There is a free option: Advanced Installer - Top Freeware Features
I’ve used it in the past before I switched to NSIS then to InnoSetup. Why did I switch from NSIS to InnoSetup? It fit my needs better. If I needed truly advanced features then I would switch back to NSIS in a heartbeat.
Thanks to one and all. I’m going to take a good look at each.
The point will become clear after the story…
I hate setting up new PCs or reloading one. I have a lot of software installed on my main PCs and to reload and recreate a happy working environment takes much time. So I don’t - I just keep going. BUT I try a lot of software and often have to test something a client is having issues with.
Now, whenever the program has an installer, I tremble and make sure I have a restore point. Installers are like spinning fans that the proverbial drops onto - potentially spreading who knows what, overwriting working .dlls, encrusting your already bloated registry with crud. Then if you uninstall, things are often not cleaned up. For example I uninstalled VMWare Player the other day, or tried to, and all I got was “MSI failed”. Then, if you use one of these “registry cleaners” you better have been to church recently - every time I have tried one of those my machine has failed to boot and I have had to live with the schlep of safe mode, restore points etc.
Now, for the pedants here, I do realise that you have to make an installer for distributing your applications to the general public and business.
But, one thing that is becoming increasingly available and popular is the “portable” version of an application that is either in a plain .zip file or a self-extracting version. Just unzip to a folder and off you go. If you end up wanting to keep, that is easy enough - copy to your programs folder if you are anal about these things, create a shortcut, and off you go.
I give a big thumbs-up to people who distribute software in dual format - installer, and portable.
Windows being patch upon patch upon patch, admittedly working on an amazing number of computers but still, in on itself it is kind of a heuristic environment. From the original install with the weekly updates, it soon becomes a mutated beast.
It seems to have subsided somewhat, but the drivers and DLL conundrum was such at one point that any program needed to install those critters. Heck. I remember the pesky VB100.DLL from way back that caused so much grief.
Xojo apps are indeed great as they execute from anywhere, so they can be run without an installer.