Microsoft Windows - Uninstalling Software:

There are three methods for uninstalling software. The first two are easy and proper. The third is an improper method I use when the first two are not available or do not work correctly.

Method 1: Uninstall program in the Program Menu

1. Goto Start Menu/Programs.

2. Look for a program group for your software. See if it contains an Uninstall program. If it does, run it and it should walk you through uninstalling.
   

Method 2: Add and Remove Programs in the Control Panel

1. Goto Start Menu/Settings/Control Panel

2. Launch Add and Remove Programs

3. Look for your program in the list. Select it and click Add/Remove

4. It should walk you through the uninstall process.
   

Method 3: Manual Uninstall

Find out where on the hard drive the program is:

1. Right click on the program icon (in the start menu, quicklaunch area, or desktop) and choose properties.

2. Make note of what is in the Target box. This will give away the location of the program. For instance if the target box says "C:\Program Files\Caere\OmniPagePro90\ omnipage.exe", then the program is in C:\Program Files\Caere\OmniPagePro90.

Disable the program files by renaming the folder:

1. Browse to the program's folder (in My Computer or Windows Explorer)

2. Jot down the exact name of the folder, in case something goes wrong later.

3. Right Click on the folder and choose Rename

4. Give the folder a slightly different name

Remove program references from the registry:

1. Goto Start Menu/Run

2. Type regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor should appear

3. Goto Registry/Export Registry File

4. Make note of where you are saving the backup registry, give it a name and click Save (it may take a few minutes to save).

5. Find references to your software in the registry by browsing. Click the plus signs to open different branches of the registry. Likely locations are: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software

6. Find references to your software by using the Find feature. Goto Edit/Find and type the name or manufacturer of your software, then click Find. You can keep finding by pressing the F3 key on the keyboard. Generally, I don't worry about any references that are found in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT branch.

7. Delete the references you find. You can delete an entire branch by right-clicking on the folder icon on the left side and choosing delete. You can also delete individual items on the right side of the screen. Just be sure you are not deleting more than just the one software. Be aware that if you have more than one program made by the manufacturer, you should not delete the manufacturer's branch, just the sub-branch for the one software.

8. Goto Registry/Exit to close the Registry Editor.

Test the system:

1. Reboot the system and see if everything is working ok. In particular try out any software made by the same company as the one you just removed. You may want to wait a few days before deleting the leftovers, even if everything appears to be ok.
   

If all is well - Delete the leftovers:

1. Use My Computer or Windows Explorer to delete a few things if everything is ok now.

2. Delete the backup of the registry you created.

3. Delete the program folder that you renamed.

If something went wrong - Restore the old settings:

1. Rename the program folder back to it's original name

2. In the Registry Editor, goto Registry/Import Registry and import the backup you created.

3. Reboot. Your machine should be back to where it was before you started.

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