Contents

InstallGuard is a powerful and yet simple to use utility which tells you exactly what changes are made to your system when you install any DOS or Windows program. It will detect all new, changed or deleted directories, files, Program Manager groups and icons. It will also detect and report any changes to all text configuration files such as AUTOEXEC.BAT and WIN.INI.

Main Index

Principles of Operation

Creating and Maintaining Snapshots

Creating System Change Lists

Copyright and Licensing

Registering InstallGuard


Principles of Operation

InstallGuard is based on the simple principle of a Snapshot which stores the system status before an installation and uses it to find the changes which have taken place.

To use InstallGuard, you have to follow these steps:

Create Snapshot: Use the snapshot dialog to select and create the snapshot. You may also exclude directories which are unlikely to be affected by the installation in order to speed up the snapshot creation and reduce its size.

Install Software: Once the snapshot is created you can go ahead and install the software. You can also use InstallGuard to keep you informed of changes caused by running software from CDs or Shareware disks. Note that it is not necessary to keep InstallGuard running. You can exit the program and start it again later to find the changes.

Find Changes: You can find the system changes at any time by loading an existing snapshot and using the System Changes dialog to find the differences between the system configuration and that stored in the snapshot.


What is a Snapshot?

As the name suggests, this is an image of the state of the system taken by InstallGuard and kept for later reference. The snapshot contains information about all of the files and directories on the reference PC together with information on all Program Manager Groups and Icons. It is stored in a single user selected file usually with a .SNP extension, and is used by the InstallGuard to determine the changes which took place after a particular software product has been installed on the PC.

With the snapshot file, InstallGuard will also create an archive of the same name but with a .STA extension (Snapshot Text Archive) to contain all of the text configuration files on the system. This is necessary for InstallGuard to be able to find the exact changes which took place for every modified configuration file.The files stored in the Text Archive are all files with the following extension, provided that they are not in an Excluded Directory:

BAT

INI

SYS

CFG

INF

The file will only be placed in the archive if it is pure ASCII text. So, for example, any binary files which may end with SYS will not be archived.

See Also

Loading a Snapshot

Creating and Updating a Snapshot

How to Exclude Directories

Viewing Snapshot Contents


Loading a Snapshot

When you open the System Snapshots view for the first time, the Snapshot File field will be empty. To create a new snapshot you will need to use the Load... button to select a file name for the new snapshot. You can select any directory and file name, but it is recommended that you select a file with a .SNP extension in order to find it easily later on.

You can also use the Load... button to load a previously created snapshot to replace the current one in view. Remember that the currently loaded snapshot will be the one used to create the Change Lists which determine the system changes after an installation.

See Also

Creating and Updating a Snapshot

How to Exclude Directories

Viewing Snapshot Contents


Creating and Updating a Snapshot

Once you have loaded a snapshot file, you can actually create its contents by clicking on the Create button. Note that you can also use this button to update an existing snapshot with the current system configuration. If a configured snapshot is already loaded you will be asked if you wish to overwrite it.

The create process can be quite lengthy and cannot be interrupted. You can monitor its progress by viewing the counters at the bottom of the dialog box. When completed, the Create Date field will be modified to indicate the date and time the snapshot was created. You can optionally use the Created By and Comments field to record additional information about the contents and purpose of the snapshot. Note that the comments field has a maximum length of 250 characters.

When completed, the complete system configuration information will be stored in the file you selected when you loaded the snapshot. For a typical PC with over 300MB of data, the snapshot can become quite large and difficult to manage, so you can use the Excluded Directories option to limit the scope of the snapshot and thus reduce its size.

See Also

How to Exclude Directories

Viewing Snapshot Contents


How to Exclude Directories

When you create a new snapshot, InstallGuard will try and collect information on all files, directories, groups and icons on the C: drive of the PC. A typical PC will contain in the region of 5000 files and 500 directories which will result in a snapshot file of over 400 KBytes and an equally large Snapshot Text Archive file. A snapshot like this is usually a waste of space as most software installations are limited to creating new directories and modifying the contents of the Windows directory. A new installation will very rarely place files in an unrelated program directory, so it is unnecessary to include these unrelated directories and files in the snapshot.

You can limit the scope of the snapshot by using the Exclude button to add the directory paths which InstallGuard should ignore when creating the snapshot. The best directories to exclude are those which contain a large number of files for products totally unrelated to the one you are about to install. Exercise care when selecting excluded directories as selecting important directories like the Windows home directory will prevent InstallGuard from detecting important changes to the system.

See Also

Viewing Snapshot Contents


Viewing Snapshot Contents

Once created, the contents of a snapshot can be viewed by clicking on the View... button. This will open a view dialog which can be used to view either of the four lists contained in the snapshot. You cannot modify the snapshot contents and the view dialog is provided only for informational purposes.

Saving Snapshots

There is no explicit save operation for a Snapshot! Whenever you make any changes to a snapshot the changes are saved immediately to the snapshot file. For this reason, if you have a snapshot which you do not wish to change by accident, you should copy the .SNP and .STA files to backup copies. Do not forget the .STA file as this is tightly linked to the snapshot image and is vital for discovering the changes made to configuration files.


The System Change Lists

The system change lists contain the information used by InstallGuard to create the change log after a piece of software has been installed on the PC. They are created by InstallGuard by comparing the currently loaded System Snapshot with the system configuration. The change lists contain information on all the newly created, the deleted and the changed directories, files, groups and icons on the system.

See Also

Creating the Change Lists

Viewing the Change Lists

Writing the Change Log


Creating the Change Lists

In the System Changes Summary view you can start the process of creating the change lists by clicking on the Create button. The actual process can be quite lengthy and cannot be interrupted, but you can monitor its progress by viewing the various counters in the dialog box. You can also continue using other Windows programs whilst InstallGuard is creating the lists.

In the dialog box the various counter fields have the following meanings:

Snapshot: Count of items which are already in the snapshot

Current: The actual count of items found on the system

ToCheck: The search process for files and icons is determined by the Deleted, New and Changed counts for the directories and groups respectively. This counter indicates the maximum number of items which need to be checked.

Deleted: Number of items deleted since the snapshot was taken.

New: Number of items added to the system since the snapshot was taken.

Changed: Number of items which have been detected as changed since the snapshot was taken. The actual changes are determined at the time of package creation.

When completed, the changes lists are NOT stored in any file or permanent storage, however the lists are not lost whilst InstallGuard is running even if you close down the Changes dialog. If you exit from the program before creating the log file, the change list information will be lost. However, unless you make extensive changes to the system configuration, you can recreate the system change information by going through the steps of loading a snapshot and re-creating the lists.


Viewing the Change Lists

Once created, you can view the actual contents of the change lists by clicking on the View... button. The System Change Lists dialog contains 3 lists indicating the deleted, new and changed items for the system directories, files, groups and icons.

The lists indicate which files and icons have been added, deleted or changed. Currently, you can not see what changes have taken place until you write the change log.

Note that InstallGuard will automatically remove all changed or new files with a .GRP extension as all group and icon changes are dealt with directly. For the same reason, a changed PROGMAN.INI file is also removed from the changed files list.

See Also

Creating the Change Lists

Writing the Change Log


Writing the Change Log

The system change lists contain a summary of the changes which took place when a particular piece of software was installed on your PC. Once created, you can write the details report of the changes into a text log file to keep and examine. The log file provides you with all the information you need to UnInstall the new software should you wish to later on.

The change log is created after you click on the Write Log button. A File Selection appears which you can use to select an existing or new file name for the log output. If you select and existing file, the log information will be added to the end of the file. When you click on OK, the log process starts and cannot be stopped. The cursor will change to an hourglass while the log is being written, but you can continue to use other Windows applications.

When the log has been created, a message will appear on the screen to inform you. You will be given the option to view the log immediately using the NOTEPAD application. Note that if the log file is too large for NOTEPAD, you will have to use an alternative text editor to view the log.

See Also

Creating the Change Lists


Copyright and License Notice

InstallGuard is Copyright © 1995 XyLink Ltd. All rights reserved.

The following contains important terms and conditions which apply to the use of InstallGuard. You indicate your acceptance of this license agreement by using the software.

License Agreement

InstallGuard is not free software. You are hereby licensed to use this software for the purpose of evaluation without any charge for a period of up to 21 days. If you wish to use this software beyond the 21 day evaluation period you are required to pay a registration fee of $14. Refer to Registering InstallGuard for details on how to pay. Unregistered use of the software after the 21-day evaluation period is in violation of international copyright laws.

Warranty Disclaimer

This software and the accompanying files are sold "AS IS" and without any warranties as to performance, or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. Under no circumstance and to the minimum extent permitted by law, including none, shall XyLink be liable for any damages whatsoever, including but not limited to consequential or incidental damages due to loss of business, loss of time, loss of information, loss of profit or loss of opportunities, arising in whole or part out of or related to the use of the software, even if XyLink has been informed of such danger or should have been informed or is in possession of knowledge of such danger or implications.

Distribution Rights

You are hereby permitted to make as many copies of this software and related documentation as you wish. You may also distribute exact copies of the software and related documentation to by any means including electronic. You are not permitted to distribute this software for profit and no charge may be made for its distribution other than a reasonable fee to cover the distribution cost.


Registering InstallGuard

If you wish to continue to use InstallGuard beyond the 21 day evaluation period you are requested and required to pay a registration fee of $14. In return you will be sent a registration number which will remove the unregistered messages from the software. In addition you will also be entitled to free upgrades, given priority when reponsing to techincal enquiries and also help the further development of InstallGuard.

The easiest and fastest way to register the software is through the CompuServe shareware registration scheme. To do this go to the SWREG forum and use the registration ID of 8060 for InstallGuard.

Alternatively, payments may be made using International Money orders in US dollars, and should be sent to XyLink Ltd., Sycamores, Onslow Crescent, Woking GU22 7AX, England.

If you do not wish to pay for InstallGuard and will therefore discontinue using the software, we thank you for having evaluated it. Any feedback you may have is welcome.

Enquiries and Technical Support

For all enquiries including technical support and bug reports you can send E-mail to the following addresses:

Compuserve:	100117,665
Internet:	100117.665@compuserve.com

Normally, all enquiries will be answered within 24 to 48 hours with priority given to those who have registered their copy of InstallGuard.

See Also

Copyright and Licensing