary applications in one click. On the left side of the window, immediately below the application selection frame, the approximate size of the archive and the time it takes to create it in minutes will be displayed.
After selecting the desired programs on the left side
You can go to the right area of the program window. By default there are two profiles there. The first “My Captured Application” is designed to ensure that only your applications are included in the archive. Second: “PickMeApp Collection” is nothing more than a collection of programs that can be included in your archive (they will be downloaded from the network). Therefore, the most optimal would be to choose the first profile.
To start creating an archive, you need to click the “Capture marked application(s)” button. It looks like a folder with a green arrow inside it. Alternatively, you can use the hotkey combination: Ctrl + C. The process of creating an archive will be shown at the bottom of the progress bar, and actions will also be recorded in a log file, which is displayed at the very bottom of the main program window
The finished application archive is saved in .tap format, which can be easily transferred to your profile. In order to deploy applications on a new operating system, you need to mark them in the right panel of the main window of the PickMeApp utility and start the automatic installation process with the “Install marked application(s)” button (Looks like a folder with an up arrow).
Features and nuances
- You need to have enough free space on your hard drive to save the archive;
- The program in new operating systems must be run as an administrator;
- It is better to use auto-select all applications.
Instead of an afterword
That, in fact, is all that is needed to transfer any number of programs from one computer to another or to automate the process of reinstalling the operating system. Even the fact that the program’s interface is in English does not make it incomprehensible or inconvenient; any of your actions is accompanied by a visual design, and the number of actions is so small that it will not be difficult for you to transfer your favorite software.
In contact with
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Buying a new computer or reinstalling the operating system on an old one is quite a joyful event, because working on a clean, uncluttered system is a pleasure. But all this joy can be overshadowed by the transfer of truly important and necessary applications to only the installed system. Why you ask? Well, for example, there was no installation disk at hand, and all the complex settings of the necessary programs had long been forgotten.
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The program has been updated to version 5.13.2. And we updated it in the Russian version...
A utility called PickMeApp will allow you to quickly and easily transfer already installed applications along with individual settings to another computer. In this case, the user does not have to use the original disk with the desired program and waste time on re-installation. After launching, PickMeApp scans your computer and lists all the programs it can transfer to the left panel. Then the selected programs are packaged (along with their data from the windows registry and settings) to a flash drive, external drive or network drive. After this, PickMeApp is launched on another computer and the previously packaged programs are installed.
The product's user interface boasts exceptional ease of use. On the left side of the screen there is a list of installed applications, and on the right panel the transferred programs are displayed, in addition, here the user can configure some transfer settings. After selecting the required applications, just click on the Capture Marked Application button and PickMeApp will independently perform all the necessary operations. The process may take some time depending on the size of the source applications.
Utility PickMeApp makes it possible to view information about any application, such as the application version, the expected size of the future archive, the time of its creation, etc. To do this, you need to left-click on the application you are interested in. Below the information there are three buttons: Capture- app capture, Repair- restore the application, Uninstall- delete the application.
PickMeApp can be used to transfer a huge number of common software products to a new device, from integrated development environments, graphics packages and desktop publishing systems to small system utilities.
If you are using a profile “My Capture Application”, then the application will be packaged in a file with the extension .tap and written to the Tapps subfolder (a subfolder of the utility itself). If you want to save the file in a different folder, you need to add a new profile. To do this, click “Create new profile” or activate it by clicking the left mouse button.
After selecting the applications needed to transfer, you need to start the process of creating their installation packages, which include all the necessary files, settings, and registry branches. To start, press the button “Capture marked application”.
All ready-made packages can be easily transferred to your profile using the button Import. To deploy such packages on a new system, just mark them in the right panel of PickMeApp and click “Install marked application” run the installation. It is possible to sort applications by size, name, creation date, application version, or by additional options:
— installed — displays applications already installed on the PC;
— not installed — displays applications that are not installed;
— selected - displays selected applications;
— clear - cancels the previous filter and displays all applications.
By clicking on the “Click here for support information” link, you can view detailed information about the selected application. It is also worth knowing that if this program is already installed on your PC, it will be marked with a green circle. There are two options to choose from: with installation and unpacked and ready to use, i.e. ported...
Released: 2012
OS: Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
Interface language: Russian
Size: 6.4 MB / 4.2 MB
The material was kindly provided by the author of Russification pp0312
PickMeApp 5.13.2: