You should always avoid using system() because
- It is resource heavy
- It defeats security -- you don't know if it's a valid command or does the same thing on every system( see Mats Petersson answer), you could even start up programs you didn't intend to start up.
The danger is that when you directly execute a program, it gets the same privileges as your program -- meaning that if, for example, you are running as system administrator then the malicious program you just inadvertently executed is also running as system administrator. If that doesn't scare you silly, check your pulse.
- Anti virus programs hate it, your program could get flagged as a virus.
you should use CreateProcess().
You can use Createprocess() to just start up an .exe and creating a new process for it.
The application will run independent from the calling application.
here's an example i used in one of my projects:
VOID startup(LPCTSTR lpApplicationName)
{
// additional information
STARTUPINFO si;
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
// set the size of the structures
ZeroMemory( &si, sizeof(si) );
si.cb = sizeof(si);
ZeroMemory( &pi, sizeof(pi) );
// start the program up
CreateProcess( lpApplicationName, // the path
argv[1], // Command line
NULL, // Process handle not inheritable
NULL, // Thread handle not inheritable
FALSE, // Set handle inheritance to FALSE
0, // No creation flags
NULL, // Use parent's environment block
NULL, // Use parent's starting directory
&si, // Pointer to STARTUPINFO structure
&pi ) // Pointer to PROCESS_INFORMATION structure
)
// Close process and thread handles.
CloseHandle( pi.hProcess );
CloseHandle( pi.hThread );
}
NOTE: as i said earlier, system() does not do the same on different machines, Mats Petersson explained why
