I have a question that I've been wondering about for some time now. During the installation of many software programs one of the first things a lot of them tell you to do is to close all running programs prior to installing or words to that effect. Does that mean a person needs to close all of the systen tray programs that are running in the background or what?

I recommended that you just close any open Windows, of course with the installation of a lot of software you may need to stop your AV and Firewall as they can block installations, of course you need to go offline to do that so you don't leave yourself vulnerable. Rebooting after the installation will activate those again.

Basically, you need to close any programs that interact with other programs.
Antivirus is the main one. Firewall will generally have a mode to deal with installations of programs. Any spyware or trojan detection programs should also be closed.
Programs that you use to adjust things, like sound or video card or mouse should not have to be closed unless the installation will change those things.

   That is just something that installers say because there is a remote possibility that another program could interfere with the installation process but it very rarely happens.
   I can see the possibility of an antivirus or other type of detection software interfering as dlwolff0 suggests, but other than that there is really nothing to worry about.
   I have never closed any programs when running installation programs and I have never had any problems.
   There have been the times that an installer knows which programs it is going to have a problem with, and in those cases it detects that it is running and asks you to close that specific program.

Ray , you are perfectly right in 95% of cases ; especially on Win XP (with Win Me it's another story!!!!) . However some programs are completely hysterical with respect to that question ; I bought the new ROxio Media suite 8 and never succeeded to put it at work and I have seen a lot of customers complaining as I do that thsi program conatins a huge gap (or hole or something very wrong in the code ) , this is absolutely related with this forum because the windows Installer associated with this program goes really crazy ; even if you close ALL programs , there is thsi problem ; my comment is the following : you are absolutely right : aside from deep registry manipulations where you might get into conflict with AV , installation on XP should not be problematic even if you do not close the programs prior installing ; however , a wrong install should point to a ill-written program ; I would very much get any opinion on that particular issue Thanks OLIVIER GEBUHRER

A good little program to assist in closing down all pertinent programs is EndItAll.  It is free and can be downloaded here: http://download.pcmag.com

I too run into this a lot.  Here is how I do it for my dual boot Windows XP - Windows 98 system:  1) SHUT DOWN your cable or DSL modem (turn off AC power to the unit).  If not, your system will be infected within seconds after you disable anti-virus spyware catchers, and especially firewalls.  2) go into MSCONFIG and set it up to start without loading any startup software.  3) Install the new software.  4) go back to MSCONFIG and turn on the startup programs.  5) Before you leave MSCONFIG, look in the Startup tab and UNCHECK any programs you do NOT want to start up.  You need to do this step only if you have startup programs that you have previously turned off since restarting MSCONFIG will restart the unwanted programs too if they are not unchecked.  6) Turn on your Cable or DSL moden and restart the computer.

All this is not usually necessary.  I first try to install new software without disabling any security software but if the install chokes I go through this procedure.  It has always worked for me even for some tricky game (and all Rocio product) installs.  

DO NOT connect to the internet ever without anti-virus and Spyware catcher and firewall!  You will be sorry you did.  

I think some of you are getting way off track on this question.

I'm glad to see that my question has generated so much interest. I had a feeling that it might be something that a lot of people might be wondering about and apparently it is! . Thanks one and all for your input!