Have you ever lived with a roommate who didn’t share your sense of “neatness?” Either the roommate would leave everything behind, seemingly oblivious to the fact that living neatly has its benefits, or you might be the offender, and be left feeling like you couldn’t keep up with your roommate’s sense of order no matter how hard you tried. In the world of software, most programs have a specific sense of “order” that’s been written into them by software designers who spend a lot of time thinking about how things should be, right down to the software uninstallation.

And Then There Are The Rest…
Then, there are the programs that don’t have that sense of order. These software programs don’t care about what libraries have gotten overwritten, what’s been entered into the registry, or what the impact of this mess is on the user. You can imagine, therefore, that the designers haven’t devoted much thought to what happens when you want to get rid of the software.

Consequently, you may be left with software that installed easily enough, but is impossible to get rid of. Some malicious software, like root kits, viruses and malware, don’t get the star treatment when it comes to program design, so they tend to leave a lot of damage in their wake. Getting rid of malware can be an exercise in frustration, and sometimes requires special removal tools.

Good anti-virus software will be able to remove most malware infections. A/V software tends to be pretty methodical about removing the pernicious programs and their associated files, but that doesn’t mean that every A/V program gets every piece of software every time. For really tough removal problems, you need a program that is designed to “seek and destroy” the software you don’t want.

I have often recommended Perfect Uninstaller for really tough cases, but as a professional technician, I find that the software that works as expected each time I use it earns a special place in my toolkit. When a software becomes so reliable at what it does, when you know …. really know that you’re going to get what you need from it…, it becomes an indispensable tool. Perfect Uninstaller has earned this designation with me. I can remove even the most stubborn programs – good and bad – from a computer with just a few simple clicks of the mouse.

Perfect Uninstaller makes everything available for removal and then removes it. There are no files that are hidden or grayed out on the user interface. If a file is on your computer, Perfect Uninstaller will allow you to remove it, and in my very busy professional life, having a highly reliable tool is worth every penny.

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Removing software doesn’t sound like a difficult PC maintenance task, and as a professional technician, I agree with the notion that it shouldn’t be difficult. A long time ago, when computers were more of a novelty, removing software was as simple as deleting it. Didn’t like what you had, just type a DEL and the file name, and the offender was as good as gone.

Modern OS Design Complicates Simple Things

Modern operating systems aren’t all that simple. In fact, they’re tirelessly complex. The introduction of the graphical user interface (you know, the pretty windows and the drag-and-drop functions) made computers seem simpler, but that level of “simplicity” is a lot harder to achieve.

To support that kind of approach, software designers had to rebuild the modern operating system, pretty much from the ground up. There are an awful lot of things that go on “behind the scenes” of an operating system and most users don’t appreciate the herculean effort that has been put forth to keep things “simple.”

One of the most complex additions to the modern operating system has been the registry. The registry is talked about as a single unit, but it’s made up of several files, and it turns out to be more like a database rather than a simple file. Information about the computer’s attachments, installed software, and configuration are stored in the registry. As the computer accumulates more software, more hardware and more normal use, the registry grows.

Updates to software may write new information into the registry and cancel out old information from the registry. In all of this activity, information stored in the registry may become corrupted. The corruptions may cause additional problems for the computer, and may make what seem like ordinary tasks exceeding difficult to pull off.

Installers are supposed to conform to certain standards, and for the most part, they do. Some installers, however, don’t behave the way they should, or the information they leave behind may be inaccurate, incomplete, or damaged. Installers are supposed to write a log of what they do, so that when it comes time to uninstall software, the uninstaller tool can figure out how to undo what was done.

Without the log, uninstallers have no hope of finding all of the program files and configuration changes, and are therefore likely to balk at removing an old piece of software.

For just this reason, I use Perfect Uninstaller. As a technician, my time is valuable, and I need as much of it as I can gather because there are just some problems that require my effort, but removing stubborn software isn’t usually among them. Perfect Uninstaller works reliably and predictably every time.

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Computers can sometimes be frustrating to work with, especially when you don’t have a good idea of how they work. Occasionally when you want to remove a program from your computer, the Windows Add/Remove Programs tool won’t work. Does that mean you’re stuck with the unwanted software forever? Will you need to hire someone to remove the program that won’t go away? No and no. The Add/Remove Programs tool isn’t the only way to dispose of software you don’t want. It’s a utility that Microsoft created to help improve the process of getting rid of old software.

What Would Cause An “Add/Remove Programs Tool” Failure?

The seeds of your computer’s discontent may be sown long before you try to remove an unwanted program. In fact, the software package’s installer may be responsible for some of your software removal frustrations.

Software installation is more involved than simply copying program files to a specific location. A lot of other information has to be written to both the disk and the operating system. Specifically, the installer routine copies program files, registers shared files, installs drivers, makes icons, links other installed programs to the new software, and so on. Important information about the software may be written into the computer’s registry, too. Everything the installer does is logged in a file. The log is then saved, usually in the application’s folder. The uninstaller will use this log to “undo” whatever got done during the installation process. So… what could possibly go wrong?

Well… just about everything. Some applications don’t actually make installer logs. This may be true of freeware, shareware and other similar programs. No installer log means no directions for the Add/Remove Programs tool to follow when it tries to remove the program. Aside from that, the installer log could get thrown away, damaged or moved to a location where the computer can’t find it. Any of these conditions would also give the Add/Remove Programs tool a little heartburn.

In the absence of knowing what the installer did, how can you get rid of a program? If you know a lot about computers, you can make some educated guesses about where the program files reside. You may also be able to determine whether other programs are sharing libraries with your removal target. You may even be able to locate the correct registry entry. In this case, you can manually remove the offending program and be done with it.

Realistically, however, if you don’t have the time or the interest to track down what the software installer may (or may not) have done to your computer, a safer and easier removal method involves using a software removal tool like Perfect Uninstaller. Perfect Uninstaller can locate and safely remove all of the files associated with an application, reverse or eliminate relevant registry entries and clean up a stubborn installation in no time. I recommend Perfect Uninstaller because it’s so easy to use and so thorough in what it does.

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Making changes to your computer can be scary, especially when you don’t know what the impact of your changes will be. As a professional technician, I counsel people and organizations to back up their data regularly, but more often than not, that warning goes unheeded. Inevitably, valuable business information and personal information are lost. Some users, rather than back up and maintain their data, simply keep data and programs stored on their computer seemingly forever. Once a file is created or a program is installed, the software never gets removed, either out of simple neglect or fear of making changes.

Perfect Uninstaller Makes A Restorable Backup

One of the reasons I like Perfect Uninstaller so much is that Perfect Uninstaller makes a backup of system files before it removes anything. If the removal of an application causes some instability in the system, Perfect Uninstaller has you covered. You can simply restore the system files that Perfect Uninstaller changed.

In my book, though, there are lots of reasons to like Perfect Uninstaller. Perfect Uninstaller does exactly what it says it will do and doesn’t stop until the offending program files are gone. Perfect Uninstaller removes everything because it sees everything. Unlike the Add/Remove Programs tool provided by Microsoft, Perfect Uninstaller gives you instant access to every file in the file system.

The installation and use of Perfect Uninstaller couldn’t be easier. Simply download and install the program. When you run it, you’ll be presented with a simple interface that lets you see your entire file system. Simply select the files you want removed and Perfect Uninstaller goes to work.

Everything, and I mean everything, is uninstalled. The application files, associated libraries, registry entries, data files… whatever got put on the computer when the program was installed are removed, just like that. No fuss, no muss, and no mistakes.

For those really tough removal situations, where Perfect Uninstaller doesn’t get the offending files on the first pass, the program also provides a Force Uninstall option. Force Uninstall works until the programs you want to remove are gone. That’s what makes Perfect Uninstaller so…well… perfect!
Uninstalling software shouldn’t be difficult, but some software can’t be removed normally, either because it’s damaged or it’s designed to stay on your computer, even when you want it gone. Perfect Uninstaller makes certain that the software you want off your computer goes away and nothing is left hanging around.

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