Installing Software
There are several ways to go about installing new software on your computer. If one way doesn’t seem to be working correctly then you can try one of the others to make sure it is properly installed.
The easiest way to go about installing software is having the CD autorun when you place it in your computer. Most computers and software support this feature. When you place the CD in the drive there is a file on that CD that makes it automatically launch the setup program for that software.
Another way to install software is to go to your Add/Remove Programs utility located in the Control Panel. If you are using Windows Vista it will be called Programs and Features and look a little different than the images below.
From here you would click on Add New Programs and then click the CD or Floppy button. The computer will search your CD or floppy drive for the setup program for your software. If it can’t find it or its located somewhere else it will give you the option to browse your computer to find the file.
You can also type the path to the installation file from the Run box. If you go to Start then Run you will have a place to type this in and click Ok. Keep in mind that most Windows installation files will be called setup.exe.
One final way to install software is to browse for the setup.exe or other installation file from your Windows Explorer or My Computer. Once you find your CD or floppy drive and locate the proper file you can double click it to start the installation.
Once you start the installation you should follow the instructions supplied with the software since not all software installs the same.
Uninstalling Software
The best way to uninstall software is to go back to your Control Panel and to the Add/Remove Programs utility. From here you can find the software you want to remove in the list and then click Change/Remove. Just make sure that you don’t have the software running or it won’t let you uninstall it.
Some software will put an icon in your start menu programs that you can click to uninstall the software. It does the same thing as going to Add/Remove software.
One thing to keep in mind when removing software is that you don’t want to go to My Computer and find the folder for the software and just delete it. That wont completely remove the software just most of the files. There are other files placed in different locations such as the Windows folder and also in the registry that wont get removed if you just delete the folder.
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