Remove even the toughest programs with IOBit Uninstaller

Remove even the toughest programs with IOBit Uninstaller:

IOBit Uninstaller (IOBU) is a powerful, but very easy to use, portable application that will take care of uninstalling nearly anything from your Windows OS based computer. It will even remove programs that won’t go away even when you use Windows uninstaller, and will remove the traces that are often left behind by other methods.

Being someone who regularly reviews different bits of software, both professionally and as a hobby, I am constantly installing and uninstalling new programs from my computer. That being the case, it was bound happen eventually that I would find a program that Windows uninstaller could not uninstall for whatever reason.  Most of us have probably help with this issue at least once and it can be absolutely infuriating.  You go to uninstall program you no longer need or want and for whatever reason, be it an error message or some other problem, Windows is unable to install or leaves behind all kinds of folders and files, even registry entries.  Sometimes you will you run across a program that will allow a pure in the Windows uninstall application.  For some of us this might not be a big deal but to others it is one of the most unknowing and upsetting things that can happen.

That’s where IOBit Uninstaller comes into play and really shines as a handy, portable application that is also freeware. IOBit Uninstaller will allow you to get around these issues by not only interfacing with the Windows uninstall program but, in some cases, completely superseding it. IOBU use very user-friendly, very easy to install and before you know it all your uninstallation troubles will be gone.  Let’s take a look at how this works.

First you must download the program, which is a very small .exe file, from the website. Note that you can run the program from anywhere on your computer, including a portable or thumb drive. There is no actual installation of the program. It simply runs from wherever it is stored on your system whenever you need it. So after you have downloaded the program you just double click it to open it.  That brings up the main IOBU window.  This is the window that you will interface with for everything you do with IOBU.

There are two basic options for how to uninstall any program on your system.  You can either use the normal uninstall process, through the IOBU interface, or you can select a “Forced Uninstall” that will take over the entire process from Windows.  The Forced Uninstall is the one I find I use most, since, if Windows could uninstall a program would need IOBU in the first place. From the main IOBU menu you will select the type of program you want to uninstall on the left side.  These options include all programs, toolbar, recently installed, large programs, rarely used and even Windows updates.  I find the Toolbar and the Windows Updates to be the most useful. From these you can choose to uninstall any toolbar that is annoying you in your browser, or, of course Windows Updates. For the purposes of this article I am using the forced uninstall option.

Once you have selected the item to uninstall you just click the forced uninstall button. Alternatively, you can select multiple items to uninstall by checking the Batch Uninstall box. This is particularly nice for those of us who have a lot of programs to uninstall at the end of the day, all at once. This will give you a popup menu with only one button you can press, which is the browse button.  You will have to point to the folder and the exact program within that folder that you want to uninstall.  The other option is to drag and drop the file to the IOBU window. It would be nice to see a search feature here for those of us who cannot find the specific program we want to uninstall but we know it is there. Maybe that is something that they will put into the next update. There is a search function on the main IOBU window but all that does is search through the registered items on the available list, rather than searching your computer’s storage.

IOBU offers the option to create a system restore point before uninstalling anything, as well.  Once you have selected the program in its folder IOBU will attempt to run the built in uninstaller of the application you have selected.  Now, with many programs that I need IOBU for, the built in uninstaller doesn’t work but that is where the third step of forced uninstall comes into play. The third step is a powerful scan that will search for leftover on items in your registry as well as empty folders on the hard drive and offer you the option to delete them.
That’s it.  That’s all there is to it.  Simple, powerful, useful and free! Personally, I would recommend IOBU to anyone who has a Windows based system. You may not need it now but I can almost guarantee that you will need it eventually. There are other on installer programs like REVO, and many of them work just fine. But, for simplicity and ease of use, you can’t beat IOBit Uninstaller, in my opinion. Until next time, my friends.
Get IOBit Uninstaller here.