Fig 1.0 Double click on the PROGRAMS AND FEATURES Icon
Fig 1.1 Select a program to uninstall and then click on the UNINSTALL button to continue
| UNINSTALL A PROGRAM |
To uninstall a program, or whole piece of software, first open the Control Panel window and then double click on the PROGRAMS AND FEATURES icon (Fig 1.0) to open the Programs And Features window (Fig 1.1).
When the Programs And Features window opens it will present you with a List Of Installed Programs, which could of been installed
by Windows Vista or by you. Meaning. Some of the programs could be Windows Vista specific programs and some could be programs
you have downloaded/installed from the Internet or programs you have installed from a CD for example. Therefore, you must
exercise caution before uninstalling a program (or piece of software) as you might not know what that program is, what it
does, who installed it or what installed it.
A classic scenario is a Game is installed, you play it and then forget about it. Before you know it many games have been
installed and forgotten about. And the same applies to programs. In the long run, when you come to do an uninstall (perhaps
to clean-up your computer and/or in preperation of installing an updated version of a program), you might of forgotten the
names of the games/programs you installed a long time ago. What normally happens in this scenario is you come acroos a program
in the list of Installed programs that you think needs uninstalling, but to play safe you do not uninstall it because you
cannot recognize that programs name - "Is it a Game or a Program?", "If I uninstall it I might be doing the wrong thing and
break my computer". Games do not always state in their name GAME and programs very rarely state SOFTWARE or PROGRAM in their
name. So the end result is a computer clogged up with unwanted games/software that tends to slow the computer down in the
long run as some of the programs may be running a task in the background even though you do not use that program anymore. In
other words, that program may still be active.
In this example I am going to show you how to uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1.0, although the same uninstallation process applies
to any of the programs in the List Of Installed Programs. I have begun by clicking on the ADOBE READER 8.1.0 listing
(Fig 1.1 above), which then made the UNINSTALL and CHANGE buttons become available, and from there I clicked on the
UNINSTALL button (also Fig 1.1 above). After doing this Windows Vista starts the actual uninstallation process.
Clicking on the CANCEL button above will cancel the installation process, but you only have a short time (less than a minute
for example) to do this before the UAC (User Account Control) window appears.
User Account Control (UAC) is a feature of Windows Vista that helps to prevent unauthorized changes to the computer, such as
moving a system file or uninstalling software. When attempting to uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1.0 UAC automatically blocks
you off with the requester below, because it wants to know if you are the one attempting to uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1.0
and not a piece of malicious software for example. In this case simply click on ALLOW to continue.
If you decide you really want to cancel the installation process at this stage you can do by clicking on CANCEL above - The message requester from Fig 1.2 will still be displayed so you will have to click CANCEL on that as well. Otherwise, click on ALLOW above to continue uninstalling Adobe Reader 8.1.0. Continuing will also make the message requester in Fig 1.2 disappear. It will be replaced by the following message requester.
The above message requester has a green progress guage on it to give you some idea of when the next thing is going to happen, but how many times the guage becomes empty and then full again depends on each uninstallation. So just ignore it basically until you see the System Restart message requester (Fig 1.5 below). If a System Restart message requester does not appear it means a system (computer) restart is not necessary in order to complete the uninstallation. If you prefer to cancel the installation process simply click on the CANCEL button instead - Saying this, at this stage what can happen is that the uninstallation process could of gone too far already whereby clicking on the CANCEL button has no affect and you are forced to continue with the uninstall.
If the System Restart message requester appears you have two choices. If you want to continue with the uninstallation process click on the YES button to restart the computer. When the computer returns from the restart (when it is restarted) Adobe Reader 8.1.0 will have been removed (uninstalled). You can check this by going back into the Control Panel and clicking on the Programs And FeatureS icon (Fig 1.6 below). The second choice is to click on the NO button, which will not restart the computer - The uninstallation process will only continue when you decide to restart the computer, or when you decide to switch the computer off and then on again.
| UNINSTALL PLUG-INS / ADD-ONS |
In the above example I only uninstalled the main part of Adobe Reader 8.1.0, but not its Plug-In/Add-On called Spelling
Dictionaries Support. I knew the plug-in/add-on existed because I scrolled down the List Of Installed Programs. The average
user though may not think to check if a program or piece of software has a plug-in/add-on. And when a program or piece of
software does have a plug-in/add-on it might not be easily recognized, especially if its name does not include the name
of its main program or main piece of software, making it even more difficult for the average user to find and uninstall.
A Plug-In or Add-On is basically an extra program or extra piece of software that is normally independant of its main
program or main piece of software, in terms of uninstallation for example. If a plug-in/ad-on is not independant,
uninstallation-wise, the uninstall process of the main program or main piece of software should warn you of this. For
example "You must uninstall ProgramName Plug-In/Add-On before you uninstall ProgramName".
In Fig 2.0 above I have scrolled down the List Of Installed Programs looking for anything with the name Adobe associated
with it. I found the plug-in/add-on called Spelling Dictionaries Support For Adobe Reader 8, which I then uninstalled using
its Options menu - Right click on Spelling Dictionaries Support For Adobe Reader 8 to bring up its Options menu and then
left click on the UNINSTALL menu-item.
Never look down the List Of Installed Programs for the icon associated with a program or piece of software because sometimes
a program or piece of software can have a generic system icon associated with it instead. For example. In Fig 1.1 above
AVG 7.5 does not have its recognized Patchwork icon associated with it, it has a system icon instead. Hence the reason why
you should look for a program, piece of software or plug-in/add-on by its name.
| DELETE THE LEFT-OVERS |
Now that Adobe Reader 8.1.0 and its plug-in/add-on Spelling Dictionaries Support For Adobe Reader 8 has been uninstalled the
next thing to do is delete any fragments it has left behind. When a program or piece of software is installed a .log file
should of been created by that program, piece of software and/or by Windows Vista itself that informs an uninstallation
process of where all the installed files are stored. That way the uninstallation process knows where to find them when it
needs to uninstall (remove) them.
Unfortunately not all folders and files belonging to an installation are removed. This could be because no .log file was
created, therefore Windows Vista makes the decision to only remove the main program/software file and some of its folders
and files in order to deactive the program or piece of software as a whole. Another reason could be that the .log file is
created but does not mention some installed folders and files. This normally happens when a software developer wants to
know if you have used their software before - The uninstallation process cannot uninstall folders and files it does not know
about, therefore when you install the same software again (after an uninstall) that software first tries to find its
unknown/hidden/still installed folders and files to determine whether or not you are permitted to install/use the software
again. For example. If you have uninstalled some software that had a 40-Day Trail Period limitation on it and then 70 days
later installed the software again it probably would not work, due to the installation process checking a hidden file that
reports you have already used the software for 40 days. In this scenario it could be difficult to find hidden folders and
files. Free-To-Use software, such as Adobe Reader 8.1.0, tend not to use the hidden folders and files tactic. However. This
does not mean they have a good uninstallation process or create a perfect installation .log file, as the below shows.
For whatever reason(s) the Adobe folder has not been deleted from the Windows Vista system folder called Program Files. This
could of been because the folder was classed as In-Use and therefore locked (undeletable) during the uninstallation process.
Regardless of why the folder remains though, once you have uninstalled Adobe Reader 8.1.0 and Spelling Dictionaries Support
For Adobe Reader 8 you can delete the Adobe folder. Use
Pathname: Computer >> Local Disk(C:) >> Program Files to get inside the Program
Files folder. From there, right click over the Adobe folder to bring up its Options menu and then left click on the DELETE
menu-item. This will delete the Adobe folder and all of its sub-folders and files.
For most users this will be adequate enough to say Adobe Reader 8.1.0 and Spelling Dictionaries Support For Adobe Reader 8
has been uninstalled/deleted. However. If you wanted to go one step further to try and completely rid the computer
of Adobe traces you would need to use a Registry Cleaner as well as probably edit the Registry manually. I say try because
cleaning the Registry is not always a 100% guarantee. For example. It may be cleaned of Adobe entries but what if an Adobe
entry is called AR8 (for Adobe Reader 8) and hidden (not logged) for example.
The Registry is a main component of Windows Vista. It is basically like a book full of folders, files and settings entries.
Whenever a program, some software or some hardware is installed, modified or uninstalled the book is modified with entries
about that program, software or hardware - Where folders and files are stored, Who installed them (you or Windows Vista),
The location of the un/installation (.log) file, The name of the person(s) registered to use the program/software/hardware,
The settings of the program/software/hardware and so on.
A Registry Cleaner is a program that searches the Registry (book) for redundant folder, file and setting entries. For example.
Below is a redundant Adobe entry. A registry cleaner might find it and determine, through folder and file checking processes,
that the entry is no longer valid - It might of determined that Adobe Reader 8 was uninstalled by looking for another entry
that states this. The uninstallation process for example could of created such an entry (i.e AR8 - Uninstalled). Once the
entry is found to be invalid the registry cleaner should clean it (delete it). Over time as each piece of software is
installed, modified and/or uninstalled there are so many invalid entries that need cleaning (deleting), so a good registry
cleaner is another way to keep your installations/modifications/uninstallations neat and tidy.
Note well. I have explained the Registry and Registry Cleaner to a certain degree so that you understand a little more, but it must be said that Deleting Left-Overs, using a Register Cleaner and tampering with Registry entries manually should only be done by Advanced Experienced Users.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
All HTM files in the yoingco.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, August 3rd 2005 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. FREE Vista Helpline: Contact John