Forums Feature Suggestions mIRC Silent Install

A great feature to have would be a silent install. No dialog boxes shown. Just installed to the default directory. An example of how it would be used..

ECHO.
ECHO Installing mIRC 6.03
ECHO Please Wait...
start /wait mirc603.exe /SILENT

So just the 'mirc603.exe /SILENT' is needed.

hrmmm i dunnoooooooo this sounds a little bit sketchy for me.
I can't think of a use for it really. Autodownload an update and run it kinda thing?
Sounds like something that would be exploited a little by kiddies.
*shudders*
Still if there's a legitimate use I'll eat my words, all (pause for me counting)... screw it, heaps, of them.

The only use I can invision for this is to install a trojan.

That's negative thinking! Like the original poster said, it could be a useful way to bypass all the dialog boxes that prompt a user when installing mIRC. Otherwise, I can't really think of any other good uses. I've been noticing that many professional programs and drivers have this feature.

Yes it could be used to bypass all the dialogs... and why would you want to do that other than to install it without the user knowing?

It *could* be exploited as a trojan, but a lot of applications now days have silent install options, I would use it on my super Windows 2000 Install discs. They're discs that install Windows 2000 (or XP) along with many of my favorite applications automatically. The silent install would enable me to add mIRC to my list of applications.

Even if there is a legit reason such as adding it to a "useful programs" list, you still need to enter each and every registration code in all of them.. Either way you look at it, you have to deal with it at some point

good point i really dont like the idea of having anything being a silent install myself ... i like to go in and look at whats being installed to where, on everything i download ..... sometimes these install scripts install useless crap into your pc for no apparent reason. This seems like a very dangerous suggestion for virus and trojans to be able to be uploaded and placed into your pc.

Yeah. It would be good.


But I would much prefer mIRC (an all other software) to be running the Windows Installer gear (.msi, or whatever it is now).


I also wish (in general), that there was a way in which software could be slipstreamed into a custom CD muchlike you do a Ghost image, but without the hassle of having to use ghost etc.

But thats just a general rant.

Well I don't necessarily agree on Windows Installer, however I agree it would be good if mIRC used a standard installer. It'd make it very easy for more control to be added "Do you want a desktop icon? A start menu icon? What should the start menu group be called? Should there be a quick launch icon? etc" And it would eliminate problems like the infamous urls.ini problem that is reported like 50 times a day.

Well, I know I once had to install mIRC on 15 pc's, and I would've been happy with an option to skip the dialogs.
But if such a command line parameter were included in the installer, I think you should be able to change the default options with command line parameters as well.
Something like
mirc604.exe /silent /path="c:\program files\mirc\" /autostart
installs mIRC in c:\program files\mirc\ and runs it when installation is complete, whitout prompting except when files are overwritten (/overwrite to skip that too)

Well that makes it even more trojan prone! You can now, via the command line, make mIRC put into a "hidden" directory so that the user can't easily find it.

You people are seriosuly paranoid

The registration issue would be solved by inserting a registry file with REGEDIT.

All I want is a /silent, or mIRC ported to Windows Installer (.msi)

Call it cautiousness, not paranoia. There is nothing wrong with knowing what your computer is doing. There should actually be more of it.

There is a famous saying, "You're not paranoid if they really are out to get you." And, they really are. If they weren't, why would there be hundreds of new viruses/trojans/worms/etc discovered every week? Why do we hear of companies being hacked all the time, people downloading files and their system being taken over, threats of the internet and hacking being used as a new terrorist tactic? The reason is because there ARE people out to get us. There are people who won't rest until they cause as much damage as they possibly can. As Watchdog said, we're being cautious, not paranoid.

The registration issue would be solved by inserting a registry file with REGEDIT

And how do u expect to fit all N unique mirc keays into one reg file? >:D

Iif someone wants to instal mIRC without the user agreement, he just needs to install mirc, get the files once installed and repack them with an install maker, and as making a troyan with a stealth mirc is quite "kiddy" the people who could do bad things with a commandline/silent mirc isntall have done this already.
on the other hand, having a standard and official commandline/silent mirc is really usefull for instance for clean scripters who want to release theire script with mirc but want also to be compliant with the mirc shareware license which doesn't allow repacking/disassembling of the install. a thing like this could be great for a script :
making a nsis or microsoft which will :
1) unpack mirc official setup and script files
2) run the mirc setup with a command-line like "setup.exe -auto -path:c:\scriptdir\ -runmirc -firstruncmd:load -rs scriptsetup.mrc "

this would be clean, user friendy and license compliant

PS : IMHO nsis install are lighter, cleaner, faster than msi install

this would be clean, user friendy and license compliant

No it wouldn't unless the licence has changed recently, mIRC, to my knowledge, can only be distributed in the original cabinet. And there is nothing that makes this any more user-friendly than showing a dialogue that tells new users how to go about installing mIRC. Why would anyone want to remove the support provided by the author?

As Watchdog said, what you're suggesting there isn't allowed by the license either, so why should mIRC add a feature that is specifically designed for people who want to break the license agreement? And you're right people already do find ways to use mIRC for trojans, but does that mean we should make it easier for them? Your argument is:
1.) People commit crimes
2.) Regardless of what mIRC does, people will commit crimes
3.) Therefore, mIRC should not try and stop people from committing crimes

That seems like flawed logic to me. By the same argument someone could say the police force should be abolished because people are still going to commit crimes whether there are police or not. Just because someone will commit a crime doesn't mean you have to make it easy for him/her.

I'm not saying it should be completely silent, when the install completes there could be a dialog saying something like

"Successfully installed mIRC in C:\mIRC\ and loaded blah.mrc, run mIRC now?"
[Yes] [No]

It's always nice to know the install is finished and was succesfull, just as there should still be a progress bar during the install.
But it would be nice if you could tell the setup to use the parameters from the command line, default values for the rest, and don't ask any questions. (I suppose the license agreement should be shown too) That way, you only have to click two buttons, and mIRC is up and running from the directory you want.