There's a missing step after reinstalling the OS of running one of more apt-get commands to reinstall the software. Windows doesn't have apt-get of course. I do tend to have software installed in my home directory (stuff I wrote or at least compiled myself) and generally it would still work after replacing the OS. Missing shared libraries could break it, but it's not the sort of software where that's an issue.
If a Linux system has proprietary software installed, you'd probably also have to copy /usr/local and/or /opt. Hopefully it would be statically linked or supplying any share libraries it needed but I suppose there's no guarantee.
> Somebody [who] just asked me to help fix their Windows laptop
to saving
> software installed in my home directory (stuff I wrote or at least compiled myself)
This person asking you for help with a slow Windows computer (this person is yourself?) also compiles and installs his own software in his /home? So you keep his /home in an effort to keep his software... because somehow he doesn't know how to reinstall Windows? But anyway...
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> There's a missing step after reinstalling the OS of running one of more apt-get commands to reinstall the software. Windows doesn't have apt-get of course.
Chocolatey, or just run the .MSI/.EXE...
> I do tend to have software installed in my home directory (stuff I wrote or at least compiled myself) and generally it would still work after replacing the OS.
I do tend to have software installed in my D:\ drive (stuff I wrote or at least compiled myself) and generally it would still work after replacing the OS.
> Missing shared libraries could break it, but it's not the sort of software where that's an issue.
Missing shared libraries pretty much never break those on Windows... there's literally only 2 shared libraries that a large fraction of programs need (Visual C/C++ runtimes) and those are installed by practically any program you try to install so you won't even notice.
I normally only use Linux, and when I've used Windows it has only been as a user, not an administrator. I'd prefer that people didn't ask me to help with Windows problems, since I'm obviously not an expert, but bizarrely many Windows users seem to know even less.
How is that bizarre? One of the main selling points of Windows is that you don't have to be a mechanic to drive the car.
It still baffles me that people see that as a negative. "Any fool can use a GUI". Yes, that's .. that's why GUIs are popular. They make things easier to use without having to know the details behind them.
I'd just expect that somebody who owns a computer and is nominally responsible for administering it will tend to learn stuff about it over time. In practice, they seem to learn very little.
If a Linux system has proprietary software installed, you'd probably also have to copy /usr/local and/or /opt. Hopefully it would be statically linked or supplying any share libraries it needed but I suppose there's no guarantee.