First off, I don’t use a Mac so I don’t really know what the uninstall process is, however a utility I came across which looks like something our Mac readers might like is AppTrap.

Moving an application to the trash is simple and easy. Shouldn’t true uninstallation on the Mac be the same way?

With AppTrap, when you move an application to the trash, you’re automatically asked if you want to move the associated preference files as well. Now that’s uninstallation, the Mac way.

From the description, this seems like a pretty useful program as I imagine having to separately remove preference files would be rather annoying (if that type of thing bothers you). The program automatically detects any associated system files left over after you remove a program and lets you decide what to do. Simple enough.

AppTrap is free/open source and it may be a nice utility to have.

I received a question in the PCMech Premium area that asked if Windows 7 will have an improved Add/Remove that will completely uninstall programs compared to the way XP does it. My answer was an easy no, and I explained why. In this article I go into detail on that.

First I’ll say programs that leave crap behind is definitely not a Windows-only thing. On the Mac it’s more or less required to have App Zapper. In Linux there’s BleachBit. In other words, no OS is safe from crap left behind by third-party programs.

The question however is: Why does this happen in the first place?

There are three basic answers.

Answer 1: The more stuff the program "hooks" into, the more difficult it will be to uninstall.

In the question I received originally, the cited example was Adobe Reader. This software is notorious for leaving a lot of junk behind because of all the stuff it hooks into.

On install, Reader is a standalone program. But on an "express" install it will hook itself into Internet Explorer, and Firefox and possibly Microsoft Office. That’s a lot of stuff Reader got its claws into, and therefore the more difficult it will be to get out.

Answer 2: Not closing programs before uninstall (error on user’s part).

You know how many programs state, "Please close all your applications before installing [this]." The exact same is correct for uninstalling as well. Some programs are "smart" enough to say, "Hey! You! Close your stuff before uninstalling so I can get out of here safely!" However many programs don’t do this.

Example: Java.

The vast majority of us use Java only in the web browser. If the browser is running while you do your uninstall, chances are high something will screw up.

Answer 3: Crappy code.

If a third-party program installs bad, it will uninstall bad. Crap code is crap code, plain and simple, and no operating system can magically fix that.

Things you can do when things screw up with the uninstall of a program

Install it again to uninstall it again

Although this sounds ridiculous, this does work the vast majority of the time. You install something, decide you don’t like it and go to uninstall it. The uninstall procedure gives an error. Uh-oh. So you run a "cleaner" program to get rid of it. That didn’t work either. Are you now stuck with it for life?

No.

Installing the program again will usually fix whatever problem it had, allowing you to uninstall it properly the second time.

Close all programs first

Close the browser(s). Close your anti-virus temporarily. Close anything else you have open. All of it. Do it whether you feel you need to or not. After that, then uninstall.

Using a cleaner? Reboot after uninstall of a program before running it.

You install a program. That program hooks itself into many things. You uninstall that program. However the OS still thinks you have it installed because of the currently loaded session. So you reboot. On the newly established session, the OS then "knows" it’s completely gone. At that point, then you run the cleaner program and not before.

Does the program use add-ons or plugins?

As great as add-ons/plugins are, they can leave behind a ton of junk. Firefox is a good example of this. The uninstall process does not remove all those add-ons you put in there, nor does it remove any configuration files specifically for those add-ons. You need to first uninstall all that stuff before removing the browser program itself.

Avoid upgrading programs if the versions are too far apart

Let’s say that for whatever reason you’re running an ancient version of OpneOffice, version 1. You see version 3.1 and decide it’s a good idea to upgrade.

Not really.

Were you at OO version 2, then I’d say go ahead with the upgrade. But from version 1, no. Too old. Chances are high something will mess up.

What happens with old versions of software is that the new versions that are significantly ahead release-wise will usually not install "clean", thereby causing problems later.

General rule of thumb: If the program in question is two major releases ahead concerning the version number, you’re better off uninstalling the old, and performing a from-scratch install of the new (unless the program in question is specifically supports an upgrade from something two releases or greater behind).

What’s the worst program you had a hard time getting rid of?

Were you able to uninstall it, or is it still there? Do you think it was your error, or do you recommend people stay away from X program like the plague? Let us know in the comments.

As you may have found out, the Add/Remove Programs functionality of Windows sometimes yields dead entries. These entries can be the result of corrupt installs or accidentally deleted files.

While there are lots of programs out there which can clean these entries up for you, you can always delete them manually in the registry. You can can find all the Add/Remove Program entries here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Uninstall

Here you will see there is a key (folder) for each entry in the list. All you have to do is delete the key and it will disappear from the list. Of course, be careful doing this because you don’t want to delete active entries.

I recently bought a Sandisk cruzer micro 4GB USB stick and of course it comes with that U3 crapola preloaded on it.

Formatting the stick does not get rid of it entirely.  If you click (in Windows XP) Start then Run then type COMPMGMT.MSC, click OK, then click Disk  Management from the window that appears, you’ll notice there are two partitions on the stick, one of which is a CDFS system labeled "U3 System".

Try as you might, there’s no way to get rid of it from there.

There are two ways to get rid of this stupid thing to reclaim the space.

First method: Load the stick in Linux and use your partition software o’ choice (like GParted) to remove it.

Second method: Use the U3 uninstaller program for Windows. Just click the "Remove U3" link there to download the program, then run it to completely format the stick to reclaim all the space back.

Situation: You use an app that requires Adobe AIR but decide you don’t want it anymore and uninstall it. The app was easily removed by going to Add/Remove Programs, but AIR is still installed and there appears to be no way to uninstall it.

Update: The latest version of AIR does have an Add/Remove entry after installation but older versions do not. If you’re running an older version, read below for how to uninstall AIR.

Can you uninstall Adobe AIR completely?

Yes.

Perform the following steps.

1. Uninstall all AIR apps first.

Being that you’re not going to use AIR anymore, uninstall any app that uses it. You most likely know which apps these are, and they can all be uninstalled via Add/Remove.

2. Download the AIR intstaller executable file.

Available here: http://get.adobe.com/air/

The file downloaded will be AdobeAIRInstaller.exe. Download this direct to the desktop. You’ll understand why in a moment.

Note: If you run this file by double-clicking it, all it will do is update your existing AIR installation but not uninstall it.

3. Launch a Command Prompt.

Click Start, then Run, type cmd and click OK.

You get something that will look similar to this.

4. Type cd Desktop and press Enter.

It looks like this:

5. Type the following command exactly as shown:

AdobeAirInstaller.exe -uninstall

It looks like this:

You must type it exactly as shown, then press Enter.

Adobe AIR will then be uninstalled from your computer.

I have posted about several uninstall programs and utilities in the past, so why stop now?

Uninstalling a Windows program typically removes only the files which were installed during the original install process, and worse yet, sometimes not at all (the infamous “broken” Add/Remove program entry). To help remedy this, another tool you might want to take a look at is the popular Revo Uninstaller.

Revo Uninstaller does what you would expect: completely uninstall programs which may not even uninstall through the built in Add/Remove programs tool. Not only does it include the uninstaller, but tools to clean other miscellaneous “junk” and tools to permanently delete files.

There are lots of features available to read about on their website, so perhaps this is the uninstaller tool for you…

Over at UbuntuGeek.com they’ve just released an article that instructs how to remove Compiz Fusion including all the config files.

Ubuntu users who read this will most likely ask the following two questions.

1. Why? Compiz is awesome!
2. What advantage does removing the config files do in addition to removing it?

In answer to 1:

Yes, Compiz is awesome. It showcases how X completely destroys both Windows and OS X as far as a future-thinking desktop environment can be. And seriously speaking, yeah, it is that good.

However, it makes Ubuntu heavy on system resource use. While a 3D-accelerated desktop is cool it does slow the system down (especially if you have an older computer.)

Few would disagree that the X desktop (whether GNOME or KDE) does in fact run faster with Compiz off. And if you don’t use it you might as well ditch it entirely.

In answer to 2:

If you change hardware (video card, monitor, etc.,) this would be a reason to dump all the config files and start fresh. This is par for the course on just about all OSes out there. If you have software that is expecting certain hardware then change that hardware, having the software start “from scratch” is advisable.

[Source: Ubuntu Geek]