How to Completely Uninstall / Remove a Software Program in Windows without using 3rd Party Software?

share this: facebook | twitter | google+ | reddit | email | leave a comment Generally all computer users install various software programs regularly. Sometimes they keep them and sometimes they decide to remove them. To remove a program in Windows, we uninstall it from Control Panel but many times the default uninstallation utility provided by the program doesn't remove the program completely. It lefts some entries in Windows Registry, some files in various folders in your hard disk drives. These leftovers might slow down your system and there is no point to keep them in your system. There are many 3rd party software like Revo uninstaller, etc are available on Internet which claim to completely uninstall a software program in Windows but sometimes these software also fail to completely uninstall a software from your system. We here at AskVG always try to do the things ourselves so today in this tutorial, we are going to share some easy to use steps which will help you in completely uninstall a software program in Windows. So without wasting time lets start the tutorial. We have taken Mozilla Firefox as an example in this tutorial: We have divided this tutorial in 4 steps:

Uninstall Using Control Panel Delete Remaining Files and Folders of the Program Remove Software Keys from Windows Registry Empty Temp Folder STEP 1: Uninstall Software Using Control Panel First thing first! Uninstall the software using Windows Control Panel. Windows XP and earlier: Open Control Panel, double-click on "Add/Remove Programs", select the program name and click on Uninstall button. It'll remove it. Windows Vista and later: Open Control Panel, click on "Programs and Features", select the program name and click on Uninstall button.

STEP 2: Delete Remaining Files and Folders of the Program Even though 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. Program Files folder:

Application Data folder:

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.

PS: 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. PS2: 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. STEP 4: Empty Temp Folder At last you can also 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'll 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.

That's it. After following the above mentioned steps, you'll be able to completely uninstall and remove a software program from Windows. If you have any question or suggestion, feel free to post them in your comment...

Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Software, Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows 8 / 8.1,Windows Vista, Windows XP

Other similar articles that may interest you

Collection of Boot Screens of All Windows Versions from Windows 1.0 to Windows 7 ALLPlayer: A New Media Player to Play All Kind of Media Files Customize Windows Vista and 7 Media Center Using Media Center Studio Avast! Free Antivirus 7.0 Final Version Released, Download Link Inside Get Windows 7 Desktop Background Slide Show Feature in XP and Vista Using Microsoft Official Winter Fun Wallpaper Changer Powertoy Hidden Secret Dialog Box Found in IE9 to Upgrade to IE10

Comments

David S. Thanks VG! I thought that I had seen that method elsewhere, but your tutorial on it by far passes what the other tech said. Thanks Again

Klem U are a Godsent for post, keep it up

Mani its really useful. Thanks a lot!

kami thanks..............it really worked

Valoo Your tutorial is such an interested one, thank you for such a help you have rendered to ppl like me. Remain blessed.

Nichole Amazing thank you !!!

AG This absolutely, positively works. Thank you so much !! Now I can play demo games over and over !!

Jax This helped a lot. Many thanks, VG!

Kat Thank you very much! I run Secunia PSI on my computer which tells me if any programs are insecure. Even though I had uninstalled Mozilla Firefox, Secunia PSI still recognized it as being there since pieces of the program were still in my computer. I'm not computer savvy, but your instructions were easy enough for even me to follow. After going through all of your steps, it disappeared from Secunia PSI. Thanks again for your help!

Alexander Help me, please! I'm trying to uninstall Nero trial. I followed all of your steps but there is still a Nero folder which cannot be deleted ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Nero) with files such as LBFC.dll, NB.dll, NBBurn.dll, NBService and NeroAPIGlueLayerUnicode.dll. I'm desperate, it's very annoying! Thank you :)

VG ^^ Most of the times these files can be deleted after a reboot. If it doesnt work, you can try Unlocker: http://www.askvg.com/download-unlocker-file-unlocking-utility-for-windows/

Surya Thanks a lot.Helped me to reinstall IDM :P

zenab Great stuff thanks in lots :)

Erik Tried all that (with trying to delete IE folders)-- nothing works. Can't delete folder as it is telling me the app is open, can't delete the registry items (tells me I can't delete, probably from same reason)-but I completely uninstalled that stupid IE, or so I think... (PS- first I "took Control" of it as administrator with the app you noted on your other blog) Any ideas?

ajju thank you dude for helping me

Marianne Totally wooooooooooooooooooooooooooorked...awesome job guys

jonameechi I can no longer create playlists in WMP 12 WIN 7 x64 SP1. I just did a I Fresh Install, and I had opened it and made a few, so I know it WAS working. But at some point, during configuration ofWindows Explorer or WMP, or another area, it stopped allowing me to even Create Playlists. I mean, not a single one. I can click a .mkv, .avi, mp4. , or any Music or Picture File, any Media File I associated it to when it behaved, and it will play. But no Playlists can be created. And all it says in error box is:

Windows Media Player encountered a ploblem while creating or saving the playlist. [Close] [Web Help] And the link to Web Help, basically directs me here. Windows Media Player error You got an error message while using Windows Media Player. Unfortunately, specific info about the error isn't currently available. A common reason why files don't play is that you might have the wrong codec on your PC. For more information about codecs, see Codecs: frequently asked questions. For general help with Windows Media Player, search the Microsoft Support site. You can post questions about Windows Media Player errors in the Windows forum. Experts are on hand to help. I ran a Troubleshooter, and it said it was currupted and could not fix. That sometimes it can be corrupted and would need to be reinstalled. I'm paraphrasing, but, yeah. Any, advice would be most appreciated.

VG ^^ Try to run sfc /scannow command. It'll restore default system files if any system file is corrupted or missing. Check method 4 in following topic: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-remove-or-uninstall-3rd-party-transformation-packs-in-windows/

Ivan Orokkhito Thank you very much ! I sometimes install soft wares in some different drive (Not in the same drive that contains the system software) . In case of that , how to remove that software/s ?

VG ^^ Same steps will be applicable.