Rakshit Khare’s Blog- Aarambh

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Before learning the methods that you can use to uninstall unwanted programs, you first need to know how these programs get installed on your system in the first place.

The following are some of the common ways in which unwanted programs get installed on your system:

• If you have purchased a branded PC with a pre-installed operating system, it is quite possible that the system comes preloaded with several shareware programs that may expire after a while.
• Many programs get installed along with other programs you install on your system. For instance, the Yahoo toolbar is installed along with Yahoo Messenger, if you fail to clear a check box asking whether or not you want to install the toolbar.
• At times, when you download freeware and shareware programs on your system, they may come bundled with spyware and adware programs. These malicious programs not only stealthily install themselves on your system, but also download and install several other unwanted programs on the system.

Let us now have a look at some of the various methods that you can use to get rid of these unwanted programs installed on your system.

• The first step that any Windows user should take is to use the Add or Remove Programs feature. This helps because most of the software that is installed on your system makes an entry in the installed programs list of this tool. So, when you start with the process of cleaning up your system, your first step should be to open the Add or Remove Programs dialog box from the Control Panel. Next, browse through the currently installed programs list and remove all programs you do not want. For example, if you want to uninstall AOL messenger, select the AOL messenger removal option from the currently installed programs list and then proceed as per the screen instructions.

• There are a few programs that do not add the uninstall option in Add or Remove Programs. These programs can be removed by selecting the shortcut to the program’s uninstaller file in the Start menu or by navigating to the program’s folder in the Windows Explorer and then double-clicking the uninstall file for the program.

• At times, your system may have a few stubborn programs that may be difficult to completely remove from the system. To get rid of these stubborn programs, you may use an efficient and trustworthy third-party program uninstaller tool.

• Many software manufacturers develop separate removal tools that are made available on their Web site. For example, if you want to remove a Symantec or MacAfee product from the PC, you can download their respective uninstaller tools to ensure complete removal.

• It is usually impossible to remove spyware and adware programs using Add or Remove Programs. This is because these malicious programs copy such a large amount of data to your hard disk and the registry that some information always gets left behind. Therefore, to get rid of these unwanted programs, you need a special tool, commonly known as the antispyware tool. You must update your antispyware tool with the latest spyware database and then run a full system scan to weed out all spyware related data from the PC. A good antispyware tool performs thorough disk and registry cleanup to ensure complete removal of spyware from your system.

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uninstall freeware, uninstall shareware, uninstall softwares, unwanted programs