Guide | How To The Great Uninstallation Guide

[Chromatinfish 123]

Have you ever tried to uninstall something- but a process still lingers in the taskbar? Maybe when you reinstall it it still recognizes you? Does it drive you nuts? If it does, then this guide is for you!

Why Is It So Hard To Uninstall?

When you open Firefox or Adobe Reader, you meet with nice old GUI. Probably 70-80% of all users don't know/don't care what's happening inside the box. Does it matter that Windows installs 6 folders containing code for this and 7 folders containing that? Not really, until you try to uninstall it...

Where Does It Hide?

Chances are, the Windows default Add/Remove uninstaller won't remove your software completely. I've seen times where I try to uninstall something and some folders containing data still are THERE ! That drives us nuts! Windows usually dumps stuff into the Program Files(x86 for 32-bit systems and x64 for 64-bit systems), maybe some drivers in the Win32/WOW64 folders, perhaps some info in the registry, and last but not least, some stuff into the AppData folder. Yikes

How Do You Fix That?

If you are on Windows, I like to recommend Revo Uninstaller- it requires little interaction and deletes registry keys, drivers, and Temporary folders. I USED to recommend IObit Uninstaller until I didn't really trust them. Revo is still the default choice for uninstalling programs for me. You can contact me via PM and I can try to remove your extra folders.

More updates about manually removing files from places...

 

[BCHatesMalware]

Revo Uninstaller is good, and so is Smarty Uninstaller!! I use both. Each one has some unique features that the other one doesn't have, which is why using more than one software product can be good. I personally that both remove pretty much all traces of the unstalled software, which the default Windows uninstaller does not. That my 2-cents worth!!

 

[eight]

Even uninstallers leave traces behind. If you know how to the best way is to manually remove software leftovers.

 

[Av Gurus]

Revo Free don't see x64-bit programs.
Geek Uninstaller is better.

 

[Chromatinfish 123]

Even uninstallers leave traces behind. If you know how to the best way is to manually remove software leftovers.

I really didn't want to recommend removing registry keys as it could potentially damage the system.

 

[eight]

If you know how to = You should know what you are doing = Knowledge of what not to delete.

http://malwaretips.com/threads/anyone-use-uninstallers.31449/page-2

post # 37 by @Huracan

 

[Exterminator]

Maybe a few useful replies like the ones that are left would be refreshing rather than pick apart the OP.Thanks

 

[jamescv7]

Any uninstallers will do, one of the good thing having this software as the program you wanted to remove as failed on their built in, therefore it can remove fully by searching in related traces.

 

[donetao]

Hi! I use REVO, but even REVO lives files and folders behind. If you want to get rid of left behinds, you should give Search Everything a try!
I use regedit to find left over entries in the registry, but you need to know what you're doing with regedit!
Here's all the files and folders for CCleaner. REVO will leave some behind. Search Everything is a great program that will find all the left overs that may be keeping you from reinstalling a program.
Try it. I promise you will love it!
http://www.voidtools.com/
http://www.voidtools.com/faq/

 

[eight]

I use regedit to find left over entries in the registry, but you need to know what you're doing with regedit!

An eyeball here please : http://www.malwarebytes.org/regassassin/ Might prove useful to you

 

[donetao]

An eyeball here please : http://www.malwarebytes.org/regassassin/ Might prove useful to you

MBAM assassin is a very power tool, so be careful and always have a back up image of your OS handy.
Here's the registry entries for CCleaner. REVO will also leave some of these behind. Use this tool with caution also. It just might help you remove that one entry that's keeping you from reinstalling a program. There are 58 entries in the registry for CCleaner.
RegASSASSIN removes malware placed registry keys into two simple steps - just reset the permissions and delete! This powerful and portable application makes hard-to-remove registry keys a thing of the past.

Warning: Please use caution as deleting critical registry keys may cause system errors.

Hi! Here's left over Norton registry entries that REVO missed.
Not a lot, but still left overs that could cause you not to be able to reinstall Norton, but who in their right mind would ever reinstall Norton???

 

[Moose]

Geek Uninstaller big brother! One in the same, but build for X64 Bits O.S. Additionally, portable and you have to paid!

http://www.crystalidea.com/uninstall-tool

 

[BCHatesMalware]

I happen to also use other System Tools, that help to get rid of any traces of uninstalled software!! I do not recommend these tools to anyone, unless you know how to use them properly, as you can accidentally mess your system up. You cannot just let them auto-run, because they can detect registry keys and the such that should not be deleted.

So it's not just about using one tool, but several. Kind of like a mechanic or doctor...they don't just have one tool/method at their disposal, but many.

 

[donetao]

Hi @BCHatesMalware can you share these tools you use??