How do I remove old programs?

Question

How do I go about removing old programs from my computer that arnt listed in the Add/Remove programs list.
Thanks for all the advice.

Answer 1

Hi PM

First go into your c:/windows/programs folder and look into the folder of the program you want to remove they may have an uninstall in there sometimes it is called unwise.exe

otherwise i would just delete the folders from the programs folder but would be good if you had a registry cleaner to remove the old registry keys as well the one i use is called regCleaner and you can download it from there site at
http://www.jv16.org/

hope i helped
Victor C.

Answer 2

These are the ways to uninstall/remove a program.
1) Stop the program by right click menu on the icon in the taskbar and then try to uninstall in add/remove program.
2) Turn off computer. After two minutes Turn power ON. Now press F8 and select safe mode from the menu while booting the computer. then follow step 1.
3)Remove the program from startup menu as follows
(start > run > type msconfig
press ok. Click on startup, uncheck it from the list. click on apply. click on ok. press restart. Check the window that appears after restart, press ok)
Then go to control panel > add/remove program to uninstall.

If nothing of the above works. Then The best way to remove unwanted programs which you can not remove from add/remove dialog in control panel on your computer is to remove it from registry. If you are comfortable with manually editing registry, otherwise use registry cleaning software like RegScrubXP to remove the entries of offending software from registry and then use a cleaning software like ccleaner to remove other files such as exes, dlls etc created by the offending program.
Free RegScrubXP registry cleaner
http://bestofrest.blogspot.com/2006/11/regscrubxp-registry-cleaner.html

downlod + install + run it.
When you get in the software window.
Click on user defined problems button.It will display all entries in windows registry under different categories. So scroll down the list till you reach a category company. In this category look at the names in full key, and Main key. If you locate the name there, then check the box in front of its entry and press the button Fix selected entries. It should remove the entry from the registry.
After that you will need another software to remove other files created by the program on your computer. It is ccleaner, if you do not have it already; read how to use it and then download it from here.
http://yanswers.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-use-ccleaner.html

Answer 3

If they are not listed in add/remove programs they would usually be on the hardrive under c:/programs just delete them from there.

Also set windows to show hidden files and check in c:/documents and settings/ folders there is usually a hidden called application data and another in local settings. Programs may have saved data in these folders.

Once this is done I'd suggest a registry cleaner to remove registry links to removed files. The simplest one is ccleaner http://www.ccleaner.com

Answer 4

The programs should be on the Add/ Remove list. Browse the list, really scouring it slowly up and down, to find what you are looking for.

Answer 5

Download a free prog called Belarc Advisor. Run this, and, at the foot of the page, it will list all your software. Click on the asterisk at the end of the relevant software name, and it will take you to where it is loaded. Use the delete key on it.

Answer 6

u just click:
start-setting-control panel-add or remove file

then u delete d file u dun want