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The Benefits of the Windows Installer

If you've installed Microsoft Office 2000 or the Windows 2000
Support Tools that come with Windows 2000 Professional, you've
already encountered the Windows Installer. (If you haven't
installed the Support Tools, run \Support\Tools\Setup on your
Windows 2000 Professional distribution media.) One component
of the Windows Installer is the new Setup application. This Setup
application lets you specify which program features you want
installed on your hard disk, which you want installed at first use
(installed "on demand"), which you want to run from the CD, and
which you never want to be bothered with. New versions of major
applications from Microsoft will all use this Setup tool, as will
many future third-party programs.
Another aspect of the Windows Installer makes applications that
use it "self-repairing." The Installer maintains a record of all DLLs
and other critical components used by an application. If a required
DLL becomes damaged, is overwritten by an unauthorized
alternative version, or is deleted, the Installer detects the change
and repairs the component when you try to run the application -
prompting you for installation media if necessary.
A third aspect of the Installer assists administrators in Active
Directory environments in deploying applications and maintaining
corporate use policies. Using the Group Policy console on a server
version of Windows 2000, an administrator can publish or assign
applications to users or computers.
An application published to a user is made available to that user
via Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. If the administrator
chooses an auto-install option, documents associated with the
published application are recorded in the registry in advance; then,
if the user opens an associated document, the published software is
automatically installed from the network server.
An application assigned to a user appears on the user's Start menu
or as a shortcut on the user's desktop, and the application's
documents are pre-associated. As soon as the user chooses the
menu item, activates the shortcut, or opens an associated
document, the application is installed. An application assigned to a
specific user is available to that user wherever he or she might log
on. An application can also be assigned to a computer, in which