Uninstalling software?

Question

I am just wondering.... in the past sometimes, i will just delete the folder of a program form C hard drive area (programs and....), does this get rid of the program completely? Or do i actually have to go to control panel and everything? What if i delete the folder and then go to control panel and it is gone, does that mean its actually gone?

Person??? What?! If you are level 2, which i am not yet.... please put a thumb down to Person's answer or whatever should be done (if it is justified), it is blatantly obvious Person, that you just added a one letter answer to get points for answering.... that's despicable.

I apologize .... Person changed his/her answer so its fine now.... don't do anything ;)

Answer 1

You have to uninstall the program from the control panel so it removes all the keys from the registry. If you delete the folder from the program file you'll end up with a corrupted registry plus you are risking to delete shared .dll files that other programs need to function.

Answer 2

Absolutely not. Not a good way to get rid of programs.

Either use the program's uninstall (best way) or go through the control panel's remove program.

If you delete the folder it doesn't remove ANY files it may have put elsewhere on your drive or change the registry settings. It just means the main folder is gone.

(This can cause severe lag in your system.)

Answer 3

It is better for your computer if you go throught the control panel. The thing is that whenever you install something it puts items in your registry, and sometimes other folders in other places. If you just delete the folder from program files on the C drive then you leave behind what's known as ghost files which do nothing and take up space on your hard drive. To get rid of them download and run a registry cleaner, such a Ccleaner, which can be obtained at www.ccleaner.com for free.

One thing, when you run the registry cleaner, make sure you back up your registry in case something screws up you can restore it to it's previous state of working.

Answer 4

Usually a program comes with an uninstaller which is best to use to delete the program. Otherwise, using the add and remove program can leave parts of the program on the hard drive in the registry. Then, you must use search and look up the program to see what is left and then delete.Either that, or download an uninstaller program from Cnet.

Answer 5

Deleting the folder only removes the files from the disk, but there are more files located elsewhere too, in other folders and then there are the registry items.

Best to use Add/remove programs to avoid problems.

Answer 6

better to do control program because you may not get it all the other way yes the folder will be gone yoou may be able to retrieve it but its gone especially when you empty recycle bin and put other programs on hard drive

Answer 7

Definitely go through Add/Remove. Just be careful to remove only that which you intend to remove.

As soon as you remove something, the next item in line becomes automatically highlighted. If you're not careful, a misplaced mouseclick will remove something you may want!

Answer 8

You can either run the uninstall program that comes with the original program. Or follow these steps:

Go to Start
Then control panel
Add/Remove Programs (wait for list to populate).
Choose program
Click the button [Remove] it may also say [Remove/Fix]
Follow the onscreen instructions and there you go :)

Answer 9

hmmm. i believe that means it is erased completely. i mean, there may be shortcuts left over from the program or soemthing, but when you try to access it it will probably say "something soemthing missing". you should never really do that unless you KNOW what you're deleting.