# What's the best way to uninstall programs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 2002, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-uninstall-programs/144576 "2002-12-23T19:52:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-uninstall-programs/144576/1 "2002-12-23T19:52:30Z")
Is it best to use the program’s uninstaller, let windows do it, or use a third party program like Norton? ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-uninstall-programs/144576/2 "2002-12-23T19:58:58Z")
The Network engineers I work with say always use the MS installer and uninstaller. This helps when some apps don’t actually provide an uninstaller. FTR this is for W2K Pro - maybe others will have opinions on versions lower than 2K. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-uninstall-programs/144576/3 "2002-12-23T20:13:40Z")
Im using XP home if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-uninstall-programs/144576/4 "2002-12-23T21:45:21Z")
If you have uninstall software, that’s probably the best. It keeps track of all changes and can then reverse them, cleaning registry items, etc. If the software comes with an uninstaller, I’d go with that. It would do a better job of reversing things than the generic Windows version. If there’s no uninstaller, you need to use Windows. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-uninstall-programs/144576/5 "2002-12-23T22:31:24Z")
The problem with Windows Uninstall is that it may not uninstall some components of the program. There’ll be bits and pieces here and there that have not been removed. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-uninstall-programs/144576/6 "2002-12-23T22:52:22Z")
You want to get [Reg Cleaner](http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/jv16powertools.shtml), which has proven to be the best damned freeware and tool I ever downloaded. It’s self explanatory. You can uninstall software, using it _and_ clean the registry afterwards. The best thing is, that it keeps a back-up of everything you do, in case you screwed up. You can then undo changes in the registry. And if you’re not a pro (I’m not), then having the safety of restoring the registry is very nice. The wrong thing deleted there can cuase serious headache. I’m not connected to the maker of the software at all, so if this seems like spam, I’m sorry. It’s just that so many bad things on my 'puter (running on XP), was fixed using this.