Posted by MCheu on 11/15/82 11:55

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 14:07:09 GMT, spam@uce.gov (Bob) wrote:

>I am considering updating my codecs with
>
>K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.56
>
>http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/KLite_Mega_Codec_Pack/1080441198/1/
>
>I have been advised to uninstall all existing codecs.
>
>1) How would I go about that? Some installations offer uninstallers
>but not all, especially the applications which installed their own
>codecs.

That will depend on the CODEC you're talking about. I've yet to run
across one that doesn't include an uninstaller, but you can probably
find instructions online for manual removal for a specific codec.
Worst case, you can just take the a chance and just try installing
over them. It works *most* of the time.

>
>2) Why uninstall any codecs in the first place? Why not just overwrite
>the old ones with the new ones in the K-Lite pack?

1. It leaves some entries in the windows installed program list that
aren't valid anymore. You'll need to delete these entries manually.

2. Some versions of CODECs aren't compatible with earlier or competing
implementations. When you overwrite, you only overwrite the files
that have an equivalent on the system. Some CODEC versions have
different file complements. Files without an analog won't be
overwritten, and these can have weird effects (eg. error messages at
start-up, malfunctions that are hard to track down). Worst case
(which isn't likely to happen, but could) is that such a file is
loaded at startup, and due to some wacky coding, crashes because it
can't find the right file version it needs, perhaps bringing other
problems.

Even if it causes no problems at all, most people don't like obsolete
files cluttering their hard drive.

3. If you don't uninstall the previous CODEC, some of those files from
the older CODEC may be loaded. Usually, when a program is running or
is loaded in memory, the original file is locked by setting the
read-only flag. When the installer tries to overwrite it, it won't be
allowed to. The smart installers complain to you about it. If you
actually proceed, you'll have a mix and match of files from one
version and another, with no guarantee that they'll work together very
well.
---------------------------------------------
Thanks.


MCheu

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