CyberNotes: Revo Uninstaller Cleanly Removes your Apps

Time Saving Tuesday

Have you ever installed a program and decided later on that you didn’t want it anymore? The natural thing is to uninstall it, but it never seems like Windows removes every trace of the application. I’ve been in this situation quite a few times, but thanks to Tinhed over in the forum, I won’t be having so many troubles anymore.

He pointed out a free program called Revo Uninstaller that is kind of the all-in-one suite for keeping your computer clean. After trying it out on Windows Vista, (it works on Windows 2000 and newer) I have to say that it is an impressive application. It not only uninstalled software and notified me of the “leftovers,” but it also let me manage the applications that start with Windows as well as cleanup some of the other junk on my computer.

–Uninstaller–

This is really the shining point of Revo so I saw it fitting to cover it first. When you go to uninstall a program, Revo begins scanning your computer looking for the files that were created during the installation process for the application:

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After the scanning is complete (normally about 15 to 30 seconds later) the application’s uninstaller will launch. You’ll go ahead and proceed through that just like normal, but after it is done you need to finish the process by pressing the “Scan After Uninstall” button:

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And now this is where the magic happens! Revo will present you with a simple interface that lists everything (both files and registry items) that the uninstaller left over. All you have to do is check the items that you want to remove and hit the “Delete” button. Boy does this beat having to monitor the installation of every program!

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–Hunter–

If you’ve got a huge list of programs that are installed, it might be easier to use Revo’s “Hunter” option. With that it puts a crosshair cursor on your desktop for you to drag around. All you have to do is drop it on a link, Taskbar item, or System Tray icon:

After you do that you’ll be presented with a variety of actions you can take, including uninstalling the target application:

–Manager & Tools–

The good news is that you don’t even know half of what Revo does yet. It also has a manager for the items that startup with your computer, and a nice central location to access some of the most important Control Panel options.

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–Cleanup–

Cleaning up your computer’s history is just a few clicks away. In Revo if you head over to the Track Cleaner you’ll be able to clear your browser’s history (Firefox, IE, Netscape, and Opera), delete temporary files, and wipe clean the recently opened documents for both Windows and Office.

There is also an “Unrecoverable Delete Tool” that makes sure that files and folders you delete are gone forever, and an “Evidence Remover” that makes the files you’ve previously deleted unrecoverable. These two items are good to use for important documents and files that aren’t meant for others to see. After all, we’ve already seen the free tools that make recovering deleted files easy.

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–Overview–

I’m not sure about you, but this is one of the applications that I’m amazed is offered for free. It has an extensive feature set that really keeps your computer clean, and I don’t think there is anyway that you would put this one on the backburner once you install it.