Battle Which Free Uninstaller: IObit vs Geek vs Revo?

Tiamati

Level 12
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Nov 8, 2016
574
Having said all of that, my uninstaller of choice these days is Total Uninstall. It takes snapshots before and after installing software, so it has a record of every file and registry key created. It uses this data to remove all traces of software you uninstall. It works so well, that is is the only uninstaller I use on my main computer. The only downside is that rather than installing software by launching the setup exe, you need to right click on it in Explorer and select Monitor with Total Uninstall.

@roger_m the problem with snapshot is that any change made during the install process are recorded. A few days ago, i used softorganizer (that creates a snapshot too) and during the install process of an AV (that took long minutes to download the whole installer), registries changes made by one drive, google drive, and chrome update and others not related to the AV i was instaliing, seem to be recorded too. So, in case i'd use that snapshot, i could erase that changes and possibly break those programs. What do you think about this?
 

Tutman

Level 12
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Apr 17, 2020
542
Captain question:

Is this software HiBit safe to use? I don;t see any privacy policy on their website plus it's open source or freeware?
Have it on my pc, my wife's and daughters and another spare pc for over a year. Just checks for updates and nothing else suspicious. Works as intended! It is freeware. I would not recommend it if it were not safe. :)
 

stoneyc

New Member
Nov 3, 2019
3
I would have to agree total uninstall is the best monitored or not it does the best job I have tried a lot of them even revo uninstaller with some programs that were almost impossible to uninstall for example I have a dell computer and tried to update the intel rapid storage driver and software it would not update always a error code tried uninstalling with revo and the others still errors trying to install the new version of intel rapid storage I always kept a full backup of my computer when the other uninstallers would not completely uninstall the intel rapid storage software and driver I would use my backup to restore computer then I went and used my paid version of total unistaller guess what sure enough after uninstalling with total uninstaller was able to install the new version of intel rapid storage driver and software without any problems
 

roger_m

Level 41
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Dec 4, 2014
3,014
@roger_m the problem with snapshot is that any change made during the install process are recorded. A few days ago, i used softorganizer (that creates a snapshot too) and during the install process of an AV (that took long minutes to download the whole installer), registries changes made by one drive, google drive, and chrome update and others not related to the AV i was instaliing, seem to be recorded too. So, in case i'd use that snapshot, i could erase that changes and possibly break those programs. What do you think about this?
I often see registry keys and files which are unrelated to the program being installed, in Total Uninstalls snapshots. However I've never had any issues in about 18 months of using it and not manually unchecking anything. It is a good idea to check what has been monitored, but in my case, there has been nothing monitored which caused issues.
 

jackuars

Level 27
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Jul 2, 2014
1,688
Captain question:

Is this software HiBit safe to use? I don;t see any privacy policy on their website plus it's open source or freeware?
It's a freeware program and safe to use. It's a one man project as far as I know. The developer is usually responsive.

 

Divine_Barakah

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May 10, 2019
1,854
I often see registry keys and files which are unrelated to the program being installed, in Total Uninstalls snapshots. However I've never had any issues in about 18 months of using it and not manually unchecking anything. It is a good idea to check what has been monitored, but in my case, there has been nothing monitored which caused issues.
Hi @roger_m Could you please test Smarty Uninstaller monitoring feature and compare it to Total Uninstall? I am not talking about normal uninstallation. Thank you
 

roger_m

Level 41
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Dec 4, 2014
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Hi @roger_m Could you please test Smarty Uninstaller monitoring feature and compare it to Total Uninstall? I am not talking about normal uninstallation. Thank you
I did that a while back. I tested the snapshot feature in a number of different uninstallers and found Total Uninstall to be the best.
 

miguelang611

Level 2
Apr 13, 2020
99
I have been using iObit Uninstaller for years.
Saw about Revo and HiBit on some setups here...
Made a test of same program installed and uninstalled with the 3 tools, and then used Revo manual search:
-iObit: worst of all: lots of entries missed --> checked regedit and easy to find lots of rests
-Revo: better than iObit but doing manual search still saw sh*t
-HiBit: just 1 single entry located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\ was left
So for me, it is a clear win! And HiBit is even portable!
Cheers!
 

Divine_Barakah

Level 29
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May 10, 2019
1,854
I have been using iObit Uninstaller for years.
Saw about Revo and HiBit on some setups here...
Made a test of same program installed and uninstalled with the 3 tools, and then used Revo manual search:
-iObit: worst of all: lots of entries missed --> checked regedit and easy to find lots of rests
-Revo: better than iObit but doing manual search still saw sh*t
-HiBit: just 1 single entry located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\ was left
So for me, it is a clear win! And HiBit is even portable!
Cheers!
You use Advanced scan in Hibit?
 

CyberTech

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Nov 10, 2017
3,247
a few weeks ago WD detect a Uninstaler.exe in iObit Uninstaller folder yea ''Uninstaler.exe'' WD tells me to delete it there was a problem so i did they removed all i was like whoaa wat! i think it was false because of Uninstaler.exe? i dont know i dont care anyway i have Revo (giveaway) i see some people talk good about hitBit i installed it what a great and wonderful also its free!
 
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Tutman

Level 12
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Well-known
Apr 17, 2020
542
I have been using iObit Uninstaller for years.
Saw about Revo and HiBit on some setups here...
Made a test of same program installed and uninstalled with the 3 tools, and then used Revo manual search:
-iObit: worst of all: lots of entries missed --> checked regedit and easy to find lots of rests
-Revo: better than iObit but doing manual search still saw sh*t
-HiBit: just 1 single entry located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\ was left
So for me, it is a clear win! And HiBit is even portable!
Cheers!
That's why I use it! ;) And yes with advanced scan on always. I love the right click to uninstall from program icon feature too. Only thing with that is BE careful (Iobit Uninstaller will do the same thing!) if you try to right click and uninstall a portable program it can hiccup and will auto scan and delete all other files in same folder!!! So DO NOT use the right click context menu to uninstall something that is portable! I know I should be going into the Hibit Uninstaller program itself and clicking uninstall from there probably but hey, I live on the edge! (And little lazy) LOL. To be honest it has only happened once with each program and I realized what caused it and Hibit has been updated about 3 times since then so maybe a bug that has been fixed?
 

Aggravatorx

Level 4
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Well-known
Jan 30, 2013
204
i prefer Revo but what about good old Comodo Manager uninstaller oh that is right another dropped software if you new what
you were doing it actually worked but whatever you do do not repeat do not go near registry cleaning omg what a
1588617542482.png


Disaster
 

jackuars

Level 27
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Jul 2, 2014
1,688
Just did a testing of 6 free uninstallers to see their cleanup capabilities after un-installation. I used Rollback-RX to take the machine back to it's original state after each test.

HiBit Uninstaller, Revo Uninstaller, IOBit Uninstaller, Geek Uninstaller, Wise Program Uninstaller & Glarysoft Absolute Uninstaller were used for the tests. The software that was used to do the testing on (install & uninstall) is Google Chrome. Here are the results and my rankings in order. It may not be conclusive as I haven't tested many programs for the erdict.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FINAL VERDICT

1. HiBit uninstaller
2. Revo uninstaller free
3. Wise program uninstaller
4. Geek uninstaller free
5. IObit uninstaller free
6. Glarysoft absolute uninstaller free

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DETAILED TEST RESULTS
1. HiBit Uninstaller Free

Leftovers found
163 files and folders
71 registry entries
1 service driver

Deleted folders (includes all sub-folders)
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\*
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\*

Deleted registry entries (includes all sub-keys)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\*
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\*

Service driver
Google Chrome elevation service

Net Leftovers after un-installation: None

2. Revo Uninstaller Free

Leftovers found
149 files and folders (217 in total, not sure how)
46 registry entries
1 service driver

Deleted folders:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\*

Deleted registry entries
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\*

Net Leftovers after un-installation:
Folders:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\*
Registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\*
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\*

3. Wise Program Uninstaller

Leftovers found
158 files and folders
3 registry entries (was surprised at this, but it was showing only parent values)

Deleted folders:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\*

Deleted registry entries
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\Update\*
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\*

Net Leftovers after un-installation:
Folders:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\*
Registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\

4. Geek Uninstaller Free

Leftovers found
151 files and folders
41 registry entries

Deleted folders:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\*

Deleted registry entries
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\*

Net Leftovers after un-installation:
Folders:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\*
Registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\*

5. IOBit Uninstaller Free (not recommended)

Leftovers found
0 Files and Folders
0 Registry entries
1 service driver

Deleted folders: None

Deleted registry entries: None

Net Leftovers after un-installation:
Folders:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\*
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\*
Registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\*
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\*

6. Glarysoft Absolute Uninstaller Free (not recommended)

Leftovers found
0 Files and Folders
0 Registry entries

Deleted folders: None

Deleted registry entries: None

Net Leftovers after un-installation:
Folders:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\*
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\*
Registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\*
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\*
 
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