Installing Software

[Sparky]

Just waiting on my new Win 7 / 64 bit box ( upgrading from an XP machine )
and I was wondering about the * best * method of keeping things clean and
tidy when attempting to install software that might not be compatible ?

I don't want to image the drive each time , so if I created a restore point
, ran the installer and found it wasn't compatible or wouldn't run
successfully for some reason , would uninstalling and rolling back to the
restore point do a semi decent job of avoiding ' clutter ' ?

TIA

 

[Dave-UK]

Just waiting on my new Win 7 / 64 bit box ( upgrading from an XP machine )
and I was wondering about the * best * method of keeping things clean and
tidy when attempting to install software that might not be compatible ?

I don't want to image the drive each time , so if I created a restore point
, ran the installer and found it wasn't compatible or wouldn't run
successfully for some reason , would uninstalling and rolling back to the
restore point do a semi decent job of avoiding ' clutter ' ?

TIA

A system restore only replaces system files and parts
of the registry, so any remains of third-party software
will still be there.
I use an uninstall program, Total Uninstall, before every
software install.
http://www.martau.com/
There are others, like Revo Uninstaller, which is free
but has no x64 support yet.
If you do a lot of software installing/un-installing
then this sort of program will keep the junk to a minimum.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Just waiting on my new Win 7 / 64 bit box ( upgrading from an XP machine )
and I was wondering about the * best * method of keeping things clean and
tidy when attempting to install software that might not be compatible ?

I don't want to image the drive each time , so if I created a restore point
, ran the installer and found it wasn't compatible or wouldn't run
successfully for some reason , would uninstalling and rolling back to the
restore point do a semi decent job of avoiding ' clutter ' ?

Three points:

1. Unless you install very old software (older than Windows XP), the
chances of it being not compatible with Windows 7 are very small.

2. Simply uninstalling an application you don't want may leave a few
unneeded registry entries, but those don't hurt you at all, and
there's no reason to be concerned about them. There's no real need to
do a Systems Restore.

3. If you do run System Restore, it will get rid of unneeded registry
entries, but may leave an occasional other piece of what was
installed.

So in my view, you don't need to do any of this, and I don't recommend
it.

 

[Sparky]

Three points:

1. Unless you install very old software (older than Windows XP), the
chances of it being not compatible with Windows 7 are very small.

2. Simply uninstalling an application you don't want may leave a few
unneeded registry entries, but those don't hurt you at all, and
there's no reason to be concerned about them. There's no real need to
do a Systems Restore.

3. If you do run System Restore, it will get rid of unneeded registry
entries, but may leave an occasional other piece of what was
installed.

So in my view, you don't need to do any of this, and I don't recommend
it.

Thanks for the input....much appreciated

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks for the input....much appreciated

You're welcome. Glad to help.