Avoiding DLL Version Conflicts

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

A significant number of users have experienced problems because applications install new versions of shared DLLs that then fail to work with other applications that depend on them.

To avoid causing such DLL versioning problems with your application, it is very important to follow these three recommendations:

• Do not write to Windows system directories.
• Use Microsoft update packs to upgrade system components.
• Do not install globally shared DLLs.

The only cost in following these recommendations is that your application will occupy slightly more disk space than it would if it relied on shared DLLs. The benefit is that you will not risk disrupting your users' environments.