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Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: urlwolf on April 19, 2014, 11:32 AM

Title: 'Microsoft fix it' softfare to fix uninstall problems. Trustworthy?
Post by: urlwolf on April 19, 2014, 11:32 AM

I have > 1gb of uninstallers. I wonder if I could remove some.
Looks like removing by hand is dangerous. MS has a program for that:

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/Program_Install_and_Uninstall

Anyone used it? Worth it? Touches the registry, so a bit wary to pull the trigger.

Title: Re: 'Microsoft fix it' softfare to fix uninstall problems. Trustworthy?
Post by: Edvard on April 19, 2014, 01:14 PM

I have used Microsoft Fix-It tools to generally good effect on my In-laws XP computer.  They are the kinds of people that give the Geek Squad nightmares even as they run the credit card.  Beautiful people whom I love and respect like my own kin, but victim to every "Your computer has been hacked with viruses!!!11!1" pop-up known to man.  
The last time, they were a victim of ransom-ware, with most of My Documents locked behind admin permissions (IIRC) and the Start menu gutted (was switched to Classic start menu, with a few empty folders and app shortcuts remaining, nothing in the Settings sub-menu).  Microsoft Fix-It actually fixed ~80% of the errors, with the rest being done by me manually (I had to re-enable the full start menu, uninstall the rogue toolbar and malware, etc.), so now their computer is hovering around 95% OK (fingers crossed), the rest can only be fixed by a complete re-install.

I decided to trust it because it IS put out by Microsoft themselves, who should know how their own systems work, and not a third party who may or may not have read the uninstall API correctly.  I'd say back up what you can, say a prayer if you're so inclined and pull the trigger.  Your only other options are leaving the uninstallers as they are (safe), or trusting a third-party app with a good reputation (potentially unsafe).

Title: Re: 'Microsoft fix it' softfare to fix uninstall problems. Trustworthy?
Post by: Innuendo on April 19, 2014, 05:45 PM

They are trustworthy & I've used them a time or two myself. Sometimes you just don't have time to go through doing everything manually & a good double-click solution is ideal.

I think I've used different ones a total of four or five times & every time it worked perfectly & worked as described. Insert standard 'make a backup before you make any major changes to your computer' speech here.

Title: Re: 'Microsoft fix it' softfare to fix uninstall problems. Trustworthy?
Post by: Curt on April 20, 2014, 09:11 AM

I trust it too. In my setup it has its own stick drive:


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