Securely hooking installations for compatibility with other applications

A computer-implemented method of managing software application compatibility, comprising:

• storing compatibility information for a plurality of software applications, the stored compatibility information provided by a given software application during installation of the software application on a computing device, the stored compatibility information being updatable and describing for the software application how to resolve compatibility problems with other software applications currently installed on the computing device, wherein the compatibility information is stored as one or more compatibility files for one or more of the plurality of applications, and wherein the compatibility files are placed in directories associated with the applications;
• registering the compatibility files by placing keys for the compatibility files in a registry;
• searching for compatibility information during installation of a first software application on the computing device, wherein the searching further comprises reviewing the keys in the registry to search for compatibility files;
• analyzing the compatibility information to determine whether the installation of the first software application on the computing device is compatible with the plurality of software applications installed on the computing device;
• and
• regulating the installation based on the compatibility analysis result.

A computer system for managing software application compatibility, comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium storing executable software modules comprising:
• an information control module for storing compatibility information for a plurality of software applications, the stored compatibility information provided by a given software application during installation of the software application on a computing device, the stored compatibility information being updatable and describing for the software application how to resolve compatibility problems with other software applications currently installed on the computing device, wherein the compatibility information is stored as one or more compatibility files for one or more of the plurality of applications, and wherein the compatibility files are placed in directories associated with the applications;
• a registration module for registering the compatibility files by placing keys in a registry;
• a search module for searching for the stored compatibility information during installation of a first software application on the computing device, wherein the search module reviews the keys in the registry to search for the compatibility files;
• a testing module for analyzing the stored compatibility information to determine whether the installation of the first software application on the computing device is compatible with the plurality of software applications installed on the computing device;
• an installation control module for regulating the installation based on the compatibility analysis result;
• and
• a processor configured to execute the software modules stored by the computer readable storage medium.