Registry Backup and Dll Hell?, Part 2

Infopackets Reader Bruce W. writes:

" I enjoy your newsletter very much and I also have a question.

I read with interest your last article on Registry Backup and DLL Hell. In the past, I've found programs on the Internet that I'd really like to have (regardless of free or paid) and I've downloaded them to my computer. My question is: sometimes I download a program and it tells me something to the effect 'unable to locate DLL library: installation failure.' Why does this happen with some programs but not others? It's frustrating! "

My response:

The error message you received isn't so much to do with "DLL Hell", as previously discussed -- but more like a missing file problem.

As the message states, the program that you downloaded requires a .DLL to operate, and it wasn't found on your system. This is most likely because the author assumed that you have the .DLL file on your system and did not include it in his software release.

For example: many freeware programs are written with Microsoft Visual Basic (a programming language) and require MSVBMx.DLL to operate. Since the MSVBMx.DLL is copyrighted by Microsoft, most Visual Basic programmers will only link to a MSVBMx.DLL as a separate downloadable file ("x" being the version number).

The next time you receive an error message that states a .DLL cannot be found, simply go online Google and type in the exact .DLL name, and attempt to download the latest version of the .DLL from a reputable source.

http://www.google.com

I suppose it would also be worth mentioning that obtaining and installing a .DLL manually can open up a new can of worms (I.E.: DLL Hell) -- but the chances are slim considering that the .DLL in question was not present in the first place. Just be careful not to overwrite an existing .DLL and you should be OK.