Uninstaller Comparison

Over time I have acquired three different uninstall program - Geek Uninstaller, Revo Uninstaller, and the one that comes with Glary Utilities. In a general housecleaning, I plan to get rid of two of them. Has anyone done an in-depth look at what any of these leave behind? Is one better than the others at digging out the flotsam left behind when a program is removed?

Thanks.

 

I use both Revo Uninstaller Pro and Ashampoo Uninstaller.
The best way to test uninstallers is to install a 30-day trial program with the uninstaller. After a week uninstall and re-install the program with the uninstaller . If the trial period is again 30 days, you'll know the uninstaller did it's work.

PS The above info is for testing purposes only - not for trying to circumnavigate trial period limitations.

 

I currently use Revo Uninstaller and not had any problems with it. I use privacy Eraser free after running uninstaller.

 

I use Revo and Geek. Since Geek is basically "portable", there is nothing left behind.

 

Revo Uninstaller Free and Pro are also available as portable software.
The downside to the free version is it's feature-limited and a few versions behind Pro.
I'll see if I can make a portable version of Ashampoo Uninstaller.

 

Eldon:
Interesting. So if the Uninstaller can uninstall itself to the depth that it doesn't know it has been previously installed, it must be doing a good cleanup job.

 

This will not be possible for obvious reasons.
Just like you can't do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on yourself.

I had an interesting experience...
When I got Revo Uninstaller Pro I used it to uninstall the Free version... and it found numerous orphaned files, folders and registry items. So the program that finds orphaned items leave orphaned items behind!

 

After a little more digging, I found that Revo Free does not detect or remove 64-bit programs. So for me that eliminates it. I like Geek fine. I'll just stay with it. Thanks.

 

Not true.

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

 

Then you are using an old version because Revo free does remove 64 bit programs.

 

I stand corrected: after going back and reading the review of Revo Free carefully, I see that it was from 2012, a lifetime of software revisions ago. It is a problem with DuckDuckGo that it digs up things from the dim recesses of time in response to a search. I will quietly slip out the back now.