IOMANUAL

Find out all the dirty things that installers and other programs do behind your back. Installer Observer 3.0.3 Manual © 2000, Zachary Schneirov TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction .................................................................................. 1 • What is Installer Observer? ..................................................... 1 • How is this useful? .................................................................. 1 Requirements.................................................................................. 2 • Hardware ................................................................................ 2 • Software ..................................................................................2 Features .......................................................................................... 3 • Folder sets .............................................................................. 3 • Scanning and Examining .......................................................... 4 • Observations ........................................................................... 5 • Packages ................................................................................. 7 • Exclusions ............................................................................... 9 • Comparing Two System States ................................................ 10 Troubleshooting ............................................................................ 11 • Common Problems ................................................................. 11 • Error Messages ........................................................................ 12 Distribution .................................................................................... 13 • What You Must Do ................................................................ 13 • Contact Information ............................................................... 13 Page 1 Introduction What is Installer Observer? Installer Observer is a program designed to aid a user in determining exactly what an installer has done to his or her computer. Installer Observer can discover all changes that an installer has made by essentially comparing before and after states of the system. From this comparison, Installer Observer locates all files that have been added, changed, or removed, and presents them to the user in a neat, comprehensible format. How is this useful? Installer Observer gives the user far more control over the files on his or her computer by allowing him or her to see all changes—relevant and irrelevant—that a program makes to those files. Because Installer Observer scans the system independently of …