A weakness of the default program uninstaller in Windows is that it cannot scan the system for leftovers. If you install and uninstall lots of programs, you end up with orphan files and Registry entries that take up space and may even cause other issues like organizational issues with empty folders on the system.

IObit Uninstaller has just been released in version 2. The portable software is comparable to Revo Uninstaller in functionality. Version 2 has received several new and improved features, including a new user interface, a new forced uninstall mode to find programs in a program search that are not in the standard program listing, multi-language support and better and more secure leftover scanning options.

The program opens incredibly fast on execution. The program listing is populated immediately. Each program is listed with its name, size and install date. All columns are sortable so that you can list the most recently installed programs or programs that take up the most space on the computer’s hard drive.

A right-click on an entry in the program listing opens a context menu with options to uninstall the program, remove the entry from the listing (handy if the program is already uninstalled but the listing remained as a leftover), to open the file folder or to search for the program online. The only search searches for the full program name and version on Google.

The uninstaller features a standard and advanced uninstallation mode. The difference is that the advanced uninstall runs a scan for leftovers after program uninstallation, while the standard uninstall won’t.

IObit Uninstaller creates a system restore point before the program can be uninstalled.

The scan searches on the hard drive and in the Registry for leftovers, and displays items found in list form on a new screen after the program uninstallation.

A batch uninstall option is available to uninstall multiple programs in rapid succession. You need to enable batch uninstall first. This adds check boxes to all program entries so that you can select multiple programs in the listing.

It is interesting to note that the uninstaller tries to uninstall all programs at once with the least amount of user interaction.

The left sidebar of the program window offers additional listings. This includes toolbars that are installed on the system, a listing that only includes software that has been recently installed, a listing for large programs, one for programs that are rarely used and a Windows updates listing. The functionality remains the same in all listings.

A click on Forced Uninstall opens another menu with options to add a full program path, a program’s exact name, or a program via drag and drop to the window to uninstall it even if it is not listed in the installed program listing.

IObit Uninstaller 2 is available for download at the IObit website. It is freeware and compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

How does it compare to Revo Uninstaller then? IObit Uninstaller 2.0 detects more installed programs than Revo Uninstaller (121 to 92 on my system) which can be at least partially attributed to missing Microsoft software entries in the Revo Uninstaller listing.

Both programs share the same functionality. Both create a system restore point before uninstallations, and both scan for leftovers on the system after uninstallation. Revo Uninstaller comes with additional tools, like an Autorun Manager which IObit Uninstaller does not offer. The latter on the other hand offers additional handy program listings, like the listing of rarely used programs.

What I like about IObit Uninstaller 2 is that it appears to be a bit easier to select the relevant leftovers for deletion.

The cleaner resembles the popular program CCleaner. It dividedes the data that can be cleaned into the three tabs Windows, Applications and Browsers. These tabs are further divided into sections such as Windows History, Productivity or File Sharing.

Each section lists multiple program or data locations that can be cleaned by SlimCleaner. The Analyze button starts a scan of the system for the selected entries and displays the results in list form at the end.

slimcleaner

system cleanup

Each program or storage location that was found during the scan is displayed with the total amount of files and the combined data size on the computer. It is possible to run the cleaner right away, or click on any entry to view a detailed listing of every file, with the possibility to exclude items from the cleanup.

The optimization tool makes use of information from the cloud to rate a program in the startup tab. The rating gives the user immediate information about the startup program, which may be used to decide whether to remove it from the startup or not.

Each program entry is listed with a rating, publisher and startup command.

Additional information can be retrieved by following links to the developer’s website.

optimization

The Services tab lists all services and their current, original and supercharged state. Supercharged here is a special services configuration created by the developers of the software. It basically changes states to optimize the system.

A restore tab is available to undo changes that have been previously made.

The uninstaller uses the cloud to rate installed programs. That’s however the only difference to the standard Windows uninstaller. Still, it is interesting to see the rating, which may help users remove software with low ratings.

uninstaller

The file shredder can securely delete files in the operating system. It offers various shred levels like quick overwriting the files, or using the Guttman 35 overwrite algorithm. Files and folders can be added easily from within the program interface.

The Hijack Log creates a HiJack This log, again with ratings from the cloud whenever available. This can aid users in detecting potentially dangerous programs and objects.

Windows Tools finally leads to various Windows control panel and system tools.

windows tools

SlimCleaner shows a lot of promise. The program could use some polishing, the uninstaller for instance crashes the application on one of our test systems. All other sections worked fine though.

Specialized tools like CCleaner or Revo Uninstaller offer additional features that SlimCleaner in its current state is not offering. The cloud based rating system however is an excellent feature, even though many programs are not rated yet. This should change soon with the distribution of the software, as every user is able to rate software directly in the program.

SlimCleaner is available for download at the developer website. (via Beatmaster’s Winlite Blog)

Myuninstaller is a smart tiny freeware utility that can be run from any location on your hard drive. The tool does not need to be installed which makes it great even for portable drives. Once installed you run it by double-clicking the icon. Myuninstaller will scan your system for programs that can be uninstalled and display all of them in a table that displays lots of information about each product.

It does for instance display the path and the key in the registry which is great if you deleted the software on your hard drive because this does not delete the registry keys as well. Just look them up, fire up regedit and delete the keys manually. No big deal anymore.

It displays more entries than the standard windows tool (without tweaking), all hotfixes and patches for XP are listed as well for instance. Another great feature is the ability to uninstall more than one product at a time. (you will have to activate the advanced mode in the view menu to be able to do so).

Right-Clicking an entry opens a menu with shortcuts to the registry and the installation folder, the uninstallation option and an option that created html reports of the installed items on that system. Great if someone needs those information for an diagnosis.