Uninstalling programs on a Windows computer usually works fine, but sometimes the system refuses to work. Then you suddenly find yourself with a piece of software that takes up unnecessary space. What exactly can you do in such cases?
You remove programs for various reasons. But most of the time, you either stop using the program or have discovered rogue behavior attached to certain software. In either case, you would do well to say goodbye to the program. But when you click the delete button within the Settings or the Start menu, you will not achieve the intended result.
One of the first things you can do is check that the program is not still secretly running in the background; that can cause an obstacle. Therefore, we must first disable the program completely. To do that, open Task Manager. To do this, right-click on the Start icon and select task management. Find the program under the tab Processesselect it with your right mouse button and press To end. You can then try to delete the program again.
In some cases, a program has a default file that removes the software. If the removal via Windows does not work, check whether there is an icon in the installation folder with which you can wipe everything clean.
Unable to uninstall Windows programs
If that doesn’t work, we may need to reactivate the Windows Installer component. When problems arise with installing or removing programs, that part very often has to do with it. To do this, follow the steps below.
- Press Windows Key + R to To carry out to open
- type services.msc and press Enter
- In the new window, look for Windows Installer
- Press it with you right mouse button on
- Now select the option Properties
- Check below Service status whether the component is on
- If not, press Start
- If so, press Stop and then on Start
- click on To apply and on OK and try to delete the content again
If this still doesn’t work, we can go one step further by re-registering the Windows Installer. For that we need to open the Command Prompt. Open Start and type Command Prompt; select the top result with your right mouse button and choose the option Run as administrator.
Now type in the following: msiexec /unreg and press Enter
After this command is executed, type in this sentence: msiexec /regserver and press Enter
If all goes well, the Windows Installer will work as normal and you can uninstall the program in question as you normally do. If not, you may be dealing with persistent malware. Then read our article about malware removal.
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