News and Reviews > Mini-Reviews by Members

Uninstallers (a very short look at what I've tried!)

(1/7) > >>

Redhat:
These two programs I have tried so far essentially do two different things:

Your Uninstaller! Pro 2006
Allows you to uninstall exisiting programs on your system, completely. After running the uninstall component of the application, it then moves on to scan your registry and installed programs folders for loose reg keys and files. This is a fantastic application and does what it says on the tin - uninstalls completely (or, looks like it does!)

Total Uninstall 3.52
Allows you to install a program and let it be monitored by TU (basically it records all the changes it makes to the system) and then uninstall it completely when you wish to. It does NOT feature, at least that I can tell, a similar function to Your Uninstaller! where you can uninstall EXISTING programs.

My reason for such software is to keep a track of what I install (5-10 applications per day) and be able to uninstall them completely if desired.

Both applications can meet my needs, to an extent. But - Your Uninstaller! doesn't keep a CLEAR and CONCISE log of installs. I guess, after all, these programs are called "Uninstallers" for a reason! But I NEED that functionality, it's one of the main reasons I'm looking into these. Ok, YU alerts you when it's run to new items that have been installed, but with Total Uninstall, there is a clear way to see what you have installed and a clear way to uninstall it.

In a nutshell - Your Uninstaller! 2006 allows you to uninstall software that is installed on your system completely. Total Uninstall, on the other hand, doesn't let you uninstall existing applications, but it certainly does an awesome job of keeping an (probably the wrong word! ) "Inventory" of what you've installed with it, and offers an effective way to remove it also.

I'm beginning to think these programs are very different in their approaches, and maybe even compliment each other!

But hang on Matt - maybe they don't? What if you are satisfied with your current setup and only want to monitor new installs? The Total Uninstall wins HANDS DOWN.

If you have a mess of a system (  :D ) and need to uninstall existing applications, then I believe Your Uninstaller! Pro 2006 would meet your needs entirely.

So no "best", no "winner" out of the two - just two different approaches :)

Sorry for the lack of screenshots, I can't quite figure out the forum software to do it  :-[ :Thmbsup:

Websites:

Total Uninstall - http://www.martau.com/
Your Uninstaller! - http://www.ursoftware.com/

Hope it was useful to someone  :tellme:

mouser:
Images help a LOT in a minireview.

When you make a post youll see a line at the bottom saying "Addition Options."  Just click that to open up a place where you can upload as many images as you want. 

Images are normally shown at the end of a post.  See this post for instructions on how to put images inline with your post: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1996.0

Redhat:
Cheers mouser  :Thmbsup:

Darwin:
Nice review, Redhat. I've been using Your Uninstaller! since version 2004. I purchased it with lifetime upgrades on sale about 18 months ago and am now running the 2006 version. I used Ashampoo's Uninstaller Suite 2 prior to that and won't go back, not that it's a bad product (I quite like it) but you have to be VERY careful in using it. If you have software running in the background, for example, when you install an application with Uninstaller Suite, you are asking for trouble when you uninstall the app the same way - the uninstaller will likely delete registry keys associated with the unrelated application that was running duiring install. This pretty much guarantees that you're going to have to reinstall that app. This can affect more than one app. This got tiresome because I am lazy and forgetful (about shutting apps down before installation). I suppose the safest thing to do is to boot into "safe mode" when using Uninstaller Suite, but I found installing applications with US to be painfully slow to begin with. Don't know if this is a problem with Total Uninstaller as well, but both it and the Ashampoo product work in a similar fashion (from what I can see).

If I understand you correctly, you're looking for the uninstallation package to keep a log of all the changes that are made to your system when you install software? From my experience, this is indeed something that you're not going to get with Your Uninstaller. It does offer a details view which shows you registry changes made by the apps installer but that's about as robust as it gets. For myself, I don't need that functionality and find YU to fit my needs very well. It's very quick and thorough - I've yet to run into any problems using it and the extent of my involvement post uninstallation is to check Application Settings and Common Files folders for settings folders which have been left behind. Oh, one thing I love about YU is that it runs the applications uninstaller first, before going to work. The nice thing is that if the application's uninstaller has been corrupted somehow, YU can still get rid of it for your. I'm rambling...

superboyac:
I reviewed Total Uninstaller a few months ago on another forum.  Later today, I'll repost that review over here.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page