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Notice: this article is a spontaneous recommendation. We did not receive any kind of incentive from Driver Booster or its parent company to recommend this program. We are publishing it because we believe it can be useful to our readers.
Many times, some programs refuse to be uninstalled, and the same often occurs with some plugins and toolbars added to your web browser, specially when they are installed by malicious programs (malware). IObit Uninstaller 5, from the same company that developed Driver Booster and Advanced System Care, is a very simple free program that solves this kind of problem.
The program has no paid “Pro” version, which means it is really a freeware.
When you open the program, it shows a list of installed programs, where you can choose which program you want to uninstall (see Figure 1.) You can also filter the software on the list as “All Programs”, “Recently Installed”, “Large Programs”, and “Infrequently Used”. This last filter is very interesting to check if there are installed programs that you do not use, in order to save some disk space.
At this point, you may be asking which is the difference between using this program and the Windows “program uninstall” option, which is the traditional way to remove a program. There are two advantages in using the IObit Uninstaller. First: usually, Windows uninstall tool leaves behind some files and folders of the program, which uses useless space. Second: you may force the uninstalling of a program using the “Force Uninstall” button, solving the problem of some programs that generate an error when you try to uninstall them or simply are not removed, which is very common in malicious programs (malware.)
Figure 1: uninstalling programs
The second task is the uninstalling of toolbars and plugins from your web browser. In order to do this, just click at “Toolbars & Plug-ins”. The idea is the same: you can force the removal of components that are refusing to be uninstalled, which is very common to occur in malicious programs (malware.)
Figure 2: uninstalling toolbars and plugins
Another function, which was not present on the older versions of this program, is called “Win Manager”, with three tools. “Startup”, which allows you to choose which programs will be automatically loaded at boot. While there is a similar option at the Advanced System Care, it is useful on IObit Uninstaller, since one of the purposes of this program is to help on malware removal, so you have all the tools you need in a single place. “Process”, which allows you to verify which processes are running and force one to close. This tool is very useful to “kill” a malware that is running. And “Windows Update”, which lists all the installed updated on your operating system, allowing the removal of specific updates. There is a search tool to help you to find the update you want to uninstall.
Figure 3: “Startup” menu
Figure 4: “Process” menu
Figure 5: “Windows Update” menu
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The fourth and last functionality of the program is called “Tools”, being that three of them were not present on previous versions.
The first one, “Cleanup Residual”, allows you to delete useless data from the computer to free up some disk space. There are three options you can check: “Invalid Shortcuts”, which deletes invalid shortcuts (this tool is also present on Advanced System Care😉 “Windows Path Cache”, which deletes temporary files created during program installs, and “Download Folder”, which deletes the files present on the download files folder. You must be careful to use this last option, because we often need to keep some files on this folder. It is therefore recommended to leave this option unchecked and clean this folder manually.
Figure 6: “Cleanup Residual” menu
The second option, “Uninstall History”, is simply a history of which programs you have uninstalled using the program.
The third option, “File Shredder”, executes a secure file deleting (read our “How to Really Delete your files” tutorial to understand this option). This function is also available on Advanced System Care and adds an option which allows you to shred a file right-clicking it.
Figure 7: “File Shredder” menu
And finally the fourth option, “Windows Tools”, which are just shortcuts to Windows Control Panel functions.
Figure 8: “Windows Tools” menu
Another interesting feature on this program is that it is automatically integrated to Advanced System Care. So, if you use this program, you will have IObit Uninstaller shortcut on your “Tools” menu.
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