This guide is based on years of observations after using thousands of applications, both commercial and open source. Some of the references are to windows based applications. However the principles are universally applicable.

Installation
Always assume C: drive is fair game. Do not ask the user where to install. He is dumb. So make it easy for him by installing your applications always in C: drive.

Always dump all your data in default location (Application Data directory in c: drive) irrespective of their size. Again repeat rule number 1. Never ask nor give user the choice to select a different location.

Note: User is always dumb. When you think of user think of one who thought cd-rom drive was a cup holder.

Never check how much space a drive has before going forward with installing all your data files in them.

Always dump all your DLL files, INI files and their grandchildren in c:\WINNT or c:\Windows. If in doubt dumping in both is fine. If the directory doesn’t exist, feel free to create it. Remember C: is your applications dumping ground and C:\WINNT (Windows System directory) is your preferred spot. Liberally drop any files there. Also it will make your application look smaller, if the user happens to check the size consumed by your directory.

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