Two years later and the application is still around. The development company OPSWAT has improved and maintained the application in that time, more about that later.

AppRemover is designed to give users a reliable option of removing security software from that system. It is for instance helpful if the default uninstaller is not working correctly, if you suspect file and Registry leftovers after uninstallation or if a program is acting up and you need to remove it completely from the system.

The list of supported vendors and products has been improved significantly in the last two years. New products such as Microsoft’s Security Essentials, latest 2010 and 2011 editions of security suites and other security related products are now supported by the software uninstaller. Software companies supported by AppRemover include Symantec, McAfee, AVG, Avira and Trend Micro.

You find an up to date list of all supported applications here on the product website.

When you first start AppRemover, a portable application by the way, you get the option to remove installed security applications or to clean up failed uninstalls of security software on the system.

The first option works much like a standard program uninstallation, the second will crawl folders and the Registry to find and remove leftovers.

The program will scan the system and display a list of found applications, application leftovers depending on the user’s choice.

You are then presented with a list of applications discovered. You can select none, one or multiple applications that you want to remove from the system. A reboot of the computer system may be required after the removal process.

The program supports more applications and developers which is a good thing. There are two things missing that I’d like to point out. It first lacks a backup and restore option which some users may want to avoid removing the wrong programs or files from the system. The second missing feature is the ability to find leftovers of programs that the initial system scan did not detect.

Windows users can download AppRemover from the official program website. The software is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the operating system.

You could now go ahead and uninstall those applications manually which could take quite some time. The time depends largely on the number and type of applications on the system.

Some users prefer an automated solution, and one of the best programs for the job is PC Decrapifier. Last reviewed in 2008, and updated two days ago, it is time to take a new look at the application.

PC Decrapifier is a portable software for computer systems running Windows. It is compatible with all recent versions of the Microsoft operating system including 64-bit editions. The program walks you right through the steps to remove software that you do not need from the PC it is executed on. It suggests to create a System Restore point before the actual process. While that does not guarantee that everything can be restored, it is a good to take precautions if something goes haywire during the removal.

PC Decrapifier first scans for applications that is has listed in its list of applications that users do not necessarily want on their systems.

Programs identified this way are displayed in list form after the scan. Each program is listed with its name and a short description which should give the user enough indicators to determine whether the program is of use or not. Some, all or no programs can be selected for removal on this screen.

Some of the common programs that are identified by PC Decrapifier are the MSN Toolbar, ASK Toolbar, Microsoft Silverlight, Acrobat.com, Acer Registration, HP Advisor, Skype Toolbars or Dell’s Getting Started Guide. A list of the top 50 applications is available on the PC Decrapifier homepage.

All installed programs are displayed in the second step. Here it is possible to select programs that have not been picked up by the automatic application scan in the first step of the process. This is handy to add programs to the list of programs to be removed from the PC or laptop that have not been identified automatically by the PC software.

It is interesting to note that PC Decrapifier can be used as a batch software uninstaller, as it is possible to add multiple programs to the uninstallation list.

PC Decrapifier is a handy tool for users who have bought a new PC or notebook that shipped with many programs that they do not need or want on their hard drive. It is also a great tool for users who want to uninstall multiple programs from a Windows operating system in one go.

PC Decrapifier launches the uninstallers of all selected programs in the end. The latest version of PC Decrapifier is available on the developer homepage. It is free for personal, non-commercial use.

Third party application uninstallers use two methods to thoroughly uninstall software: Some uninstallers, like Revo Uninstaller, scan the computer system after the default uninstallation for leftovers. They list the files and Registry keys found so that the user can delete them.

Then there are programs that offer to monitor software installations. These applications record every file, folder and Registry key created during installation. These information are then used during uninstallation to remove the software completely from the system.

ZSoft Uninstaller combines both methods and then some in an easy to use interface.

The software uninstaller lists all installed programs after program start. By default, everything is lumped into the listing including Windows Updates. The Filters menu at the top offers to filter out specific groups including Windows Updates.

Programs can be uninstalled with a double-click on the program name in the listing of installed programs. This triggers the standard program uninstaller. ZSoft Uninstaller afterwards offers to search the system for leftovers. This has to be initiated by the user by double-clicking on the program title in the leftover section that opens up after at least one program has been uninstalled from the system.

The scan offers an interesting option. It will extract keywords automatically, but gives the user the choice to add keywords to the list of search words as well. This can be used to fine tune the search for leftovers. The uninstaller will search the file system and the Registry and display the findings in list form.

If there is something to criticize it is little things, like the missing option to mark all leftovers for deletion. The uninstaller creates backups of file and Registry leftover removals so that the data can be restored in the event that something has been deleted that is still needed.

But there is more to Zsoft Uninstaller than just the uninstallation of programs itself. The Analyze function offers to analyze a software installation, or to uninstall a previously analyzed program.

Those features alone make ZSoft Uninstaller one of the best, if not the best uninstaller for the Windows operating system. But there is more. It includes several nice to have tools, like a temp file finder, empty folder cleaner, startup program manager, badware finder among the installed programs and a tool to uninstall portable applications.

Programs can also be hidden from the installed programs list to avoid deleting them by accident. Windows users who would like to give ZSoft Uninstaller a try can download the application from the developer website over at ZSoft.dk. The uninstaller has been tested on a 64-bit Windows 7 Professional system, it should run fine on other Windows versions and editions as well.

It is not possible to uninstall software in Safe Mode if the service is not running, that is highly problematic if a software is responsible for PC issues.

There is however an option to start the Windows Installer Service in Safe Mode, so that software can be uninstalled afterwards.

windows installer service error

The Windows Installer Service can’t be started immediately, it is necessary to patch the Registry first.

Open the Windows Registry Editor with the keyboard combination Windows-R, type regedit and hit enter. It can also be launched by clicking on the start orb, and entering regedit in the run box in the Start Menu followed by enter.

Locate the following Registry key

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\

Right-click on Minimal and select New > Key. Name the key MSIService and change the default value to Service by double-clicking it.

windows safe mode

This makes the Windows Installer Service available in minimal Safe Mode. You may want to repeat the steps for the networking Safe Mode as well. All steps are the same, except for the starting Registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM#92;CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\

The Windows Installer Service needs to be started afterwards, this can be done by clicking on the start orb again, entering services.msc and hitting enter.

Locate Windows Installer in the services listing, right-click it and select start. Alternatively execute the following command via the command line:

net start msiserver

It is furthermore possible to issue all commands via the command line. To enable Windows Installer in minimal Safe Mode execute the following command:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"


For Safe Mode with network:

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"


The freeware SafeMSI offers to automate the Registry editing and service starting. Just double-click the program in Safe Mode to enable Windows Installer.

IObit Uninstaller is another application that tackles those uninstallation leftovers. The portable software uninstaller displays a list of installed programs in its interface. The sidebar contains several other useful shortcuts to only list toolbars, programs that have been recently installed, large programs, rarely used software and Windows Updates.

The option to list recently installed software is nice for someone who reviews software on a daily basis.

Installed programs are listed with their name, size and installation date in the interface. A search on top can be used in case lots of software is installed on the PC.

Checkboxes in front of every program entry can be used to select multiple programs for uninstallation at once.

IObit Uninstaller supports both normal and advanced uninstallations. A forced uninstall option is provided as well in case the uninstaller offered by the application itself is not available or working anymore.

The advanced uninstaller performs the same routine that Revo Uninstaller performs. It begins by starting the default software uninstaller of each selected program. The user has to follow the uninstaller until it finishes.

The powerful scan will afterwards scan the system for leftovers. Leftovers that are found are then displayed so that they can be kept on the system or deleted.

All file and Registry leftovers are displayed in this menu. IObit Uninstaller handles this step better than Revo Uninstaller as it lists the entries directly.

IObit Uninstaller creates a system restore point before the uninstallation is started to give the user an option to restore the settings if something went wrong during uninstallation.

The manage menu in the program interface holds options to export a list of installed applications, manage the log files that the program automatically creates and to start System Restore.

IObit Uninstaller is an excellent program to uninstall software in Windows. Its leftover scanner ensures that no entries of the uninstalled program remain on the computer system.

The portable software program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows. The download is offered at the developer’s website.

A filter on tab can be used to quickly find the desired program in the list. There is also a finder icon which can be dragged onto any open window to uninstall the program or kill the process of it in Windows.

Programs can be uninstalled by right-clicking on them and selecting the uninstall option from the menu. Another option is the uninstall icon in the top menu which is always accessible. A small menu is displayed afterwards giving the user the option to uninstall the program (this will trigger the default uninstaller) and to scan for leftovers.

KUninstall works faster and more reliable than the default Windows uninstaller. It does however lack several features at this stage in development that make Revo Uninstaller superior. It is for example not possible to select multiple programs for uninstallation (which would be executed one after the other). There are also no filters to hide Windows updates from the product list. The scan for leftovers is very fast which could mean that it is not as thorough as the one offered by Revo Uninstaller.

KUninstall is compatible with most Microsoft Windows operating systems (but apparently only 32-bit editions). It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

The program is basically cleaning the traces from the computer system if the user deleted the program folder on the hard drive manually. The portable software program will list all existing program entries in a table with information about the application name, publisher and Registry key. Available options are to start the default uninstallation of the software program or to delete the remaining traces from the computer system.

The application will be automatically refreshed after a program has been uninstalled or refreshed.

Other applications that are probably worth considering are Revo Uninstaller, MyUninstaller or Safarp which do provide additional features that Uninstall Cleaner does not provide.

Especially Revo Uninstaller can be very thorough when uninstalling software programs from a computer system.