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October 17th, 2016 16:00
"uninstall program" is actually trying to install
I have a new machine with Windows 10. I am trying to uninstall a program that was "mirrored" from my old Windows 7 machine. It's a non-system program.
When I click "uninstall", the program actually tries to install itself. Any ideas how I can fix this?
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DELL-Jesse L
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October 18th, 2016 06:00
GreekGreek,
There are many 3rd party software programs like Revo uninstaller that are available on Internet which claim to completely uninstall a software program in Windows. Unfortunately, sometimes these software programs also fail to completely uninstall a software from your system. Try the steps below.
1.Open Control Panel, click on "Programs and Features", select the program name and click on Uninstall button.
Eventhough you have uninstalled the software using Control Panel, some files of this program might still remain in a few system folders.
To delete these leftovers, you'll need check following folders:
%programfiles%
%appdata%
If you find any folder with the name of the software program which you uninstalled using 1st step, delete it.
NOTE: You just need to type the above mentioned text in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter. It'll open the folders directly.
NOTE 2: 64-bit system users will also need to check "C:\Program Files (x86)" folder. Here we assume your Windows is installed in C: drive. If you installed Windows in any other drive, replace C: with that drive letter.
STEP 3: Remove Software Keys from Windows Registry
You'll have to be very careful while following this step. Follow this step only if you are comfortable with Windows Registry and if you have used Registry Editor in past.
When you uninstall a software program, many times its entry in Windows Registry is not deleted by the uninstaller. It might increase Windows Registry size.
To completely uninstall the software, you'll also need to delete its key from Windows Registry.
1. Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following keys one by one:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software
64-bit system users will also need to check following extra key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node
Once you go to the above mentioned keys, look for a key with the name of your uninstalled software. If you find a key, delete it.
Sometimes the key name might be based on the company name or developer name so if you suspect a key, expand it and check whether its related to the uninstalled software program. If yes, you can delete it.Make sure to take a backup before deleting anything from Windows Registry so that you can restore it later if something goes wrong. To take backup, right-click on the key which you are going to delete and select "Export". It'll save a .REG file containing the backup of that key. Expert users can also find all occurrence of the key with the name of uninstalled software using "Ctrl+F" and delete them. You'll have to be very cautious for it. Delete the key only if you are absolutely sure that the key was created by the uninstalled software.
empty Temp folder which contains temporary files and cleaning this folder is absolutely safe.
To empty Temp folder, type following one by one in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter:
%temp%
temp
It will open Temp folders. You can empty them. If Windows shows errors while deleting a few files, leave them. These files might be used by some running software or Windows services.
If you get an error while deleting a Registry key such as "Cannot delete key: Error while deleting key", you'll need follow the steps below.
1. Type regedit in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to the desired registry key, right-click on it and select "Permissions..."option
3. It'll open a new dialog box. Click on "Advanced" button.Click on "Change" button near "TrustedInstaller" It'll open new dialog box. Now type your username and click on "Check Names" button. It'll automatically convert the username to correct format.
Now click on OK button.
4. Now select your username in first dialog box and check the "Allow" check box given for "Full Control" option.
5. Click on Apply and OK buttons and you'll now have full permission on the registry key.