On 14 Dec 98 at 20:07, Jim Meagher wrote:

> David Gillett wrote:
>
> >   Jim goes on to tout a couple of third-party uninstallers; these
> > have pros and cons.
>
> I "tout" these programs because they work.... pure and simple.

  Jim may have misread my emphasis.  What set me off -- caused me to
"shout", if you will -- was the folk tale that uninstall routines
included with applications work better than using Add/Remove Programs
to uninstall.


> The dangers you implied are clearly addressed by the makers of the
> uninstaller programs.  Each of the programs I mentioned spends a
> great deal of time explaining the dangers of deleting files and
> cautions that you should make sure of what you are removing before
> you delete it.

  Where application-included uninstallers tend to leave junk is where
components (e.g. DLLs) *might* be shared amongst multiple
applications.  A third-party uninstaller has better odds of handling
these correctly, but dumping the problem back in the user's lap isn't
really much of a step forward.  It seems to me that the quality of
experience one has with a third-party installer may be dependent on
the expertise of the user.

David G

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