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.

Photo Credit: Milan Boers, via Flickr