Uninstall or Add Remove?

[Guest]

Downloaded a program I find I do not want. It is listed in Start>Programs
with "Uninstall" and also in Control Panel "Add/Remove Programs". Which is
the better way to uninstall and remove this program; i.e., which will best
remove all of it from my registry?

 

[Drew Tognola]

Gramma,

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, both are uninstalled from the
Add-Remove Programs tool. Take your pick. I've used both ways to uninstall.

Drew

 

[Alan Edwards]

It is the same thing.
The uninstall entry appears in Add/Remove because the program's
install put it there.

....Alan

 

[Ken Blake]

Downloaded a program I find I do not want. It is listed in
Start>Programs with "Uninstall" and also in Control Panel "Add/Remove
Programs". Which is the better way to uninstall and remove this
program; i.e., which will best remove all of it from my registry?

It doesn't matter. They are the same. The Add/Remove Programs entry is just
a pointer to the actual uninstall program.

Your question is very similar to asking whether it is better to start a
program by double-clicking its exe file or a shortcut to it. That doesn't
matter either, for almost exactly the same reason.

 

[Tim Slattery]

It doesn't matter. They are the same. The Add/Remove Programs entry is just
a pointer to the actual uninstall program.

Exactly. The Add/Remove list is simply a display of the entries in a
registry key. That key is supposed to be updated by a program's
install and uninstall routines. The installer is supposed to add the
program's name and the location of its uninstall routine. The
uninstaller - in addition to removing everything else - should remove
these entries.

When you use Add/Remove to uninstall a program then, the program's own
uninstaller is called. How completely the program traces are removed
from your computer depends entirely on this routine, Windows does
nothing else.