Nuked my keyfiles

Aplin, Justin M jmaplin at ufl.edu
Sun May 23 11:56:45 UTC 2010


On 5/23/2010 5:40 AM, Moritz Bartl wrote:
>
> I consider this a "bug". Uninstall should leave your keyfiles behind 
> unless the user explicitly confirms it.
>
There's not much consensus on this among Windows software developers. 
Often, files that get left behind in the user's Application Data folder 
(sometimes quite large/numerous) after an uninstall get ridiculed as 
being the mark of "crappy software". Because most Windows users, 
honestly, have no idea what is going on in their computers most of the 
time, all they hear is that "stuff" is getting "left behind", and hence 
you see the option in plenty of crappy "PC Tune-Up" packages to clear 
some of these files out.

Of course, if we make it easy on these users and purge the installation, 
config files and all, then the next time they reinstall and use it they 
complain about how "all my stuff is gone".

Needless to say, anyone running a tor relay is above this level, but 
it's interesting to note that in recent years the trend has been 
shifting from "leave the config files in case they're needed again" to 
"purge everything so it doesn't get complained about".

~japlin



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