How To Uninstall An Application That Has No Uninstall Program

sparksspace | Sunday, June 22, 2008 | 0 comments

If you want to uninstall an application that has no uninstall program and it is not listed in the Add/Remove applet of Control Panel (or that uninstall doesn't work), then just delete the directory/files.

  • Make a backup of the registry
  • Shutdown the application, if it is running (If WinNT+ check also for services)
  • Search the registry for any references to the directory where the application resides, and remove them
  • Search the registry for any references to the name of the application, and remove them
  • Start Regedit and drill down to :

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \<ApplicationName>]
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \<ApplicationName>]
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \SharedDLLs]

  • Rename the directory in which the application was installed in the first place
  • Reboot and if everything goes well, then delete the renamed directory

    • Use Explorer to to remove the entries from the Start Menu in either

    C:\Documents and Folders\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\ and/or
    C:\Documents and Folders\(your username)\Start Menu\Programs\

    If there is an entry in the Add/Remove list, start regedit go to:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

    Locate the entry and delete it. If the app has a service, edit:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services

    and scroll down till you locate it. Then delete it. If this app starts automatically and there is no entry in the StartUp folder(s), then use Regedt32 to edit:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Windows

    Aaron Stebner discribes another method in his Aaron Stebner's WebLog 

    Also worth to check : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314481  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/Q247501  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/Q247515  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/Q290301

     

    Add Remove Program Cleaner 2 :This program allows you to clean up the Add/Remove programs list in the control panel. It should only be used to remove entries that are broken and cannot be removed by running the uninstall program.

    SparksSpace023

    Add-Remove-Program-Cleaner |Sys Req:Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista | Freeware | 940KB

    Category: ,

    Welcome to SparksSpace . This blog launched on Dec 2007 with a focus on Technology.You can find latest Computer Software, Tutorials, Tricks,Tips & Software promotions here!

    0 comments