Uninstalling a program

[rfdjr1]

I'm having a lot of issues with VLC Media Player so I uninstalled it. Or I
thought I did. I found it in Control Panel>Programs and Features and uninstalled
it. However, it's still pinned in my task bar and if I click on it, it launches.
Why didn't it uninstall and why is it still working? Thanks.

 

[Wolf K]

I'm having a lot of issues with VLC Media Player so I uninstalled it. Or I
thought I did. I found it in Control Panel>Programs and Features and uninstalled
it. However, it's still pinned in my task bar and if I click on it, it launches.
Why didn't it uninstall and why is it still working? Thanks.

It didn't uninstall because you used the Windows method, which doesn't
finish the job (to put it politely).

Instead, use Revo Uninstaller (free) or Your Uninstaller (free trial).
Either one will do a complete job of uninstalling programs. Essential
utilities IMO. The paid versions will also find leftovers of
"uninstalled" programs (which no longer show up in the Programs and
features list). Worth it IMO, but it's your wallet.

As for issues with VLC, what exactly? It may be that the issue is not
VLC but the hardware. Eg, many older, lower-end laptops cannot play HD
movies because their graphics sub-system isn't up to the task.

HTH

 

[BillW50]

It didn't uninstall because you used the Windows method, which doesn't
finish the job (to put it politely).

Instead, use Revo Uninstaller (free) or Your Uninstaller (free trial).
Either one will do a complete job of uninstalling programs. Essential
utilities IMO. The paid versions will also find leftovers of
"uninstalled" programs (which no longer show up in the Programs and
features list). Worth it IMO, but it's your wallet.

As for issues with VLC, what exactly? It may be that the issue is not
VLC but the hardware. Eg, many older, lower-end laptops cannot play HD
movies because their graphics sub-system isn't up to the task.

HTH

VLC is an open source application for pete's sake! Open source should be
able to clean up after itself without third party uninstallers.
Personally I prefer backups and restoring myself. Those uninstall
utilities can't help you if Windows won't boot after an application
broke your OS, an OS update went bad, hard drive failure, etc.

 

[Ian Jackson]

VLC is an open source application for pete's sake! Open source should
be able to clean up after itself without third party uninstallers.
Personally I prefer backups and restoring myself. Those uninstall
utilities can't help you if Windows won't boot after an application
broke your OS, an OS update went bad, hard drive failure, etc.

Has the OP tried looking in the VLC (VideoLAN) folder in Program Files,
and running uninstall.exe (a couple of lines above vlc.exe)?

 

[BillW50]

Has the OP tried looking in the VLC (VideoLAN) folder in Program Files,
and running uninstall.exe (a couple of lines above vlc.exe)?

That is what Windows uses to uninstall programs. You can prove it by
renaming uninstall.exe to something else and then Windows says it can't
uninstall the software.

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

I'm having a lot of issues with VLC Media Player so I uninstalled it. Or I
thought I did. I found it in Control Panel>Programs and Features and uninstalled
it. However, it's still pinned in my task bar and if I click on it, it launches.
Why didn't it uninstall and why is it still working? Thanks.

Maybe VLC was running in the background.
Make sure it is not in any startup locations then try uninstall.

 

[Ian Jackson]

On 11/29/2012 7:51 AM, Ian Jackson wrote:




That is what Windows uses to uninstall programs. You can prove it by
renaming uninstall.exe to something else and then Windows says it can't
uninstall the software.

Noted. I must admit that I'd always assumed that that uninstall.exe was
an alternative (and maybe did a more thorough job).

My next suggestion is to run another install of VLC (over what is
already there), and then try the uninstall again. I've certainly known
that to work sometimes when an uninstall has been reluctant.

 

[rfdjr1]

It didn't uninstall because you used the Windows method, which doesn't
finish the job (to put it politely).

Instead, use Revo Uninstaller (free) or Your Uninstaller (free trial).
Either one will do a complete job of uninstalling programs. Essential
utilities IMO. The paid versions will also find leftovers of
"uninstalled" programs (which no longer show up in the Programs and
features list). Worth it IMO, but it's your wallet.

As for issues with VLC, what exactly? It may be that the issue is not
VLC but the hardware. Eg, many older, lower-end laptops cannot play HD
movies because their graphics sub-system isn't up to the task.

HTH

Unless two years old is considered a lower end computer, mine is fairly up to
date. Intel i7-930 processor, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit, 12 Gb RAM, 2-1/2 Tb storage,
and an ATI Radeon HD5770 1Gb video card. Is that new enough for VLC to be able
to function properly? And before I started trying to resolve the problem I was
having with VLC, of resizing videos to not being full screen, and uninstalling
and reinstalling the program, all my videos played just fine. Double clicking on
them worked, and if I play a DVD or a high def video from other than VLC, it's a
beautiful picture. So I can't figure out what happened. And when I l;ooked in
the VLC folder, vlc..exe is still there but there's no uninstall.exe. And if it
did any good, after the uninstall, I ran a registry cleaner to try and get any
remnants of VLC off the system. Yet there it stays.

 

[Char Jackson]

I ran a registry cleaner to try and get any remnants of VLC off the system.

Do yourself a huge favor and don't use a registry cleaner.

 

[Ian Jackson]

Unless two years old is considered a lower end computer, mine is fairly up to
date. Intel i7-930 processor, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit, 12 Gb RAM, 2-1/2 Tb
storage,
and an ATI Radeon HD5770 1Gb video card. Is that new enough for VLC to be able
to function properly? And before I started trying to resolve the problem I was
having with VLC, of resizing videos to not being full screen, and uninstalling
and reinstalling the program, all my videos played just fine. Double
clicking on
them worked, and if I play a DVD or a high def video from other than
VLC, it's a
beautiful picture. So I can't figure out what happened. And when I l;ooked in
the VLC folder, vlc..exe is still there but there's no uninstall.exe. And if it
did any good, after the uninstall, I ran a registry cleaner to try and get any
remnants of VLC off the system. Yet there it stays.

If uninstall.exe is missing, as I have suggested, you could try doing
another install over the existing version. That should put back the
missing uninstall.exe.

If you do get it uninstalled, and you suspect your problem is only with
the later versions, you could try an older version.
http://www.oldversion.com/VLC-Media-Player.html

 

[Tim Slattery]

Unless two years old is considered a lower end computer, mine is fairly up to
date. Intel i7-930 processor, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit, 12 Gb RAM, 2-1/2 Tb storage,
and an ATI Radeon HD5770 1Gb video card. Is that new enough for VLC to be able
to function properly?

Absolutely, completely, and totally. I use it on a 32-bit, 3GB Vista
laptop and it works fine, so you are well ahead of the curve.

 

[DanS]

Noted. I must admit that I'd always assumed that that uninstall.exe was
an alternative (and maybe did a more thorough job).

I believe "uninstall.exe" appears typically when a s/w installer is NOT
the MS installer.

If the installer is a .msi file, there usually isn't an "uninstall.exe"
present.

An experiment done with the latest version of VLC downloaded directly from
the Videolan website using the virtual Windows7 I've got here....

As suggested, renaming uninstall.exe and trying to uninstall using
"Programs and Features" did result in a Windows7 error message, saying it
"couldn't uninstall it or it had already been uninstalled. Do you want to
remove it from the list?"

I also did a test to see if having an application "Pinned" (as the OP said
he had) to the taskbar had any bearing on uninstalling a program. It did
not, here.

Under XP, renaming uninstall.exe and attempting to remove it with "Add
Remove Programs" resulted with no error message, no uninstaller coming up
at all, and the program removed from the "Add/Remove Programs" list. This
happened very quickly, like in one second. Looking under progra~ showed VLC
was still there.

The OP didn't state any errors or problems uninstalling, so who knows what
the issue is. I did have to click through UAC while both installing and
uninstalling VLC.

My next suggestion is to run another install of VLC (over what is
already there), and then try the uninstall again. I've certainly known
that to work sometimes when an uninstall has been reluctant.

This is the best idea, and one that often works when something's so borked
it won't uninstall.

Re-install, uninstall, and if it's removed properly this time, chalk it up
as an unknown problem and move on.....no reason to dwell on it.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Unless two years old is considered a lower end computer, mine is fairly up to
date. Intel i7-930 processor, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit, 12 Gb RAM, 2-1/2 Tb storage,
and an ATI Radeon HD5770 1Gb video card. Is that new enough for VLC to be able
to function properly?

It's not the age, it's the computing and graphics power.

You've got plenty of that.

 

[Char Jackson]

In this case, why not?

No upside, only potential downsides.

 

[Ian Jackson]

No upside, only potential downsides.

I run CCleaner every week or so, and I'm not aware that it has ever
caused me any problems. Mind you, I can't really say that it has ever
solved any problems either.

 

[charlie]

It's not the age, it's the computing and graphics power.

You've got plenty of that.

From personal experience (Whatever that's worth!)
The 5770 is a bit slow (by itself) for some of the "first person"
shooter games. (15fps vs. 30) Two in crossfire work OK, but they do
consume a fair amount of power, resulting in a lot of heat.

Two of the newer HD7770s are slightly faster than two HD5770s , and use
a heck of a lot less power, resulting in much cooler computer innards.
It's also possible that part of the video related problems have to do
with the video driver versions. The latest and greatest still has a few
problems related to refresh and clear.
Naturally the price of two cards approaches the price of one higher
performance card.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

From personal experience (Whatever that's worth!)
The 5770 is a bit slow (by itself) for some of the "first person"
shooter games. (15fps vs. 30) Two in crossfire work OK, but they do
consume a fair amount of power, resulting in a lot of heat.

Two of the newer HD7770s are slightly faster than two HD5770s , and use
a heck of a lot less power, resulting in much cooler computer innards.
It's also possible that part of the video related problems have to do
with the video driver versions. The latest and greatest still has a few
problems related to refresh and clear.
Naturally the price of two cards approaches the price of one higher
performance card.

The OP wasn't talking about games, but about just rendering video, so
I'll stand by my remark. I'm successfully running Blu-ray 3D on a much
less powerful system than rfdjr1's...That system is new, not old, but
definitely not high-end. I even made VLC play Blu-ray (2D, not 3D) on a
fairly wimpy box

I don't play games or study game performance, so I'm not qualified to
make remarks in that area. OK, I do know from casual reading that gaming
requires a lot more graphics power than I have.

 

[rfdjr1]

I'm having a lot of issues with VLC Media Player so I uninstalled it. Or I
thought I did. I found it in Control Panel>Programs and Features and uninstalled
it. However, it's still pinned in my task bar and if I click on it, it launches.
Why didn't it uninstall and why is it still working? Thanks.

First of all, to address a point someone mentioned, I'm not a gamer. SO this
video card seems to serve me fine.

Today, I dumped all the codecs I downloaded, reinstalled VLC and then
uninstalled it again, this time getting a complete and clean uninstall. I then
reinstalled it, and now VLC and Windows Media Player seem to be working fine.
Maybe it was the codecs I downloaded, although they were on the machine since
the spring and all worked fine. Anyway, as long as all the vidoes I have that I
wanted to watch work, I'm good. Thanks for all the replies and all the help.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

First of all, to address a point someone mentioned, I'm not a gamer. SO this
video card seems to serve me fine.

Today, I dumped all the codecs I downloaded, reinstalled VLC and then
uninstalled it again, this time getting a complete and clean uninstall. I then
reinstalled it, and now VLC and Windows Media Player seem to be working fine.
Maybe it was the codecs I downloaded, although they were on the machine since
the spring and all worked fine. Anyway, as long as all the vidoes I have that I
wanted to watch work, I'm good. Thanks for all the replies and all the help.

Congratulations on a successful outcome!

And thanks for letting us know. I, for one, like to know how things
worked out, and not only that, I like to know what worked in case the
problem happens to me