Total Uninstaller?

Add/Remove is nothing more than a front end for a program's own uninstaller. If the program lacks an uninstall, then that program's name will not appear on the Add/Remove list.

Out-of-the-box TU will cover LOTS of these items, but not necessarily all of them. For instance, if a program is on-trial, the trial version will usually record the expiration date in *some secret little place* on the computer. TU usually does not delete that info -- for obvious reasons.

By the way, TU can be configured to monitor additional areas of your computer besides those in TU's default set-up. You do so at you own risk, of course.

P.S.- If you want to see everything -- EVERYTHING! -- affected by an install, then you can additionally monitor the install with a marvelous freebie named InstallWatch. As denoted by its name, all InstallWatch does is watch the action & take notes -- sorta like the eunuch in the sultan's harem.

I don't know. I have used the free version for >3 years with no problems.

If the upgrade modifies some area that was NOT originally monitored by TU, then the answer to your question is "No." For this reason I have TU monitor every update.

~~~~~~~
Additional info based on stuff that I learned mostly from Blackcat...
***When using TU to monitor an INSTALL, be sure to continue monitoring until the installed program actually runs. If the installed program wants a restart, continue monitoring. TU is structured to resume monitoring after the restart. Why is this necessary? Because some programs make ADDITIONAL changes to your computer after they begin running.

***When using TU to UNinstall, here's the *BC* method I use...
1) I first use Add/Remove or the program's own uninstaller to uninstall.
2) I then restart the computer.
3) I then use the TU to AGAIN uninstall the program. Don't worry -- TU won't be confused by the fact that changes already were removed by Add/Remove. Instead. Total Uninstall will simply remove any changes that were overlooked by Add/Remove.

 

bellgamin,
Thanks for your helpfull post and mentioning InstallWatch, I like the word EVERYTHING, because I need to know which objects are installed during an install of any software. I already stored the link and the software. man.

 

TU tracks files and folders along with Registry entries.

It wouldn't tackle 3) - however legitimate software (which this thread is focusing on) almost always resides in one or two folders, with only data files being created or modified outside of these (and you likely wouldn't want these covered by TU anyway - uninstalling a word processor shouldn't result in the letters you wrote with it disappearing too).

As such, for file/folder activity, TU's approach is a good one. For Registry entries, things can get murkier since programs can (and do) make changes all over the place. However the majority of these will be done when a program is first run (e.g. file assocations, MRU lists, configuration details) so the advice given (repeatedly) above to run the program before taking the "after" snapshot should be heeded. Aside from that, further changes tend to be minor - often either key modification (e.g. configuration updates) or new subkeys (MRUs).

These can track changes made by a program - but an installer will often start other processes to make changes (e.g. MSI, regsvr32 or a temporary file to be run on Windows startup if a reboot is involved) so a process tracker needs to be able to identify such child processes and track them also. In practice, software using temporary files (firewalls, anti-virus software) to finish an installation would be difficult to handle with a process tracker.

Correct - using TU in conjunction with a registry monitor like RegDefend would be the "perfect" solution here, having TU track all the install activity and the registry monitor flagging any subsequent program modifications. I just wish this stuff had been around when I installed Windows on my system...

 

ROFL - they should take you on to their marketing team. Their website is disappointingly slim on details but there are some good reviews of it elsewhere (this one being a good place to start). According to the reviews though, InstallWatch works via snapshots like TU does - what benefits do you see to using it in addition to TU?

 

My question was :
Suppose a new object is added to software after an upgrading of this software.
Will Total Uninstaller remember that object too and remove it, once you decide to uninstall the software ?

Answer of Total Uninstall Forum

So the software must have been improved.

 

It seems that you still didn't perceive how this program works...

 

Of course, but I will once I start using it on my new computer.

 

By the way, how's that new computer coming along? I was reading in another forum posts you made in July of 2004 saying you were going to give ShadowUser a try when you got your "new computer." You've been saying the same thing now for over a year and a half!

 

Here are a couple of experiments you might try:

Experiment #1 --- Use IW before & after an install monitored by TU. Then take a look at what TU shows as being changed versus what IW shows. I found a LOT more stuff recorded by IW than by TU. I think you will, too.

Alternate Experiment --- Use IW before an install. Then do the install with TU monitoring. Then use TU to uninstall. Then use IW and take an *after* shot. This shows what TU didn't cover -- should be quite a bit or I'll dine on my fedora.

As to benefits of using IW in addition to TU -- none in my case because...

*I monitor every install with TU. I also make a Rollback snapshot prior to each install.

*If I quickly decide NOT to keep Program X (for instance), I use Rollback. Poof! It's like Program X never happened.

**I use TU in case I decide to keep Program X, then change my mind many moons later. I don't want to use Rollback to get rid of Program X in these cases because of good stuff (data files, new programs, updates, etc) that got on my box in the interim since installing Program X. In such cases, I uninstall by: Add/Remove, reboot, TU, reboot, & RegHealer

If that doesn't git 'er, then Bob's your uncle.

 

So it will tackle 1) and 2)? Giving that Erikalbert complains about firefox installer not removing profiles, I'm thinking in particularly to say new profiles created in firefox which will be in another subfolder, not to mention various files being created for history, downloads, passwords and extensions which do not exist immediately after installation tc..

Well I think with browsers like firefox, it gets murky.

Paranoid2k, The reason Why i'm making this point is this.

I know Erikalbert quite well from reading all his posts, he is a perfectionist that generally demands 100% solutions (that is why he rants about antiviruses not catching 100% and likes SU which is supposed to be 100%...) , even uninstallers missing some small subkey or file will make him go crazy.

He complains about firefox uninstaller not removing profiles. I'm sure in the course of the use of firefox and various extensions, it is highly possible that there will be files and folders created in other places......

And of course, as noted by vampric Erik Albert still doesn't seem to grasp that TU only tracks change BETWEEN snapshots.

About Bufferzone

Have you tried BZ paranoid?

Bufferzone is a special case, I believe if you start an installer in the BZ, it *does* catch the corresponding child processes. For sure MSI setups work fine. Any temp files created are also marked as such and 'linked to the real files'.

BZ also has a easier time of it, because certain types of programs cannot run ( anything that requires service installs i think for one), so life is alot simpler.

Other than that, I believe for tracking changes BZ is superior to TU, particularly when you absolutely want to be 100% sure. because all changes (files and registry) are tracked throughout the life of the program, rather than just between 2 times.

Well the thing about registry keys is that even if TU misses them, most people won't know that