actual installer software for windows

How to Create a Better Installation For Your Software

Developers’ experience suggests that a good, professional looking software installer is extremely important for your software. Nothing creates a worse first impression than an installer which doesn’t work or is hard to use. In other words, if you want your software to project a positive image before a user even has a chance to try it, you should take care of an easy-to-use installer. However, it is also unreasonable to waste a lot of time creating an installer, as it is only used once. Therefore it is very practical to use a software solution that will build your installer for you, thus saving your time and effort.

So, basically, what a developer needs is reliable software creating user-friendly installers. And Actual Installer seems to be a perfect solution. A powerful tool, it allows creating installation packages with modern interface, as the distribution kit includes colorful Wizard Bitmaps. Its interface being intuitive, Actual Installer benefits first-time developers, enabling them to create simple installation packages, as well as professional developers, who can create multifunctional installers (registration of new file types, dll, type library, screensaver registration, any commands, font registration and other features are available).

To begin the process, run Actual Installer. The first page is General, containing the Product Name and Product Version fields. Company Name, Web Site and Support Link fields are optional, they will display in the Control Panel window at Add/Remove Programs.

The Requirements tab allows choosing Windows version. If your program requires NET Framefork, select it and choose the version.

It is strongly recommended that you should select Require Administrator Privileges option; otherwise the installer won’t be able to create files in Windows system directories (in Program Files, HTLM\SOFTWARE register, and so on). However, you don’t need to select it if you just need to copy the files to a directory that is not a system one. Then you should also make sure that you do not select Show in Add/Remove Programs List option at Installation page (Uninstallation tab).

Coming to Installation page: the first tab is Installation Path/Files. In the Source Folder you may choose the folder containing application files. The Main Executable field is intended for the main executable file. You can automatically create a shortcut for this file in the program group (Launch – Programs – the name of the program group is chosen at the System-Shortcuts page – the shortcut for the main executable). You can also copy the files to the other folders at Additional Files tab.

The next tab is Uninstallation. If you want to enable uninstallation option for your program, just select Include Uninstaller option. The Visit Uninstall Web Page option allows redirecting a user to the Uninstall Feedback page after uninstallation has been completed. Select Force Uninstall option when you want uninstaller to completely remove the installation folder (if your program creates additional files in it).

The last tab at the Installation page is Update. Select Unclude Updater option to include Actual Updater utility in the installation package. The utility allows checking updates. Further information on this option can be found in the Help file.

As for Update Installation option, select it only if you want to create an update file, that enables a user to update for the program which has been already installed. Note that it is impossible to update a program if a user runs update file while the program has not been installed yet.

Moving on to Dialogs page. Here you can choose the Setup Wizard pages for your installer. The Languages tab offers the languages for installer. To change the text for a language, select Edit in the Context Menu.

At the License Agreement tab you can specify License Agreement files; it is also possible also use a separate file for each installation language. If you want to use the same License Agreement file for all languages, select Default option.

At the User Information tab information to query can be selected. The three standard fields available are: User Name, Company Name and Serial Number. You may choose to use the information the user has already entered during the setup dialogues. In this case, use the variables <UserName>, <UserCompany> and <UserSerial> respectively. The tab also contains Custom Field. For this field you can use the variable <CustomUserInfo>.

The System page offers additional options, like shortcuts, registry files and INI files. You can also choose commands to be executed before and/or after installation and uninstallation.

The Register page has two tabs. At the Extensions tab the file types to be registered in the system can be chosen. The Others tab supports selecting the files to be registered in the system - as fonts, dll, type library, and the new 3.0 version features - install screensaver and wallpaper.

After the functional has been set, press F8 key to create installation file – and be ready to get a great looking, easy-to-use installer!