Introduction to Desktop Management
Introduction to Desktop Management |
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Using Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel is one way that users can install and update applications. Users can easily add and remove Assigned and Published applications. However, each Assigned application is re-advertised on the desktop, which means that each application is reinstalled the next time the user selects it.
When a user double-clicks Add/Remove Programs and then clicks Add New Programs, a list of all of the software available to the user appears. The user is able to install only the software that you have determined that the user needs to perform his or her job. If a large number of published applications are available, the user can sort the applications based on administrator-defined categories. Categories are established by domain, not by the Group Policy object, which is a collection of Group Policy settings. By using the Software Installation snap-in, you can create and modify categories, and associate Assigned or Published applications with specific categories. The Software Installation snap-in is focused on a Group Policy object; when you create or edit the categories; however, you make changes on a per-domain basis. When you associate a category with a Windows Installer package, you make changes on a per-Group Policy object basis.
When a user selects the applications that he or she wants to install from the list of published applications using Add/Remove Programs, the computer obtains the software's advertisement information from Active Directory and then uses this advertisement information to get the application's Windows Installer package. Windows Installer then installs the application based on the application state information contained in its Windows Installer package.
For more information about Add/Remove Programs, see Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Help. For information about how to install applications using Add/Remove Programs, see "Software Installation and Maintenance" in this book.