PC software removal isn’t often though of as a maintenance task, but today, it really is. As personal computers have evolved, they’ve gotten less expensive and easier to use. They’ve achieved this status by becoming more (not less) complicated. More people use computers regularly, but the computer actually has to perform many more hidden tasks – tasks users don’t see- in order to keep up the illusion of “ease-of-use.”

Software Management Can Be A Hidden Task

Take the Add/Remove Programs tool for example. If you want to get rid of a piece of software, why not just drag it to the Recycle Bin and be done with it? That’s one approach to getting rid of program files, and it will break the program but it won’t get rid of the program.

Programs aren’t self-contained in the application file anymore. There are registry entries that need to be removed, libraries that may (or may not) require removal, support files that help the program operate and other files (like icons) that don’t reside in the application itself. These files are distributed around the computer when the application is installed. Truly getting rid of the program means getting rid of everything that goes along with the program.

The user may still wonder. “Well, so what? If I get rid of most of the application, I’ve gotten rid of the program, right?” Not exactly. Registry entries that belong to the program may cause the computer to slow down or stall. You may find irritating error messages indicating that there’s a problem with the now-recycled program. If the program were set to start up automatically, the computer may complain each time you boot that the program or some of its files can’t be found.

Removing an application requires a tool that can help you remove all of the files associated with it. It also may require some registry editing to silence the error messages or time-outs that may occur if the computer continues to wait for the non-existent program to respond.

For software removal, I always recommend Perfect Uninstaller. Perfect Uninstaller does what Microsoft’s Add/Remove Programs tool doesn’t or can’t. Perfect Uninstaller doesn’t care what condition the application or file is in. Perfect Uninstaller can remove everything it sees, and it sees everything. For those stubborn cases where removal isn’t a first option, Perfect Uninstaller provides Force Uninstall, which doesn’t give up until the offending file is gone.

Perfect Uninstaller is part of my maintenance toolkit and I recommend it to everyone.

Photo Credit: Maurizio Agelli, via Flickr