revo uninstaller

bigjonnyauk · Friday at 00:10

Hi all

Came across this and it seems much better than the normal windows uninstaller especially for getting rid of deep rooted associated files . i just wondered if there is anything dodgy i should be aware of ?

aaronyuri · Friday at 01:25

It's been around forever. However, the leftovers from the standard uninstallation process is minimal and won't degrade performance. The days of lots of temporary files slowing down a PC are long behind us. This is like CCleaner and AV software - it's defunct in the modern Windows OS.

mrk · Friday at 19:45

They won't slow anything down but they will just leave clutter behind after removal without using stuff like Revo.

Nobody who is normal wants any clutter of old stuff no longer being used or installed on the OS.

darael · Friday at 23:57

aaronyuri said:
It's been around forever. However, the leftovers from the standard uninstallation process is minimal and won't degrade performance. The days of lots of temporary files slowing down a PC are long behind us. This is like CCleaner and AV software - it's defunct in the modern Windows OS.

No offence, but this is the sort of thing that irks me. For the minute or so it takes to run Revo Uninstaller, you're not losing anything. These leftovers that go otherwise undeleted can cause problems when reinstalling software later on.

If you use the classic version of CCleaner (v6.39.11548), with an updated Winapp2.ini file, you won't go far wrong. I won't use it's registry cleaner these days, but that's just me - your mileage may vary.

I'm from the era of when hard disks were only a few hundred megabytes in size and wasting space just wasn't an option. It's a good habit to keep your system's drive organised and clutter free.

bigjonnyauk · 2026-01-10T00:12:38+0000

darael said:
No offence, but this is the sort of thing that irks me. For the minute or so it takes to run Revo Uninstaller, you're not losing anything. These leftovers that go otherwise undeleted can cause problems when reinstalling software later on.

If you use the classic version of CCleaner (v6.39.11548), with an updated Winapp2.ini file, you won't go far wrong. I won't use it's registry cleaner these days, but that's just me - your mileage may vary.

I'm from the era of when hard disks were only a few hundred megabytes in size and wasting space just wasn't an option. It's a good habit to keep your system's drive organised and clutter free.

ha ha 53 here and jacked in pc gaming and buliding when the original xbox came out. been a console guy since but decided to make the switch back and built my own pc and am trying to play catch up lol

darael · 2026-01-10T00:58:45+0000

bigjonnyauk said:
ha ha 53 here and jacked in pc gaming and buliding when the original xbox came out. been a console guy since but decided to make the switch back and built my own pc and am trying to play catch up lol

If you can get used to running CCleaner, you're off to a good start. You don't actually have to do cleaning with it at first if you want to tinker with the options - you can also preview the changes that will be made, if any.

If you can't find the CCleaner version I mentioned, I'll happily upload it somewhere for you to download, complete with the latest Winapp2.ini file that you can delete if you decide not to use it or find all the options it provides overwhelming.

Windows is another story. I imagine the last version of Windows you might have been Windows XP or perhaps even Windows 98. So if you're running Windows 11 now, you'll have bound to have noticed massive changes in the user interface - and not all for the good.

aaronyuri · 2026-01-10T01:13:30+0000

darael said:
No offence, but this is the sort of thing that irks me. For the minute or so it takes to run Revo Uninstaller, you're not losing anything. These leftovers that go otherwise undeleted can cause problems when reinstalling software later on.

If you use the classic version of CCleaner (v6.39.11548), with an updated Winapp2.ini file, you won't go far wrong. I won't use it's registry cleaner these days, but that's just me - your mileage may vary.

I'm from the era of when hard disks were only a few hundred megabytes in size and wasting space just wasn't an option. It's a good habit to keep your system's drive organised and clutter free.

It can irk away at you... That's OK with me.

Running a third party installer achieves nothing more than wasting your time - the same goes for running CCleaner. Of all of the things that you can do to "look after things and they will look after you", this is the kind that is the most folly. These applications are defunct and have been for a very long time. The XP era of Windows ended a long time ago.

I say this as someone that ran enterprise environments based on Windows with thousands of clients and servers back in my infrastructure days. Uninstall these fossils of applications and let it go.

bigjonnyauk · 2026-01-10T01:14:12+0000

i quite like this revo to be honest quick clean and simple, thanks for the offer though . i did use to use crap cleaner back in the day. has it not had malware issues and new owners over the past tears though

ive always had a laptop for work but basic with no gaming or dedicated gpu or other stuff you accumilate on a pc and the pc at work is windows also so im use to it tbh. I change games a lot and now days you have ea app , gog , ubisoft , steam , xbox all with their own apps. if i delete a game or an app i like to know the whole lot of it has gone

bigjonnyauk · 2026-01-10T01:17:14+0000

aaronyuri said:
It can irk away at you... That's OK with me.

Running a third party installer achieves nothing more than wasting your time - the same goes for running CCleaner. Of all of the things that you can do to "look after things and they will look after you", this is the kind that is the most folly. These applications are defunct and have been for a very long time. The XP era of Windows ended a long time ago.

I say this as someone that ran enterprise environments based on Windows with thousands of clients and servers back in my infrastructure days. Uninstall these fossils of applications and let it go.

i get what ya saying and thanks for the reply , i suppose i just like to know everything is removed . im the kind of guy that hoovers and then moves the settee and chairs so i can hoover under them also.

if your going to do a job you may aswell do it properley if you can

darael · 2026-01-10T10:17:13+0000

aaronyuri said:
It can irk away at you... That's OK with me.

Running a third party installer achieves nothing more than wasting your time - the same goes for running CCleaner. Of all of the things that you can do to "look after things and they will look after you", this is the kind that is the most folly. These applications are defunct and have been for a very long time. The XP era of Windows ended a long time ago.

I say this as someone that ran enterprise environments based on Windows with thousands of clients and servers back in my infrastructure days. Uninstall these fossils of applications and let it go.

So are you telling us that we should feel comfortable about leaving remainders of software scattered around our systems, even though they have the potential to haunt us with problems in the future? That doesn't sit right with me and I'm happy to spend the little amount of time it takes to use Revo Uninstaller. If I want to be double sure, I'll perhaps check the program's installation location and in %appdata%, etc, too.

bigjonnyauk said:
i get what ya saying and thanks for the reply , i suppose i just like to know everything is removed . im the kind of guy that hoovers and then moves the settee and chairs so i can hoover under them also. if your going to do a job you may aswell do it properley if you can

+1

GoogalyMoogaly · 2026-01-10T11:39:01+0000

darael said:
So are you telling us that we should feel comfortable about leaving remainders of software scattered around our systems, even though they have the potential to haunt us with problems in the future? That doesn't sit right with me and I'm happy to spend the little amount of time it takes to use Revo Uninstaller. If I want to be double sure, I'll perhaps check the program's installation location and in %appdata%, etc, too.

+1

Don't even bother uninstalling these days, just delete the directory

Vimes · 2026-01-10T12:51:04+0000

I can't remember the exact applications now, but at some point the uninstaller through Windows did not work correctly. I was able to use Revo Uninstaller to force an uninstall and tha twent well.
Since then I have preffered to use that, for a clean uninstall of what is needed, including any residual files.
Whether it has any relevance or importance or not I do not know, although when removing builds of Windscribe VPN app it seemed a better job when using Revo than the traditional non Revo way.
I even bought it on a BF deal, not needed, but if I use something like this a lot I am happy enough to throw a bit of money their way.

aaronyuri · 2026-01-10T14:44:00+0000

darael said:
So are you telling us that we should feel comfortable about leaving remainders of software scattered around our systems, even though they have the potential to haunt us with problems in the future? That doesn't sit right with me and I'm happy to spend the little amount of time it takes to use Revo Uninstaller. If I want to be double sure, I'll perhaps check the program's installation location and in %appdata%, etc, too.

+1

Problems like what exactly? Some stale directories or orphaned registry keys aren't going to break your Windows install, neither is some leftover kilobytes of files in your app data...

darael · 2026-01-10T17:17:21+0000

aaronyuri said:
Problems like what exactly? Some stale directories or orphaned registry keys aren't going to break your Windows install, neither is some leftover kilobytes of files in your app data...

One common enough example is that some programs will store settings in an INI file somewhere, like AppData in ProgramData folders. When uninstalling some software, these files are always deleted. So in the future, when a program is reinstalled later on, erroneous or unwanted settings can get in the way. Of course this is only one example, I'm sure others can contribute their own findings if they wish to.

Nobody is saying a Windows install is going to break because of a few leftover files - I never said that, I said "they have the potential to haunt us with problems in the future". This doesn't mean a Window install is automatically broken.

If people want a messy system with useless and/or leftover files, that's up to them. But I don't see the problem by merely cleaning up after yourself, other than a little lost time.

mrk · 2026-01-10T19:56:58+0000

My install of Windows dates back to vista which has simply been inplace upgraded to each new version of Windows since then. All I've ever done is manually cleaned leftover stuff and used ccleaner portable and apps like Revo over the years to keep things clean.

This is what my 30 day reliability history looks like, note the PC is never turned off:

So yeah some elbow grease here and there does pay off in reliability and clutter-free OSing.

Philtor · 2026-01-10T20:22:31+0000

I got rid of CCleaner and using Wintoys now which is rather good if you like tinkering. Does the whole cleanup thing too and a lot more. Well worth a look.

aaronyuri · 2026-01-10T22:57:51+0000

darael said:
One common enough example is that some programs will store settings in an INI file somewhere, like AppData in ProgramData folders. When uninstalling some software, these files are always deleted. So in the future, when a program is reinstalled later on, erroneous or unwanted settings can get in the way. Of course this is only one example, I'm sure others can contribute their own findings if they wish to.

Nobody is saying a Windows install is going to break because of a few leftover files - I never said that, I said "they have the potential to haunt us with problems in the future". This doesn't mean a Window install is automatically broken.

If people want a messy system with useless and/or leftover files, that's up to them. But I don't see the problem by merely cleaning up after yourself, other than a little lost time.

Yes, and the reason those settings are preserved is so that they aren't lost upon reinstallation - as legacy apps written in the likes of .NET/C# (or VB, god forbid) and the others don't do upgrades - they do an uninstall and reinstall as an upgrade method. This is why those old school uninstallation processes work that way. Even the old thumbprinting of installations is now all server-side - there's no need to leave behind identifiers to see whether a trial installation has already been performed and so on. That's not the way of the world with modern applications and SaaS subscriptions.

More modernly built applications have true upgrade processes and are usually a lot better at performing clean installs. Even NVIDIA/AMD driver installers have a "clean install" option nowadays. Things have changed.

There's no problem - if you want to spend your time performing a task with very little meaning beyond your own mental relief - that may be good enough for you.

Edit: realised my last comment may be interpreted as condescending upon a reread. That's absolutely not the tone intended.

darael · 2026-01-10T23:28:53+0000

aaronyuri said:
Yes, and the reason those settings are preserved is so that they aren't lost upon reinstallation - as legacy apps written in the likes of .NET/C# (or VB, god forbid) and the others don't do upgrades - they do an uninstall and reinstall as an upgrade method. This is why those old school uninstallation processes work that way. Even the old thumbprinting of installations is now all server-side - there's no need to leave behind identifiers to see whether a trial installation has already been performed and so on. That's not the way of the world with modern applications and SaaS subscriptions.

More modernly built applications have true upgrade processes and are usually a lot better at performing clean installs. Even NVIDIA/AMD driver installers have a "clean install" option nowadays. Things have changed.

There's no problem - if you want to spend your time performing a task with very little meaning beyond your own mental relief - that may be good enough for you.

Edit: realised my last comment may be interpreted as condescending upon a reread. That's absolutely not the tone intended.

For me, it's wanting a clean uninstallation of the software - anything and everything. I'm bit of a stickler for it, which is why I'm all for spending a brief amount of time - because I know the program is uninstalled as best as I can manage.

I just find leaving files you don't need wasteful and lazy. That's not a dig, but partly why I want to delete the files - it's practically zero effort and I don't understand why others don't do the same.

aaronyuri · 2026-01-10T23:42:40+0000

darael said:
For me, it's wanting a clean uninstallation of the software - anything and everything. I'm bit of a stickler for it, which is why I'm all for spending a brief amount of time - because I know the program is uninstalled as best as I can manage.

I just find leaving files you don't need wasteful and lazy. That's not a dig, but partly why I want to delete the files - it's practically zero effort and I don't understand why others don't do the same.

When you find yourself using SCCM (back in the day) or Intune to purge software from thousands of machines: you stop caring. Believe me.