Test installs of Python on Windows

[John Machin]

"Tim Peters" <tim.one at comcast.net> wrote in message news:<mailman.1059951487.27773.python-list at python.org>...
> Python installs are pretty benign, and on Windows 2.2.x and 2.3.y even name
> the base DLL differently (python22.dll vs python23.dll).  For a minimally
> intrusive 2.3 test drive:
> 
> + Install to the suggested \Python23 directory.  It won't touch anything
>   in your 2.2.x installation then.
> 
> + Leave the "Yes, make backups" default selected.
> 
> + In the "Select Components" dialog, click on "Advanced Options ...".
>   In the "Advanced Options" dialog that pops up,
> 
>   - Select "Non-Admin install".  Then all files (even the base Python
>     DLL) will be unpacked under \Python23 (by default, we try to unpack
>     the base DLL into a Windows system directory).
> 
>   - Uncheck "Register file extensions".  Then .py (etc) files will
>     continue to be associated with whatever Python you had before
>     the 2.3 test drive.
> 
> Because I build the PLabs Windows installer, I install broken pre-release
> Pythons all the time.  The steps above are the ones I use then to ensure
> that they don't interfere with any of the released Pythons on my box.  The
> Wise uninstaller does a thorough job of removing all traces of a Python
> installed in this way, and because we avoid changing file associations,
> can't be fooled by an unfortunate sequence of installs and uninstalls.

Tim, can this excellent advice be made to appear on the python.org
website, in close proximity to the bit that says "download python*.exe
and run it"?
Cheers,
John