to install or uninstall a program requires making changes to the computer. asking you is part of the security function of your operating system. annoying to some but it’s a good thing.
lots of stuff looks nice. plenty of fancy bait out there. you need to feed cautiously.
Thirded, always Google what ails Google. A lot of stuff may be comparatively easy to remove to boot, remove the add in and then uninstall the programme, but it’s always easier when someone else has done the figuring out for you.
I resent this silly, condescending, pissy little little lecture:
Any idiot knows this.
Asking me for permission to make a change I have already requested is redundant, but that is not the problem.
Did you see this part of my post: “(a) screen (asks) to allow the program (I am) trying to uninstall to make changes on my computer.”
I do not want the program I am trying to uninstall to do anything, get it? I want the program I am trying to uninstall to remain inert while Microsoft does the uninstalling, get it?
What you need to be focusing on is the caliber of advice available around here, starting with your own.
Well, the uninstall routine is a part of the software. It digs around and finds all the changes that were made during installation and removes them. (Ideally anyway.) Uninstall is not part of your OS. What you describe is the thing doing what it is supposed to do.
What you need to be focusing on is the caliber of replies, starting with your own.
The uninstall is asking to make changes to your computer so that it can remove the program. Uninstalling is not a Microsoft function (except in the sense that I think Microsoft provides some functionality to aid in that), it is the responsibility of the program that was installed.
Anyone who says “not a Microsoft function” and “Microsoft provides some functionality” in the same sentence does not need to be giving lectures about reply caliber. At least not until he has gone back and passed Logic 101.
My only fault was in not realizing the obvious, namely, that Microsoft can’t be trusted to lift a finger on your behalf. Suppose the Should I Remove It people flip me off when I tell them to uninstall? All Microsoft would have to say is “Not my job, Mon.”
Because it’s not and never has been Microsoft’s responsibility. Are you suggesting that Windows track every file and resource change made when something is installed so that it can be totally responsible for removing all those files and resources properly? Programs of any significant complexity require more than just saving a single file. I phrased my other comment badly; clearly Microsoft provides a little help since it provides an interface for starting uninstalls (I’m on Ubuntu at the moment so I don’t recall the exact name; the control panel you run that lets you select programs to change or uninstall); I’m not enough of a Windows expert to know what other assistance it provides. It’s pretty obvious it can not do all of it.
Sometimes you just have to BUY something to get rid of it.
“Exterminate It” , got rid of mine a few years ago.
Not saying they will be good for your cause though.
Google the “infection name” buy the product that will get rid of it, if you really cant find a free one.
AuntiePam, Should I remove it might be a good program. It certainly sounded good to me and the CNET review is good. The challenge is that downloading “Should I Remove It” installs *multiple crapware *programs even when I carefully checked the custom install to install only “Should I Remove It.”
Maybe I missed something. But judging from Wheatcat’s experience, seems pretty universal.
Wheatcat may have worded it poorly. When you click on “uninstall” on one of the crapware programs that got installed as part of the zip file for “should I remove it”, instead of uninstalling it opens another website trying to trick you into installing more crapware. I think we all get when you click on remove program, generally a second screen follows asking “are you sure?”
So, I can’t comment if “Should I remove it” is a decent program or not, since any program that steathily installs a buncha crapware on my machine gets removed as soon as I’m able to remove it. Christ, I think I had to remove 5 programs (a search engine, a zip file expander, and some other shit) to get that crap off my machine and then run anti malware just to make sure.
I’ll run Remove It again, see if anything weird pops up.
PC World also recommended Remove It, so there’s that.
I’m back. I Uninstalled Remove It (using the Control Panel) without being redirected elsewhere.
Since you guys made me nervous, I did a whole computer scan using AVG (it took forever), and one threat was found – the c drop malware. Maybe that came from Remove It, maybe elsewhere. AVG got rid of it.
Should I be doing something other than relying on AVG to keep my PC clean?
It seems that MalwareBytes solved the OP’s problem. Just a tip for anyone using that great program. It’s best to go to Settings in MB and tick the box for all malware found to be automatically selected for deletion. Otherwise when the scan is completed you have to laboriously tick each box separately and that can take an age.
That’s because privilege escalation is required by Windows before any changes can be made to certain parts of the file system (most likely the Program Files folder).
The reason this happens, as a separate event, after you have launched the installer/uninstaller is because Windows doesn’t know what you want It knows there is an installer running under your account, trying to do something, but that’s exactly the same as what it would know if there was a piece of malware trying to install itself under your account.
This is pretty much why I don’t like the UAC that Microsoft implemented in Windows. For a lot of not-computer-savvy people, this “warning” prompt freaks them out. Nevermind that they specifically went and got a program they wanted - say, firefox, and they just clicked the installer to run it with the intention of installing it (therefore making a change). As soon as Windows pops up with “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?” they freak out. They don’t understand that they just asked to make changes to the computer and Windows is verifying this action - they think something terribly wrong is happening. They don’t connect the fact that they just tried to install something with Windows asking them something.
Anything you do on a computer is making changes to the computer. It just so happens that Windows has a lot of “Are you sure? Really sure?” prompts built into it now, which freaks people out.
So yes, in short you have to allow an uninstaller to make changes to your computer because the change is uninstalling a program. You want something gone, that is making a change.
I personally turned UAC off because I take responsibility for my own stupid clicks, dammit.
Thank you for that - I didn’t know that was an option 
What Windows is doing is not asking you if you’re sure - it’s confirming that it was really you who initiated the action.
It’s similar to the way that Linux users have to use su or sudo to escalate their privileges in order to do something - except that in those cases, the user-administrator essentially pre-confirms that this is an authorised admin action.
Your choice, obviously, but UAC isn’t designed to protect you from your own clicks - it’s trying to protect you from everything else.
If you are launching Chrome from an icon on your desktop which is then redirecting you to [some page you didn’t ask for and don’t want] it may be a very easy thing to fix.
Right click the icon and then click properties. The target box should look something like this: “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”. If it looks like this: “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” www.stupidsite.com what happens is that Firefox will launch, and then it will go directly to www.stupidsite.com. You can test it for yourself by putting in any webpages e.g. “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” www.ebay.com.
Unfortunately when you use google search looking for how to remove [some program] you will get sites that want you to install their software to remove that program. For me anyway I don’t want to install more software to remove software. I’m not sure but it would appear that google would rather give you sponsored results instead of forums where you will get real help.
Or right click on the list of items, a context menu pops up with one of the options as “check all”