Need the Best Install-Removal Software Utility

Discussion in 'Software' started by Stangit, Mar 10, 2004.

  1. Stangit

    Stangit Private E-2

    Need the BEST Utility that monitors ALL software installations & removal?



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  2. acejones

    acejones A Different Title

    not sure if its the best...but i've used add/remove plus before.
    http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=727

    its not free either
     
  3. frankieee

    frankieee Private E-2

    If it's for work, look into getting Altiris. Provides leaps and bounds on top of what you are looking for...
     
  4. NICK ADSL UK

    NICK ADSL UK MajorGeeks Forum Administrator Staff Member

    Hi Stangit
    I would go with acejones on this. I have been using it for a few months now and it is very good value for money :)
     
  5. Stangit

    Stangit Private E-2

    Thanks for the info...I'll check it out

    Stangit.
     
  6. Stangit

    Stangit Private E-2

  7. Endi

    Endi Lt. Links

    My 2 cents

    I have tried just about all the programs there are. You name it I probably will tell you yeah that one too.

    At one time I was in search of a program that will definately do it all. I mean completely take off the program from your computer. Not just from your view but from your computer. I have not found it yet

    As fas as I am concerned they all do the same thing as theadd remove programs in the windows contrl panel

    I have tested many of them and if you have one you have them all.

    WHat I did discover is this

    A combination of programs has worked for me and still does to this day.

    unintallers
    reg cleaners
    and internet privacy cleaners
    and mru cleaners

    with all of those in place I think I have managed to to the best I can do under the circumstances.

    Personally I am looking for a program like the following

    a program that will uninstall like the basics stuff
    then clean the registry like reg cleaner
    then clean the internet files like window washer
    then clean the mru like mru-blaster

    I would definately buy a program that could do all that and more :)

    I have found out not all reg cleaners work the same and what one cleans the other one does not. so I keep several of them. some are free. and found here a major geeks


    To add to this------Have you noticed how the majority of the unintallers out ther just look for the uninstaller that came with the program and that is the option the program uses to take the program out of your system.

    if that is the case then why should I pay for a program that will look for the uninstaller of the program you are tying to remove and then use it to remove it? Add remove software from the control panel can do that:D
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2004
  8. DanTekGeek

    DanTekGeek Master Sergeant

    if you are willing to pay, id go with tuneup utilities
    no only can i remove programs efforlessly, shred files, and remove un needed files, but its an allaround computer health program, with a registry cleaner, editor, and many many tools to optimise your computer
     
  9. Eezak

    Eezak Staff Sergeant

    I've been wondering the same as I recently purchased my first XP system. On my previous setup (a generic 800 MHz Pentium II -- I think it was II wasn't it? 800 MHz anyway) with Win98 SE I used Easy Uninstaller by OnTrack and also had their Fix-It Utilities which I found quite useful. Easy Uninstaller really seemed to be much better at getting rid of stuff than the Win Add/Remove Programs.

    It's one drawback was it was rather slow, but I stuck with it because I tried using CleanSweep which I'd read was highly rated in a comparison of uninstallers by a leading PC Magazine (if you know what I mean) but found I had problems with it zapping stuff it shouldn't have.

    Easy Uninstaller never did that as far as I can recall but on the other hand it really seemed to clean everything out, including registry stuff. Before doing an uninstall it needed to scan the entire contents of my hardrive and then work it's way through the Windows 98 registry three times and then it would list all the files it found and you could uncheck any you thought were in the list in error or wanted to save for any reason (games saves for instance). Even with very large programs with lots of files it was easy to quickly scroll down several pages of file listings, watching the directory structure to see that what was being removed was really the right stuff. Then I'd click the button to zap it all and it was quickly done.

    Because Easy Uninstaller took some minutes (maybe 4 to 5 typically) to do the file scan of the hard drive and work it's way through the registry at least 2 and often 3 times I generally just used it about once a month or so and zapped lots of stuff during one session as it only needed to do that preparatory scan once as long as you hadn't installed anything else.

    It also included an installation monitor that you could leave running but I found that slowed long game installations down too much so I just left it turned off and put up with the long scans. In spite of the slowness I stuck with it because it really did seem to do a thorough job.

    One other drawback though, was that it insisted on backing program uninstalled after compressing it -- it did that reasonably quickly but I didn't like it using hard drive space to back up compressed programs that I really just wanted to get rid of -- like games I had played out. But my 40 GByte hard drive was large enough that the backups never seemed to be a problem. I did contact OnTrack via email and was told that there was no way to turn the backup feature off so I continued to use it.

    I think the fact that it scanned all the files on my hard drive and then worked it's way through the registry several times helped to insure that it did a thorough job and it was certainly better than the Win Add/Remove programs routine.

    Occasionally Easy Uninstaller was not able to remove everything -- it sometimes left just a few empty folders. But even in those cases it would notify me that it had left some stuff behind and show me what it was so I could zap those few items manually was wasn't any great hassle.

    So that's my 2 cents worth. I am wondering if Easy Uninstaller is still around in an XP version though as I now have an XP System. I know the OnTrack Utility Suite and the Fix-It Utility set is still available though OnTrack sold that stuff to V-Com. But I really like the utilities and bought the latest version of it for my XP system and it's much as it was in the Win98 version -- lots of great hardware and software utilities, including a registry editor that was much more helpful than the built-in Windows tool when I wanted to clean the garbage out of the registry. And it would also defrag the registry though I can't say I ever noticed any great difference in system performance after doing that. My only criticism of the registry cleaner in the Fix-IT Utilities was that the utility for backing up the registry that was part of the Fix-It Utilities wasn't linked directly to the registry editor -- it was in another part of the program and you had to remember to back it up before tinkering with the registry if you wanted to be assured you could undo anything you shouldn't have messed with.

    Guess it's time to do a web search and see if Easy Uninstaller is still around in a current XP version as I really liked and had confidence in it as a safe but thorough uninstall utility. I'll also check out the ones other listed above.
     
  10. bigbazza

    bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek

    Try "MyUninstaller" from nirsoft.mirrorz.com or nirsoft.tripod.com.
    28kb download ( no misprint). You don't install it but simply run it after unzipping it to a folder.
    It goes through all programs each time you run it, and presents an updated list of all programs that it can un-install with tons of information ( eg Product name, Version, Company, Description, Installation Folder, Website, Uninstall string and more).

    It is free and the best I have tried so far, not many I admit. Courtesy of "Wicked" Wanda, p41 Australia's Internet Directory Monthly magazine, Feb 2004 edition.

    Baz

    ========================
     
  11. pegg

    pegg MajorGeek

    MyUninstaller

    We have a bunch of old computers at work we want to give to some people who need them so of course we want to wipe out company info, unnecessary programs, etc. Maybe there are a couple that use Windows 95 or maybe 2000 but most of the OS are Windows 98.

    Someone started working on one and it seemed to take a considerable time. I was looking for a way to shorten it. I have downloaded MyInstaller on my computer. I think I used it once. Before I say anything to the boss I was wondering...

    1) Do you use it first and only instead of doing the Add/Remove in Control Panel?

    2) Does it remove the program and registry keys (and anything else?) when you delete the program?

    Thanks
     
  12. pegg

    pegg MajorGeek

    Hello - anybody?

    I know you're all busy -- but does anyone have an answer to my little old question (or is it a dumb question?)

    I'd just try this at home -- but I don't want to tell them to load this at work and use it and then find out I've messed up a machine (even one we're giving away) and make it harder to uninstall the rest of the programs on it.
     
  13. acejones

    acejones A Different Title

    Re: Hello - anybody?

    1) Do you use it first and only instead of doing the Add/Remove in Control Panel?
    -you would run it instead of using Add/Remove in the control panel, so, yes.
    2) Does it remove the program and registry keys (and anything else?) when you delete the program?
    all it does is run the programs uninstaller. so, if the uninstaller leaves registry keys and program folders behind, so will this program.

    "MyUninstaller simply run the uninstall module provided by the software that you want to uninstall." from http://freehost14.websamba.com/nirsoft/utils/myuninst.html
     
  14. Ciz

    Ciz Corporal

    Great program, well worth it, tho I use other reg tools also as it doesn't always catch everything...
     
  15. bigbazza

    bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek

    Some programs don't have an un-installer, don't appear on Add/Remove and aren't detected by MyUninstaller as they don't have an uninstall option. You gotta delete the folder in this instance. Right click on the folder and delete, BUT try and un-install it using Add/Remove, or uninstall program first as a straight delete may/will leave stuff in the Registry. Bazza

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