Question

how do i turn my VC++ 2008 program into something i can get to run on other computers. i have tryed using the .exe it makes in the debug but it will say that im missing some files and lists all of my .cpp file names and .h files(if i use it on other computers). i wanted something so i could encrypt my files because one of them is about encrypting passwords/other stuff so i can’t have someone just open my files. also i would very much like someway to make them accept the terms and conditions so they can’t sue me if they lose something, that would be very very nice. ^^

i only have Microsoft virtual c++ 2008 express edition that i got from their web site.

o also if i make something on windows 7 will it run in xp or vista?

Answer 1

You generally can’t and almost never should distribute debug builds to client machines. At least three reasons.

1. Client machines will not have the debug versions of your dependant libraries, like the VC runtime (msvcrtd.dll), so they won’t be able to run your app.
2. When compiling in debug, your code will in many ways run unoptimized. For one thing, you don’t let an optimizing compiler optimize when you compile in debug, so it will run slower and/or fatter. For another, there are debug version of things like operator new which allocate much more than you ask for, which is used in runtime integrity checking etc. So your program runs fatter & slower once more.
3. When you compile in debug it is easier to reverse-engineer your code.

UPDATE:

And to answer your question if a Win7-compiled app will run on XP/Vista, the answer is ‘yes’ so long as you don’t use any Win7 features.