Advice Request Which is the best third party uninstaller?

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conceptualclarity

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I find that Revo catches the most files and registry entries. IObit is also very good as is the newer HiBit. When I do an uninstall I actually run several programs simultaneously, throwing in Geek and Soft Organizer as well. I find that it doesn't cause a problem to do that except it makes it slower.

You do have to watch out for false positives. I don't find them to be real common, but I haven't seen a program that never has them.

I don't find uninstaller programs be good at removing drivers. So that makes a good argument for monitoring your installations. It is very foolish not to monitor the installation of a security program in particular. The very least you should do with other programs is check to see if there's anything new in System32 and make a note of it. I've learned from painful experience not to manually remove a driver without first running my registry searchers to find and remove its associated registry entries.
 

HarborFront

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@roger_m

Your quote

This is why uninstallers like Total Uninstall and Revo Pro, which create snapshots, or uninstallers which actually monitor what changes an installer makes (e.g. Comodo Programs Manager, IObit Uninstaller Pro), are much better.

Unquote

I'm not so sure how effective the snapshot/tracking method is in removing stubborn registry entries like I quoted for NordVPN and SAntivirus software.

Apparently, their registry entries removal require the prior removal of hardware tap driver (for NordVPN) and PUPs (for SAntivirus)

Do you have Total Uninstall? If have you can try out on the two mentioned software and give a feedbcak here. Use the Windows default registry editor to check for registry and Everything for file/folder remnants will do
 
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roger_m

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I'm not so sure how effective the snapshot/tracking method is in removing stubborn registry entries like I quoted for NordVPN and SAntivirus software.

Apparently, their registry entries removal require the prior removal of hardware tap driver (for NordVPN) and PUPs (for SAntivirus)
It shouldn't be a problem to uninstall SAntivirus. I don't remember having any trouble removing it when I tried it last year. It's not malicious, it is just Reason Core Security, with a different UI.

I'm not sure about Nord, but I presume that Total Uninstall would be able to handle it.
 

HarborFront

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It shouldn't be a problem to uninstall SAntivirus. I don't remember having any trouble removing it when I tried it last year. It's not malicious, it is just Reason Core Security, with a different UI.

I'm not sure about Nord, but I presume that Total Uninstall would be able to handle it.
Uninstall is no issue both for NordVPN and SAntivirus. Is only removing ALL those stubborn remnant registry entries that counts
 

TairikuOkami

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1. HiBit Uninstaller - The most feature rich of the three
That is an amazing piece of software, obviously made with love and precision, it has a browser extension manager, Yandex included, lol. It has even found leftovers after Iobit using Revo Uninstaller. I think, that I have fallen in love. At the first look, it does not look like much, but it is a gem.
 

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Tiamati

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That is an amazing piece of software, obviously made with love and precision, it has a browser extension manager, Yandex included, lol. It has even found leftovers after Iobit using Revo Uninstaller. I think, that I have fallen in love. At the first look, it does not look like much, but it is a gem.

Can it monitor installations?
 

HarborFront

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That is an amazing piece of software, obviously made with love and precision, it has a browser extension manager, Yandex included, lol. It has even found leftovers after Iobit using Revo Uninstaller. I think, that I have fallen in love. At the first look, it does not look like much, but it is a gem.
From its website

Quote

Fully uninstall programs without leftovers

Unquote

If it refers to stubborn files, folders and registry entries as well then programs such as IOBit Unlocker, RegistryDeleteEx64, RegAssassin, Registrar Registry Manager etc, which I'm using also cannot even remove some of the aforementioned, I have serious doubts in the capability of its claim
 
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HarborFront

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I don't think that will be a problem. SAntivirus is not designed to be hard to remove. I'm not sure about Nord though. I would need to try it.
I believe you are right if SAntivirus is installed as a standalone AV. However, in my case SAntivirus was bundled as a PUP so there were some PUP components attached with it. Uninstalling SAntivirus was ok but not the registry entries associated with the PUPs. The PUPs need to be removed before the registry entries can be removed.
 

Vitali Ortzi

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Based on my experience, Total Uninstall is the best. I tested just about every uninstaller and Total Uninstall stands out.

It creates snapshots before and after installing software, so that is had a record of every file and registry key created during the install. It uses this data to be able to remove all traces of programs when uninstalling them. It's not cheap, but it works very well.

Most uninstallers launch a program's regular uninstaller and afterwards, do a scan to find remaining files and registry keys. The problem with this approach is that often they miss some files and registry keys. This is a big issue with security software (but doesn't matter too much for most other software), as often there are leftover drivers which are still loaded whenever you boot and these will always be missed when scanning for leftovers. This is why uninstallers like Total Uninstall and Revo Pro, which create snapshots, or uninstallers which actually monitor what changes an installer makes (e.g. Comodo Programs Manager, IObit Uninstaller Pro), are much better.

While Revo is an excellent uninstaller which you'll see recommended here very regularly, I feel that the snapshot function in the paid Pro version does not work anywhere near as well as in Total Uninstall.

However, if you just want an uninstaller which scans for leftovers, both IObit Uninstaller and Revo, are excellent. I prefer IObit as it has a batch uninstall mode, which lets you uninstall a number of programs and scan for leftovers, one after the other, which is very handy if you ever want to remove a number of programs. Also, unlike Revo and other similar uninstallers, it can scan for leftovers after rebooting. Some people avoid IObit software because of their past history with Malwarebytes and say that there software is terrible. But this simply not true for their uninstaller. It works very well, has more features than Revo and does a comparable job of finding leftovers.

The Pro version of IObit, is now able to automatically monitor some installations and keep a record of what files and registry keys were created. But at the moment, it can't monitor all installers, meaning that some installations won't get monitored. So for now, I feel that using an uninstall which creates snapshots is the best option.

Doesnt iobit have adware weird connections and anti consumer practices ?
 

roger_m

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I believe you are right if SAntivirus is installed as a standalone AV. However, in my case SAntivirus was bundled as a PUP so there were some PUP components attached with it. Uninstalling SAntivirus was ok but not the registry entries associated with the PUPs. The PUPs need to be removed before the registry entries can be removed.
I'm not too sure what you mean by "PUP components." It should make no difference at all, if you install SAntivirus/Segurazo manually, or if it gets silently installed alongside some other software. The end result should be exactly the same and there will be no difference in removing it. In either case, it will be identified as PUP by some security software.
 
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roger_m

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Doesnt iobit have adware weird connections and anti consumer practices ?
Their software does not include adware. Their installers have the option to install third party software. But you have to manually opt in or out of installing. Nothing extra gets installed unless you specifically choose to let it do so. Having said that, some of their software does have ads for their product Advanced SystemCare.

Some people don't like IObit, because years ago, they were illegally using signatures from Malwarebytes in one of their products.
 
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HarborFront

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I'm not too sure what you mean by "PUP components." It should make no difference at all, if you install SAntivirus/Segurazo manually, or if it gets silently installed alongside some other software. The end result should be exactly the same and there will be difference in removing it. In either case, it will be identified as PUP by some security software.

A software installed on its own will not be detected as a PUP as compared to the same software bundled as a PUP and being installed. If you uninstall the software they behave the same and gets uninstalled in both cases. But when comes to removing remnant registry entries those associated to the PUPs cannot be removed unless you remove the PUPs which is not part of the standard uninstallation procedure of the software. And the PUPs and those associated registry entries do carry the name of the software as well.

Too bad at that time I uninstalled my KIS for I was doing some testing supposedly related to it and WD was not enabled to detect PUP.

Initially I used EEK to remove the PUPs but its result was not that good for the registry entries still could not be removed. Then I ran AdwCleaner and removed the remaining PUPs and the registry entries were then automatically removed in the process. I checked with Windows' regedit and none was there. So my system is clean now of SAntivirus as a PUP-bundled software.

As for NordVPN, like I mentioned, I went to the hardware section to remove its tap driver then I can remove its stubborn remnant files/registry entries.

A new lesson learnt in removing stubborn files/registry entries which even the use of 12 program/files/folders/registry removal software could not.
 

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