                               WinINSTALL
                          Reviewed by Chip Cox

    There are a couple of universal truths regarding the support of
Microsoft Windows. No two users after using windows for one day will
ever have identical INI files. Your hair if you have any left will go
gray. While I don't believe that WinINSTALL can do anything to prevent
hereditary hair loss or graying, it does have the potential to help.
WinINSTALL is a windows software installation program designed to make a
network administrators' life easier when installing applications to
multiple workstations us Windows. I installed WinINSTALL on a Novell
3.12 fileserver. My administrators workstation was a 33 MHz 386 with 16
Meg of memory and my client workstation was a 25 MHz 386SX with 8 Meg of
memory. Both workstations were running Windows 3.1. WinINSTALL took
approximately 3 megabytes of disk space to install. Additional disk
space will be required to hold configuration files for each application
set up. Additional disk space may also be required to hold executable
and data files to be copied to client workst ations during application
installation.
    WinINSTALL lets the network administrator build a profile or DAT
file which describes where files will be placed, modifications to
various system files, and system requirements for installation on other
workstations. These workstations can then select from a list of
available applications that should be installed. From personal
experience it is not fun upgrading even forty or fifty copies of a
windows application around a company. With WinINSTALL you can specify
all changes to INI, DAT and system files t need to be made during the
installation process. You can also let WinINSTALL monitor the
installation procedure and determine what changes need to be made based
on the comparison between a before and after snapshot of your system.
The DAT file made via this "discover" process can then be customized by
editing the DAT file as if it were created using the manual method. On
Demand Software put a lot of work into the details of this software.
Even little things like hi ghlighting the options that are applicabl e
on the manual setup screens are a nice timesaving touch. I am not
referring to enabling and disabling the options. All options are enabled
but the ones that have been used and have information in them are shown
in a different color. Some of the many manually configured options
include setting installation and removal passwords, disk space checks,
and system requirements (memory, CPU, video resolution, DOS version,
Windows version).
    I installed WinINSTALL without any problems from diskette to my
Novell 3.12 fileserver. The documentation shipped with WinINSTALL is
available both in hard copy and electronic form on the diskette. The
documentation is well written and easy to understand. I took one look at
the manual configuration screen and vowed never to come back to it
unless I had to. I then tried the discovery option. This option took me
through step by step in creating a before installation snap shot of
relevant parts of my syste It then allowed me to install the
application. I could leave WinINSTALL and windows, make changes to other
things and these would be captured as well. Finally it worked through an
after installation snapshot of my system. These two snapshots were then
used to determine what hand changed due to the installation. I was then
prompted for locations where to store the files and system change
information for later use in installing on other systems. This should
probably be an area acces sible to all users. After a bout 10 minutes, I
was done. I had created a DAT file for use in installing the
application.
    I then decided to tempt fate and went back into the manual entry
screen. I started to look at some of the options and found that the
on-screen help messages coupled with the information now available from
my applications was enough to help me understand what was going on (I
later read the documentation and confirmed most of my ideas). I added
messages to be displ ayed during the install and set the reset option to
re start windows after I was done. With the application I was installing
this was not necessary since there were not any changes to the win or
system INI files but it was nice to see you could configure WinINSTALL
to do it if you wanted to. Finally I went to another PC started windows
and tried the installation I had just configured. It worked smoothly and
cleanly. The applications worked correctly after installation.
    In conclusion I have to say that I like WinINSTALL. It can correctly
interpret and modify INI files and other system files. I believe that it
would pay for itself by the timesaving it can produce the next time you
have a new product to install or upgrade. WinINSTALL won't stop
hereditary graying or hair loss but may help postpone it.

                               WinINSTALL
                           On Demand Software
                        1100 5th Ave S Suite 208
                            Naples FL 33940

    Send your postal name, address, city, state, zip to 36prod@supportu.com
       for product literature to be sent to you via postal mail.
