This is a feature that you would have thought (with all the consistent popups in Windows ME and previous) Mr. Gates and Co. would have integrated into Windows.

When one of the annoying "DLL file... .DLL not found" type errors comes up a button links the error to a searchable database hosted at Microsoft, and searchs for the missing DLL file.
-- PunkiPrince, Jul 28 2003

My parents' PC did that. But the DLL file wasn't missing, it was a corrupted support file that's custom-generated for the PC configuration.

The database is baked. At Microsoft's site, type your error, print the resulting pages, then contact the Geek Exchange to fix it for you.

Win XP pops up links for certain program errors, but not specifically for DLLs.
-- Amos Kito, Jul 28 2003


You're having this trouble with XP?
-- bristolz, Jul 28 2003


// The database is baked. // I'm suggesting more of a hidden database accesible by Windows itself and automatically retrive the missing .lib or .dll files rather than the knowlage base at Microsofts site.

// Win XP pops up links for certain program errors. // This just acesses articles on the aforementioned KB to help prevent problems. Theese popups only appear when you terminate a process or aplication, not when there is a missing file preventing an ap from running.
-- PunkiPrince, Jul 28 2003


// bristolz // I have had very little trouble with this on WinXP but on my previous Win95 system. Win98 laptop and college Win2000 computers I get a lot of theese popups. I am thinking more of an integration of this system into future versions of Windows.
-- PunkiPrince, Jul 28 2003


Yeah. XP has a mechanism that prevents 3rd party installers from replacing important libraries which is where 99% of those problems have come from. (Actually, XP doesn't outright "prevent" DLL tampering, rather it uses a recovery cache and immediately fixes itself if a critical DLL is tampered with during a application installation.) It's not infallible, and can be circumvented by explicitly altering the recovery cache, but I haven't seen the dread problem since I installed XP. Earlier versions of Windows was a DLL free-for-all.

An infuriating memory is that it was usually the cheap kids game installers that caused the most havoc. Kind of like having a 59¢ goldfish eat your $300 tropical fish.
-- bristolz, Jul 28 2003



random, halfbakery