List of Best Free Program Un-installer – Download Freeware

Posted by Webmaster Blog 24 September, 2009

This group of programs has two sub classes: Windows uninstaller replacements and application uninstallers.

The Windows Add/Remove Programs applet in the control panel constantly annoys users with its limitations. MyUninstaller [1] is a free program that works just like the Windows Add or Remove Programs applet but is a more capable product than the Windows version. It gives you much more information about each installed program including product name, company, version, uninstall string, installation folder and Windows Registry details. It also allows you to delete orphaned and obsolete entries from the list as well as the ability to save a list of all installed applications into a text file or HTML. My favorite feature though is the ability to sort programs by the date installed which is great for quickly uninstalling programs you are just trying out. As no installation is required, it can be run from a CD or USB drive which makes it an excellent addition to your diagnostic toolkit.

An alternative to MyUninstaller that offers similar functionality is Safarp [2], a free Open Source program. It’s great strength is its speed – it loads in a flash. Safarp can be be run as a stand alone program or installed and integrated into the Control Panel.

MyUninstaller [3] is a free utility from Microsoft that supplements rather than replaces the Windows Add/Remove Programs applet It cleans up dead entries in the Windows Add/Remove programs panel and tidies up the corresponding Windows uninstaller registry entries.

None of these programs can of course, remove leftover registry entries, DLLs and files that belong to defunct programs. To do this you need an application uninstaller i.e. a program that monitors the original install so that it can work out exactly what changes are made during installation.

The only free program I’m aware of that does monitored installs and uninstalls is the last free version of the commercial product Total Uninstall 2 which is still available from some download sites [4]. It doesn’t offer the impressive features of the latest commercial version but is quite capable.

Somewhat less less capable is InstallWatch [5], a former commercial utility that is now offered for free. It logs the registry and file changes made when you install software and hardware but unlike Total Uninstall, it cannot automatically uninstall products. None-the-less it is a handy utility to have in your toolkit.

[1] http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/myuninst.html Free for personal use, Windows 98 and later, 40KB
[2] http://wistinga.online.fr/safarp/ Free Open Source, Windows 2000 and later, 133KB.
[3] http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=290301 All Windows versions, 1.23MB.
[4] http://freeware4u.com/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=234 All Windows Versions, 684KB
[5] http://www.epsilonsquared.com/ Freeware, Windows 98 and later, 3.7MB