Recommend removal program?

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So I have seen two programs that are free and what they do is remove installations. But I have no experience with either one. One is Comodo’s Program Manager and the other is Revo un-installer. I have only used Revo once and it let me down. But then again I was also new to Revo so maybe there was another area of the program I should have utilized.

But, I wanted to get peoples take on which one they prefer? Does one do a better job of removing all traces of a program than the other? I read that Revo has some sort of library where if the program is not located on the main listing, you can go to this library and find the listing there and remove the remnants like files, folders and registry entries. Not sure if CPM has this, I have read the manual, but do not see it. Maybe I missed it.

The Revo issue I had was that it did not completely remove a program; it left a lot of files behind. It was an antivirus program so ended up just using the A/V’s uninstall program which worked. Just an FYI. Anyways, just curious on what people thought of the two.

Thanks

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I use IObit Uninstaller which doesn’t need as many clicks as Revo – don’t know about Comodo but the free version of Revo will only list 32 bit programs, so you would need the Pro version to deal with both 32 and 64 bit programs.

Look out for any additional programs it may want to bundle with the download.

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Thanks Sudo, I saw IObit, but then forgot about it. I’ll do some reading

That library I was talking about in Revo is called “Logs Database” where it appears that Revo has a database of information which helps with uninstalling the complete software.

Thanks

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I’ve never really gone much into Revo to know about its Libraries, but IObit includes a program called Unlocker (unless that is its own) which is a program within its own right for removing difficult to remove files with Permission issues and such and I’ve used IObit to fully remove Norton 360 before now when its Remove & Reinstall program failed.

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With XP I always swore by Revo free, it was excellent at its job and there were no problems. There were never any leftover registry entries or files, provided the Advanced uninstall mode was used.

Recently upgraded to Windows 7 x64, and noticed that Revo free was not showing all installed programs, but missed the 64 bit connection. After reading these posts I installed the Pro version, and it is back to full functionality plus quite a bit more. Well worth the small amount of money.

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As far as I can tell, Comodo has not been updated to work with Win 8.1. Before 8.1 with MSE, I happily had the Comodo Firewall installed and wanted the Program Manager too. Too bad! I now have Wise Uninstaller, Geek Uninstaller, and Soft Organizer and use them all at random. All are free and all seem to work and clear out extra stuff post-uninstall. Soft Organizer may be the most thorough, if you remember to use it in the first place when installing a program.

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I agree with Sudo. IObit Uninstaller is a really, really (that’s 2 reallys) piece of software. I used Revo for several years before I found it. IObit is simpler to use and much more thorough IMHO.

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My choice is Your Uninstaller. It does what its supposed to do and is easy to use, but its not free.

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I really like Total Uninstall 6. You can have it monitor when you install or it will analyze non-monitored programs that you have installed. When you uninstall, you can choose to have the program’s uninstaller run first and then have Total Uninstall clean up the left-behinds. I keep it on the default settings which do an excellent job of making sure that the junk is purged (including registry entries) without causing problems with other programs or system stability.

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“The Revo issue I had was that it did not completely remove a program; it left a lot of files behind. It was an antivirus program so ended up just using the A/V’s uninstall program which worked.”

The idea is to run the program’s own uninstaller first. Then let Revo search/scan for leftovers to remove.

Another effective uninstaller is Advanced Uninstaller Pro which is available from CNET’s Download.com.

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How does Revo know what to look for if it is not monitoring the uninstall??

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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How does Revo know what to look for if it is not monitoring the uninstall??

That’s exactly my point. REVO and other uninstallers basically let you run the regular uninstall routine after which you click on a button to have REVO search for leftovers.

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Note that Revo has Safe, Moderate, and Advanced scanning after the Windows uninstall. The advanced scan will result in a more complete uninstall but runs the risk of removing files and/or registry entries that shouldn’t be removed. Moderate scans are set by default and I’ve never had an issue with it. Revo does create a System Restore point so you can go back if you run into a problem.

Jerry

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With Revo, I run Advanced. I only remove the registry entries that are in bold. IOW, not the whole tree.

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Based on advice in this thread, I installed IObit Uninstaller. I did not see any options during either download or installation offering additional programs. However, after several days, I started to see a popup appearing offering s game called Magic Barrage. I HATE such popups, because I assume they indicate some from of infection. After checking for malware, I googled Magic Barrage, and found indications that it was related in some way to IObit. I therefore uninstalled IObit Uninstaller, and the popups stopped appearing.

Am I correct in connecting these two? If so, be warned!

Chris

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Based on advice in this thread, I installed IObit Uninstaller. I did not see any options during either download or installation offering additional programs. However, after several days, I started to see a popup appearing offering s game called Magic Barrage. I HATE such popups, because I assume they indicate some from of infection. After checking for malware, I googled Magic Barrage, and found indications that it was related in some way to IObit. I therefore uninstalled IObit Uninstaller, and the popups stopped appearing.

Am I correct in connecting these two? If so, be warned!

Chris

A little belated with a reply to this but I’ve been using IObit Uninstaller for a while now and have never experienced any pop-ups, although I have its Updater disabled in msconfig – whether having this enabled is the cause of the pop-ups, I don’t know.

However, SuperAntiSpyware lists IObit Uninstaller and its Unlocker program as PuPs so if you reinstall IObit and SAS, you should be able to use SAS to get rid of whatever is causing the pop-up and then disable its Updater, but I would opt for using AdwCleaner to get rid of anything like that and AdwCleaner doesn’t list IObit as a PuP.

It really is a good Uninstaller.

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Because of the issue of Revo and 64 bit programs, I switched from Revo to Geek Uninstaller (free). It handles both 32 and 64 bit programs and seems to be as effective as Revo.

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I used Reg Organizer a long time before. It is shareware or commercial, I can’t remember, but also is very effective, cleaning both the registry and disk space from the removed software.

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