Software Uninstaller

How to Uninstall Software

January 7, 2010 | Guides and Tutorials

Using the uninstaller that comes with many software applications does not always completely remove the programs completely, nor does the add/remove programs function in windows.

There are several traces of the program left behind in the registry, these are called invalid or corrupt registry key and can potentially harm your computer if they are not removed.

The uninstallation process may also leave behind applications that run in the background, these application uses up processing power, and if they are allowed to grow in numbers they significantly reduce the speed and performance of your computer.

So it is very important to clean up our system after an uninstallation process to make sure we don’t have any harmful leftovers on our computer.

So I’ve put together a small tutorial to help you remove software and applications should the normal uninstall process have failed you.

If you are not too good with computers, you should try a software uninstaller instead to save your time and avoid harming your computer.

Please read the entire tutorial before you attempt any of the steps mentioned, if it seems a bit advanced, then you probably shouldn’t try it as we will be accessing your computers registry, a vital part of the Windows OS, and if you make a mistake here you could seriously harm your computer.

First of all, go to C:\Program Files, look for any folders that relate to program you’re trying to remove. You’re not supposed to do anything here yet, but take note of where it is as we will delete this folder later on.

The next step is to make sure the program isn’t running on start up, and if it does we need to disable it. So click the start orb, find run…, type msconfig in to the box that pops up and press enter.
On the tabs on top there is a tab labeled start up, click it and look for names associated with the program you want to remove, if you can find any you can disable them by clicking the delete button and confirming your decision.

Note. This will not uninstall the program, but disable it on start up. So if you notice that you have accidentally disabled the wrong application, you can return here and enable it again.
Some programs have file type associations linked to them, like Windows Media Player usually opens mp3 files by default, so when you uninstall WMP, your computer no longer knows how to open mp3 files. This is not dangerous, but the next time you try to open a file that has no known application to open it you will be prompted to select a program to open the file.
Back to removal: The hard and risky part.

For the next step it is very important that you back up the registry or make a system restore point. Messing with the registry is risky business but if you make a mistake you can at least restore your computer to a functional state.

Click start, run…, type regedit and press enter. Find the folder called HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\applications. Expand this folder and look for names related the program you want to remove and delete them.
There could be some tricky names in there and if you’re not sure, don’t delete anything as removing the wrong key could terminate important applications.

But if you did find and delete it, and you are sure it was the right one, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software, repeat the steps above but this time we are looking for a key with the name of the vendor of the program, expand and delete the subkey for the program, or the vendor folder entirely. Repeat this step in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE key.

Press the ”home” button to get to the top of the registry navigator left pane, once done hit ”ctrl+f” and do a search for the program. Type the name of it in the “find what” field and check all the options under “look at”. Click “next” to search. If a match is found, delete it and press F3 to search again. Do a search for the file name, vendor path.

Once you are done, press the home button to return to the top of the registry and press ctrl+f to do a search for the program. Type in the name in the find what field, check all options under look at and click next to perform a search.

If a match shows up, delete it and hit F3 to do another search, repeat the steps to look for the file name and vendor path if you have it.

Reboot your computer.

Go to the folder we found earlier, if it is still there you can go ahead and delete that folder.

Your unwanted application should now be completely removed from your computer. But these steps are not guaranteed to work. Sometimes the files can be hard to find, have additional registry keys with unrelated names, and if the above steps where somewhat complicated, you should try a software uninstaller just to be on the safe side.

My top recommendation is the Perfect Uninstaller, this is a great option if you want to save time, remove several programs or have programs that just keep coming back.

Like I said above, you shouldn’t be messing around in the registry if you don’t know what you’re doing, and a dedicated software uninstaller is the best option for most people.

Tags: clean uninstall, registry, remove unwanted programs, Software Uninstaller