Straight from the horse’s mouth. Go to the source. From the highest authority. We’ve all heard these sayings and know what they mean. Still we often rely on information that has no basis from which to draw valid decisions from. A good example is a client that wanted to open some Microsoft documents. Here is the result they achieved, “tried to install a program called Freely that was supposed to let me open any Microsoft Word or Works document. In doing so I have now installed a whole bunch of crap, among which was the Yahoo Toolbar and the Weather Channel. I have tried to uninstall them but to no avail. They are now not among the things I can uninstall but they still appear at start-up. How can I get rid of them now?
There is no requirement that a software company provide an uninstaller for their software. Legitimate companies do and the uninstaller module appears in Programs and Features, Windows Vista, 7 and 8, Add and Remove Programs in Windows XP. Semi legitimate programs often put the uninstaller module in the program folder in all programs and less legitimate programs will either provide no uninstaller module or provide what looks like an uninstaller module but when run it goes through some uninstaller like actions but leaves the crapware in place. Other sneaky programs will offer an uninstaller but the steps to uninstall the components are reversed from the normal process so the user takes actions to remove software but is in fact asking to keep the software in place.
When looking for software that does a specific function go to the source. For example, don’t have Microsoft Office or Works installed on our binary buddy? Surf over to Microsoft.com and search for a means of reading Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. In this case Microsoft provides file viewers, free of charge, for each of these types of files without crapware attached to it. Should we need to open and edit Word, Excel or PowerPoint files we can purchase Microsoft Office or download OpenOffice, a full office suite of programs, free of charge from openoffice.org or any number of open source productivity suites. Alternately, we can upload word documents to Google Docs, docs.google.com, and edit them online. This service requires we sign up for a Google account also free of charge. (Martha, he said my favorite word, three times!)
If however, we download and install a piece of software that we immediately realize was a mistake and it doesn’t offer an uninstaller module, we can perform a System Restore. This allows us to move the computer back in time to a date before the software was installed and it will be as if it never existed. Please note: System RESTORE not System Recovery. The former goes back to a date in time, the later puts the computer back to its factory condition and all is lost. Remember, the further back in time we try to go, more problems will surface with other programs requiring our attention.
Don’t forget this Gift Giving season to send a copy of Grumbles from the Keyboard to that computer challenged friend or family member. Hundreds of topics for the average computer user.
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Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: BooksAnd don’t forget that titillating read, Epicuria: Adventures that really Cook! Something different for the gourmand in the house. Makes a great Christmas gift.
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Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books
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