Is Revo Really The Best. I did a test on 4 uninstallers.

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by rodneym, Oct 24, 2018.

  1. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    Yes thanks, all we can do is try, and do our best, with what developers give us.
     
  2. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    Ahh yes I thought so.... It's really good. I have a Lic....Just a note Soft Organizer 7, was the easiest to use, dang near automated the whole process for me.
     
  3. Seer

    Seer Registered Member

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    I understand that. The fault here is not with the end users.
    A product is being marketed which... never mind.

    Cheers.
     
  4. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    Smarty is 50% today...12.00

    And SoftOrganizer 7 is reg price 19.99
     
  5. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    Guess the safest way, would be restore image with macrium...

    or

    possibly monitor your software installation and or take snap shot in safe mode IF the installer allows / and IF MS allows...
     
  6. Seer

    Seer Registered Member

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    Whether clever imaging strategy can replace software uninstalling depends on how you use the system. If you frequently switch apps, then it's not practical to restore images every/every other day. A combined approach of incremental imaging + light system virtualization + (name your solution) may be good for more static systems (as is mine).
    But what's maybe most vital, you need to understand the app you install and exactly what it does to your system. No magical application can replace knowledge.
     
  7. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    What issues and limitatiions are thoose and why is it not recommendable now?
     
  8. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Have you tried v4 of Install Monitor? The user interface has been significantly improved.
    https://www.mirekusoft.com/introducing-install-monitor-4s-re-designed-ui/

    It does not show which programs it has monitored the install of. After installing Install Monitor, it automatically silently monitors the install of any software you install. So, everything you install after install Install Monitor should be monitored. But it would be nice, if like Comodo Programs Manager for example, if it would actually show what programs it has monitored, so that you can see what software it hasn't got an installation log for.

    Also the removal process needs improving. I installed Zemana AntiMalware as a test, because its own uninstall routine leaves a driver remaining. When I used Uninstall Monitor to uninstall ZAM, while it did list the driver as one of the files to be deleted, it was not actually deleted. It's not all bad, as the registry key that loads the driver was deleted, so after rebooting I was able to manually delete the driver with Windows Explorer, as it was no longer being loaded into memory. I've had some discussions with the developer about this and am waiting to hear back from him.
     
  9. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    Ok.
    Zemana is a bit of a problem so it is good to test with it.

    I have not done a investigation of uninstallers but last time i tried Revo it had the feature that you could get a installationlog from the net on unmonitored programs to uninstall with. That seems to me to be a good way to uninstall. I usually search leftovers with Regseeker and after using that feature it came up with nothing. Not usuall. But i do not remember what program it was and as i said, no investigation - so.. .

    CPM did not function for me, compatible mode did not do the trick. It said i had to restart the Pc to get it working - over and over and.... .

    I will have an eye on Install monitor.
    Why do you favour it instead of Revo?
     
  10. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    Yes version 4.....I'm beginning to wonder if a person couldn't use Smarty Uninstaller, since it takes a snap shot, and also Iobit Uninstaller "PRO", since it works in the back ground, and after you use a uninstaller, like Revo or Smarty, Iobit will take notice that the uninstall software has run, and let you know if it finds any residue items. I think I'll give this a try. (Iobit says this is OK).
     
  11. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    It's a nice idea,, but is badly implemented at the moment. The results screen is very cluttered as it shows every single file and registry key it scans for, rather than just the ones it has found. Also, it could delete some needed files and registry keys, so you really need to pay close attention to the scan results before deleting anything. This would be a much simpler task, if it only listed the items it found in the scan, rather than everythnig.
    I like it because it actually monitors any changes and installer makes, rather than doing before and after snapshots. This is much quicker, as it takes a bit of time to do the snapshots, whereas Install Monitor tracks any changes made as they are made, without any noticeable system impact. Install Monitor and Comodo Programs Manager are as far I know, the only uninstallers which monitor changes, rather than using snapshots.

    Also, when an uninstaller creates snapshots, I guess that all changes to the system when you install a program get recorded. So there could be things which are unrelated to the program you installed that get monitored too. This will mean that when uninstalling software, you should pay attention to what will be deleted, so that nothing unrelated to the program you are uninstalling gets deleted.
    You could do that and yes that will work, but in theory Smarty should be able to find all leftover traces by itself. Version 4 of Install Monitor actually does a scan for leftovers in addition to using its record of the installation. So, that could be a better option, in my opinion.
     
  12. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    It seems roger than smarty's snapshot uninstaller doesn't do that

    https://smartuninstall.com/support.html
     
  13. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    I've never liked Smarty. I've never used its snapshot function, but its scan for leftovers has never worked particularly well, compared to Revo for example. Also, one of the early versions had a critical bug. Once when scanning for leftovers, it wanted to delete a large section of the registry, which would have caused serious issues.
     
  14. majoMo

    majoMo Registered Member

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    Doing before and after snapshots is yet the better way to uninstall an application.

    Revo and Smarty don't do that - and they can't uninstall well (and even can do a dangerous uninstall) installers that need to reboot (here they can install drivers/registry who are crucial and can have troubles if not well uninstaled).

    "Total Uninstall" and "Soft Organizer" are excellent.
     
  15. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    For the record Smarty does take snap shots.
     
  16. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Uninstallers which monitor changes to the system are better as it takes time to create the before and after snapshots.
    Both Revo Pro and Smarty do take snapshots. Also if you are just using Revo to scan for leftovers rather than using snapshots, v4 of Revo can scan for leftovers after rebooting, which is something that IObit Uninstaller has been able to do for some time.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2018
  17. Circuit

    Circuit Registered Member

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    Revo is good enough, then just search in reg and get all the rest.
     
  18. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    good enough has never quite been good enough for me. Imagine the military saying, we may loose a million people with this defense system, but it will have to be good enough.

    I think companies that create products, should raise the bar, and "be the best they can be" (That is what made America great).
     
  19. rodneym

    rodneym Registered Member

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    AGAIN, just to avoid confusion. Smarty takes B4 and after snap shots, I know, because I'm using it.
     
  20. taleblou

    taleblou Registered Member

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    also a good way to watch for left over is using "freefixer" to see what is left behind. I use both "search everything" for remnants of removed files and also use "freefixer" which shows everything left behind and if its valid or just a leftover and also will allow you to remove them and also gives you the option to check what you want to remove online in its huge database that includes community rating and info and data about it. Using these I have found that no uninstaller ever removes everything even those with monitoring capability.

    So I use these 2 programs to keep the pc clean of leftovers.
     
  21. donaddams

    donaddams Registered Member

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    The best uninstall method I found is to take a snapshot before and after a install with SysTracer Pro and then manually deleting the files.
     
  22. Soft Life

    Soft Life Registered Member

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    My problem is I use WIn 10 and sometimes the program itself does not show as installed but it really is. I cannot uninstall these programs when it happens. And these special programs do not see them either.

    So how do I fix my issue?
     
  23. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Are you talking about Windows apps? You can uninstall these with IObit Uninstaller and it will scan for leftovers too.
     
  24. Seer

    Seer Registered Member

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    I don't think so, this looks like an issue.
    The issue may not be with the system, but with specific applications you installed. For example, when DisplayName string in the registry is longer than 60 characters for a given uninstaller then it's not displayed in add/remove.

    This is stated in the article, but just to point out, each subkey (belonging to a different app) also contains UninstallString where the path to uninstaller is. Take a look in these 2 strings and if something is broken there for apps you can't uninstall.
     
  25. taleblou

    taleblou Registered Member

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    just did a basic uninstall test of 14 uninstallers to see which is good at removing junks.

    I used virtual box and made a clean snap of windows 10 home 1803 (used a clean snap with the exact same way for all uninstallers). used firefox latest beta software for testing (firefox 64.0 b3) and used the uninstallers with their out of the box (no tweaking) install and used deep cleaning option if available. Also used tracing for those available. I used "search everything" to see any left over files and folders. here is my personal result.

    All uninstallers are the latest as of yesterday.
    FIREFOX when installed and checked with search everything showed a total of 23 files and folders installed in the windows. so will use this as the base to compare how these uninstallers did.

    1. BCUninstaller : 5 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    2. Iobit uninstaller : 11 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    3. Wise program uninstaller: 10 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    4. Geek uninstaller: 7 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    5. Revo uninstaller pro (advanced removal option): 9 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    6. Advanced uninstaller pro: 10 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    7. Puran uninstaller: 10 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    8. Absolute uninstaller: 11 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    9. Ashampoo uninstaller (with install tracing): 12 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    10. Hibit uninstaller: 8 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    11. Your uninstaller (trial): 12 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    12. Smarty uninstaller: 10 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    13. Soft organizer: 10 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
    14. windows 10 own uninstaller: 10 files and folders left behind after uninstalling firefox
     
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