Installation (computer programs)

Common card · No. 321873

Installation (or setup) of a computer program (including device drivers and plugins) is the act of making the program ready for execution. Installation refers to the particular configuration of software or hardware with a view to making it usable with the computer. A soft or digital copy of the piece of software (program) is needed to install it. There are different processes of installing a piece of software (program). Because the process varies for each program and each computer, programs (including operating systems) often come with an installer, a specialised program responsible for doing whatever is needed (see below) for the installation. Installation may be part of a larger software deployment process. Installation typically involves files containing program code and data being copied/generated from the installation to new files on the local computer for easier access by the operating system, creating necessary directories, registering environment variables, providing a separate...

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