Upgrading & Fixing Laptops DUMmIES

Ditching an Application...............................................................................

In those very early years of personal computing, you could remove a pro-

gram by deleting its executable file or the subdirectory that contained a set

of executables. Today, though, the simplicity and uniform environment that is

at the heart of Microsoft Windows comes at the price of some very deep com-

plexity when putting in and taking off programs.

Under Windows, you cannot simply delete whatever executable files you find

and expect to be rid of a program. At best you will disable the program while

leaving bits and pieces of it scattered all over the disk; at worst, you may end

up disabling a whole set of programs or some of their functions because you

have inadvertently removed some shared components or left instructions in

the Registry that refer to an absent program.

One other benefit: The shorter and better managed Windows Registry in your

laptop, the faster it starts and the more stable its operation.

Although Microsoft would prefer otherwise, not all programmers follow their

rules and suggestions exactly. One example you may find is in the Add/Remove

Software utility; you can see an example of the main screen of that utility in

Figure 18-1. Some programs may offer a button called Change/Remove, which

leads to a choice between making adjustments to the program (including

adding or removing individual functions) and completely removing the soft-

ware. Others offer separate Change and Remove buttons, while yet another

possibility is simply a Remove button.

Note that this utility is called Add/Remove Software. However, most modern

software includes its own installation programs, and this is usually the most

efficient and effective means to add an application. Use the Windows utility

only if required.

And so, you have three proper ways to uninstall a program:

The application may have put into place an uninstallprogram that

searches out and destroys all of the components wherever they are.

Look for an uninstall program in the same subdirectory where the pro-

gram itself is located.

The application may have made use of the built-in Add/Remove Software

utility that is part of Microsoft Windows.

1. Go to the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Software. Give your
   laptop a few seconds to give you a list of programs it is able to
   remove.

Chapter 18: Adding or Removing Software, for Better or for Worse 279