| 1.MsiXray |
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26/Mar/2008 |
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<P>Why you should consider MsiXray<P>
Have you ever? <P>
a) Installed an Application on a PC and discovered another Application which was previously had been working correctly now no longer works?<P>
b) Installed an Application on a PC and finds it does not work on this PC (or for a particular UserID) while it works correctly on other PCs (or other Users)?. <P>
c) Upgraded some system DLLs on your PC and find that some Applications have stopped working? <P>
d) Deleted some files on your PC and find that some Applications no longer work?. <P>
e) Found new problems with Applications on your PC BUT you are not aware that any changes have been made to its configuration? <P>
When this happens, what do you do? <P>
a) Rebuild your PC. Fine BUT<P>
b) Do you then install your new ?Killer? Application? If you do the same problems will reoccur! So how do you get both your original applications and your new ?Killer? Application to work on the Same PC? <P>
Using MsiXray you can<P>
a) ?Discover? the Software Environment required by each Application to work correctly<P>
b) Compare the Environments and detect DLL Version and other conflicts. <P>
c) Use MsiXray to setup Local Isolation to isolate the conflicting DLLs and enable all the applications to coexist on the same PC. <P>
d) Detect what changes have recently been made to your system. <P>
Summary of some of the Functionality of MsiXray<P>
MsiXray either <P>
? uses the MSI used to install the Application<P>
? an Enhanced Scan to ?Discover? what Files/Registry Entries are installed by the Application?s Installation Script. <P>
Standard Reports<P>
MsiXray has a ?Standard? Report which can compare the Files/Registry Entries in one or more MSIs (and now installation lists for non MSIs) and<P>
a) Compare them with each other and what is installed on the PC. Differences and omissions are highlighted and functionality provided to<P>
? Re-install missing entries. <P>
? Isolate conflicting DLLs <P>
b) Scan all the Applications (MSI and non MSI) installed on the PC <P>
? Detecting conflicts<P>
? Isolate them using Local Isolation<P>
c) Scan all the Applications (MSI and non MSI) to detect which ones installed a particular DLL, File or Registry Entry and list the Versions/Values etc in each installation. <P>
The Registration Details for DLLs can similarly be listed and compared with what is installed on the PC. <P>
Generating Lists of Files/Registry Entries installed for other (non MSI) Applications<P>
This is done by the ?Standard? method of Scan/Install/Scan<P>
This method does NOT detect the Shared System DLLs installed by the PC if a copy of the Same or a Later Version of the DLL is already installed on the PC. <P>
However a ?Counter? in the Registry is supposed to be incremented by the Installers (and is by Classic (non MSI) when they Install (or try to install a DLL) <P>
MsiXray detects changes to these ?Counters? and adds the installation of these DLLs to the Installation Scripts. <P>
MsiXray can also <P>
a) Use SysInternals?s ProcMon or FileMon/RegMon to generate logs which capture the Read/Write operations made to the Disk/Registry when the application is running. <P>
b) Reads the resultant logs and provide a comprehensive definition of the Software Environment for the Application, which can then be reported on using Standard MsiXray Reports. <P>
Checking, that a User, has the correct Access Permissions, to run the Application. <P>
Sometimes an Application will run correctly for one user but fail (with Access Denied) when another User tries to use it. <P>
As the Application fails on the first Access Security Problem it encounters, it can be a very laborious process to detect and correct each problem in turn. <P>
MsiXray can discover in a single pass ALL the Access Security Problems. <P>
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| 2.RunYourAppsFromUSB |
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09/Oct/2009 |
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?RunYourAppsFromUSB? provides a method of converting the majority of Applications, which are installed on your PC into ?Portable? Applications which can ?subject to their license terms? be installed on a USB Device and plugged in and run on any Windows PC( with no extra SW required on that PC).
Unlike other systems it is a complete system and does not require the purchase, installation and maintenance of expensive and complex Installer SW , Server environments or Virtual Machines before it can be used.
It is designed to be easy to use, (and NOT require detailed knowledge of PCs beyond what was necessary to install the Apps on the PC). The default options are suitable for the majority of Apps and where required there is the option using an ?Advanced? mode to display and revise the settings.
It provides four methods (which can be used together) of defining and setting up the APPLICATION?s environment on the USB device. Monitoring the running of the App, Reading the details in the App?s Installation MSI, Capturing changes on installation, Adding complete Directories and Registry Keys
Once setup the Applications on the USB Device are run using a ?Start menu? which can be automatically displayed when the Device is plugged in, so it can be used by any (non technical) PC User.
As an Application is installed on the USB using ?Generic? names it should be possible to plug in and run the Apps unchanged on Windows 7, XP, and Vista PCs (of different languages?).
A Worked example of setting up a USB with Open Office, Adobe Acrobat 7, 7-Zip, Pegasus Mail, MSD Organiser, Photobie, Firefox Portableversion is documented. It took less than a morning to setup using the Applications already installed on the PC.
For Licensing reasons it is recommended that where ever possible the Applications are Freeware. In the Example above the more popular products were chosen.
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