Installation is the process of putting a program in a computer system such that the program works as desired. It includes configuration. However, further configuration changes may be made once a program is installed. Ideally, such changes are made only if the demands on that program change.

Some operating systems are pre-installed. This means that computers are supplied with the installation already completed.This is some sort of a unattended installation. Other ones don t need to be installed on a hard disk, for example Knoppix Linux, and can be run from a bootable CD without affecting existing installed operating systems.

The installation of a program generally adds the following components to the computer s file system:

An installer is a program that installs another one. Either such a program or a person can carry out an installation. The latter is known as a manual installation. There is also unattended installation (or silent installation).

Some programs do not need to be installed by a program, and can be installed simply by copying the program files to the desired location.

At times a clean installation is required. This is mostly needed when software needs to be updated. When a user performs a clean installation, the complete software package, whether it be an operating system or a text editor, is removed. This prevents any incompatibility issues between the new release and the outdated release.

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