>You are correct, I do think that it's important to do proper installs. I have to take care of that myself on my consulting gigs. But at 3M, where we sell software to outside customers, we have people who do the installs with full blown Install Shield.

Craig,

As I said, the thing that I like is the ability to customize the install. For example, if I write a piece of freeware, I can skip the license dialog in the installation. Further, it does make the install look a lot more professional. Giving the user the feeling that the application is well written helps their confidence, which is also a plus. You don't want a user to have negative feelings from the very start.

BTW, your addition to your sig line reminds me of something I've said for years. The question, "How do you idiot proof a system?" has a simple answer. "Don't let idiots use the system." From personal experience I can say that no matter how simple you make an application to use, the world will eventually come up with a big enough idiot who can't figure it out.:-)