dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
uniqs
25
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

1 edit

dave to R2

Premium Member

to R2

Re: [WIN8] Can't uninstall a program

The string:

C:\Program Files\FOO bar

means run C:\Program with arguments Files\FOO and bar. Given the non-existence of C:\Program, this is generally not what is intended.

The string:

"C:\Program Files\FOO" bar

means run C:\Program Files\FOO with argument bar. This is generally what is intended

Large computer software systems do some things that their authors intended, and some things that their authors did not happen to intend one way or another. Authors tend to guarantee that the intentional parts continue to work from one version to the next, but don't guarantee (or even know) that the operation of the uninintentional parts will remain unchanged.

Sensible programmers write by the documentation, since that is what is guaranteed and intentional. Poor programmers discover something that "seems to work", and rely on it. We sneer at that as "programming by coincidence".

I hypothesize that this is one such case. By some accident, the incorrectly-quoated string managed to do the right thing before, and now it doesn't. You can't blame the OS authors for not supporting something now that they didn't support before. It is not possible to guarantee no changes in undocumented behaviour: otherwise you could not change anything ever.

R2
R Not
MVM
join:2000-09-18
Long Beach, CA

1 recommendation

R2

MVM

I get the concept, I am just a little surprised Win 8 was not able to remove something in the usual and customary fashion (through the Control Panel Add/Remove pathway) that is really not that old and that I presume could be removed by earlier versions of windows.

I guess you are saying that the writers off the removal string are at fault and I should not blame Win 8.

If that is the case, then should I not be able to modify the removal string (eh, that string that points to the file in question) in the registry and fix the problem?? Would it be possible to simply add in the quotes in the string and thereby allowing Windows 8 to function the way I expect it to?

That is an example of what I was looking for. I don't know what is new about Win 8 and I don't know what tricks I should know to make it work the way I want it to. That is why I came here...

Thanks to all.