Leftover files from a program i uninstall successfully?

[Cloakedwand72]

How do i remove all leftover files including save games and mods like when i uninstall uninstall Mount and Blade for example after i uninstall Mount and Blade successfully but when i go to my documents i still see folders from my uninstalled games and apps why is that?And another example lets say i uninstall a program successfully and it still has leftover files in program files X86? Should i use a program like this http://www.revouninstaller.com/?Or should i use the default Windows 8.1 uninstaller?And do you guys know of any 100% free no trial version?

[Brethern]

Ccleaner will do what you ask.

[Cloakedwand72]

Ccleaner will do what you ask.

Is it 100% free no trial?And is it better then the default Microsoft uninstaller?

[Brethern]

Is it 100% free no trial?And is it better then the default Microsoft uninstaller?

There is a free version and it does much more than the standard uninstaller.

[Flymetothemun]

How do i remove all leftover files including save games and mods like when i uninstall uninstall Mount and Blade for example after i uninstall Mount and Blade successfully but when i go to my documents i still see folders from my uninstalled games and apps why is that?And another example lets say i uninstall a program successfully and it still has leftover files in program files X86? Should i use a program like this http://www.revouninstaller.com/?Or should i use the default Windows 8.1 uninstaller?And do you guys know of any 100% free no trial version?

Use the default uninstaller that comes with the program. It's been designed by the developers to take away most, if not all of the files. It'll be in the folder that the file's installed in, usually with a name like "Uninstall <PROGRAM NAME>", "Uninstall", or "Unins000". If there are files left, just delete them using the standard delete function; The program that used the files doesn't exist on your HDD anymore so there won't be any dependency issues. I never got a definite answer as to why programs do this, but I think that because it's in documents the uninstall program can't delete them.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Flymetothemun
I Need a Copyeditor anymore...

[pincushionman]

The issue is knowing where to look. Do you know off-hand which C:\Program Files\whatever\ folder a program installed into a couple of years ago (especially if you manually set the install folder)? When you use the program, does it put files in C:\Users\you\Application Data\…\whatever\? Did it install some data to a folder in C:\Program Data\?

The first place (Program Files) is the obvious one. Some people don't even know the others (user\Application Data\… and Program Data) exist, since they're hidden. The program uninstaller or the control panel equivalent should do a good job of cleaning those up…

Key word should. But I don't usually trust that. After all, a lot of programs try to trick me into installing random bull#*+ like Yahoo! Toolbar when they're done. Why should I think they've thought far enough ahead to properly set up their uninstaller?

Once you know where the files are, normal file delete methods do just fine to clean up what the uninstallers might have missed, intentional or mistake or just lazy.

I normally run with "show hidden files and folders" folder option to help me with this. Note that they're not usually hiding the folders to screw with you, they're just putting them in locations where it makes good sense to do so, and Windows assumes that you don't usually care to see the folders inside these locations.

Edited May 19, 2015 by pincushionman

[Flymetothemun]

The issue is knowing where to look. Do you know off-hand which C:\Program Files\whatever\ folder a program installed into a couple of years ago (especially if you manually set the install folder)? When you use the program, does it put files in C:\Users\you\Application Data\…\whatever\? Did it install some data to a folder in C:\Program Data\?

The first place (Program Files) is the obvious one. Some people don't even know the others (user\Application Data\… and Program Data) exist, since they're hidden. The program uninstaller or the control panel equivalent should do a good job of cleaning those up…

Key word should. But I don't usually trust that. After all, a lot of programs try to trick me into installing random bull#*+ like Yahoo! Toolbar when they're done. Why should I think they've thought far enough ahead to properly set up their uninstaller?

Once you know where the files are, normal file delete methods do just fine to clean up what the uninstallers might have missed, intentional or mistake or just lazy.

I normally run with "show hidden files and folders" folder option to help me with this. Note that they're not usually hiding the folders to screw with you, they're just putting them in locations where it makes good sense to do so, and Windows assumes that you don't usually care to see the folders inside these locations.

Wow. Win8 is a lot more different than I thought it was. But, you do give good advice. Quite odd how they'd choose to hide the program folders though, your average computer idiot* who wouldn't want to see the folders probably doesn't know how to even get into the C:\ drive.

*- No offense intended, but I've seen some people that are very dim when it comes to computers, or just dim overall.

[pincushionman]

Wow. Win8 is a lot more different than I thought it was. But, you do give good advice. Quite odd how they'd choose to hide the program folders though, your average computer idiot* who wouldn't want to see the folders probably doesn't know how to even get into the C:\ drive.

*- No offense intended, but I've seen some people that are very dim when it comes to computers, or just dim overall.

Actually, this is XP and Win7 experience here. Most programs are pretty self-contained, and the uninstallers work just fine cleaning up, other than sometimes leaving empty foders. The problem is not knowing whether that's the case.

I'm wary because it's not just cheapies that are the problem. We have a program at work that clutters up two different folders in Application Data and eats all my user network storage without periodic cleaning. I got sick of that and wrote a .bat file that does it for me each login. The program happens to be CATIA v5, which costs tens of thousands of dollars for the installs we're dealing with.

We also have Patran, which in the past started by default in C:\Windows\Temp. Check your temp folders too.

Edited May 19, 2015 by pincushionman

[LordFerret]

My experience has seen that most programs do not do a full uninstall. It is not uncommon for files and folders to be left behind, stuff that contains user data and/or settings ... under the premise that you might one day want to re-install. And not only are files and folders left behind, so are registry entries. Some of the worst offenders for doing this are big names, like Microsoft and McAfee and Norton and AOL (just to name a very scant few).

Manually editing the registry to remove such junk is possible (I do it all the time), but I would not recommend it unless you really know what you're doing. Instead, there are utility programs (some free) which can scan and clean the junk from your registry for you - usually providing a list of suspect stuff and then asking you if any of it was recently uninstalled. CCleaner by Piriform, yes, is one such utility; Another I've used in the past was jv16 PowerTools. I've not used jv16 in a while, so I guess I'll have to check it out again - nice to see it's still around.