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Hardware and Software Specifications, Examples, Links, and other info. are valid at the publishing time. In case it become invalid use the Internet Search. 1st Published, May 2005 Over 6,500,000 Hits Site Wide in 2006 
How to remove a Program that does not include an Add/Remove Entry? In most cases programs that are programmed to function properly would install an entry in the Add/Remove section of Window Control Panel. However there is many sloppy freeware and shareware that do not follow the usual steps and do not providing an easy Uninstall venue. First look at the directory where the program is installed, sometime there is an Uninstall program there. Usually it is called Uninst.exe, or UNINSTAL.EXE, or a similar variation. Sometime there might a uninstal.txt that provides written instructions. In many cases if a formal Uninstall is not available erasing the programs files might really clean the aftermath “mess”, and many time it would not even let you delete some of the files related to the program, this would occur when part of the programs is running in active memory or similar hooked to something else in memory. What to Do? First look at the Start Up Menus and see if there is an entry there that starts the program or part of it at boot, if there is such an entry neutralize it. Look at the Running Process and see if there is a running process that is associated with the program or any of its files. If there is one kill it. The following two programs will help you to perform the above tasks. StartUp Download this Free program: StartUP Page. This program let you see and manage all the entries in the Win Startup Process. The nice thing about it, you can Check or Uncheck entries and see how it is affecting the system without Installing or Uninstalling. This is a picture of the tab that include programs that I choose to load. Some of them unchecked since do not use them frequently. Notice how you can see the exact source of the program which might help in case of an Unrecognized program. Screen Shot: StartUp. Make a list of the programs that re loaded when you have Clean Normal Functional Computer, and you would have a frame of reference for the future. Log here for a list of many StartUp Infestations: Random startup entry/filename Malware. Process Explorer. Download here: Free - Process Explorer. The program will show you every thing that is running in your computer's memory at the time of the checking. It is an excellent product that might help in identifying (and Kill) unnecessary programs and active processes that run in the background. Pointing to each process will provide information about the actual File that is producing the process. Screen Shot: Process Explorer. As an example in the above window the pointer was pointing to MBM5. The yellow box popped informing you that this process is produced by MotherBoardMonitor5. Killing this process will terminate MBM5 until the next reboot. You can Kill a process (or a running program) by right clicking on the entry and chose Kill Process from the menu. Killing a Process does not delete any thing it just gets it out of the RAM. The process will come back at the Next reboot. However if Killing the Process terminated an Infestation and the computer is back to normal you might want the delete the software that created the process. As with the StartUp your frame of reference should be the list of processes that are presented when your computer is Clean and running well. Next Erase the files and the program's directory, and run a Registry cleaner to get rid of residual registry entries. There are many registry cleaners some of them are free and some not safe. Of the Free programs, this one does a good Job, cCleaner This is a very easy to use and very inexpensive Reg. cleaner: RegSupreme Pro This one is a Suit that includes many Useful utilities, it is more expensive but it is a real powerhouse: System Mechanic Installed programs might create hooks in the system Registry in order to directing activities to the related program files. When you get rid of a program using the above method the hooks might stay in the system, and in the absence of the target files would create problems in your Network, and Internet related activities. In such a case this process should solve the problems, Refresh Network Configuration.
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