Unique Application Identification / Name

[Skitty]

When applications that are not so mainstream use an installer to install their software, how do they handle the possibility that there may be another software vendor using their application name/id.

Say there is another application that installs itself into your system and it uses the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAutoIt v3" and the company that made the software sells cars or whatever, and then you decide you want to install Autoit and the registry key is already being used, what does the Autoit installer do to avoid a conflict and break the installation of the previously installed software?

Does it just overwrite the key or what?

Edit: what I'm getting at is "What's the best way to handle such a scenario?".

Edited March 8, 2012 by THAT1ANONYMOUSEDUDE

[Chimaera]

I would imagine that it would overwrite the key if it existed but the chances are probably remote

Most reg keys use sub levels so maybe get round it with that

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAutoIt v3ANONYMOUS" and then your key which lessons the chance of an overwrite even more and if the original key does exist it will be one layer up

[JLogan3o13]

Industry standard is now moving toward the following format to avoid just this issue:

HKLMSOFTWAREVENDORApplicationNameVersion

If you'd like more information on application installation, repackaging, and management, www.appdeploy.com is a great resource. You can search up a great many applications to find the various install/uninstall strings, known issues, etc.