NWA-PCUG Newsletter Articles
MicroHelp Uninstaller 4
A Review by Bob Frye - March 97

If you have an older system like I do and haven't expanded your hard drive storage, you are probably running out of permanent storage. As I've upgraded to Windows 95 and current 32-bit applications, the power gained has come at the cost of larger operating system and application files. Add some shareware from the club BBS, demonstrations software through the mail and legacy 16-bit files, and a blank floppy disk begins to look roomy.

Uninstaller 4 from MicroHelp is a full 32-bit utility for Windows 95 or NT that deletes, moves, archives or transports applications as well as removing unnecessary or unwanted files. Uninstaller 4 has six major cleanup tools:

Application Cleanup allows you to delete, move, archive or transport an application and all of its associated files. As an extra measure of safety, the Delete function offers the option of creating a backup of all deleted files. The Archive function compresses and stores seldom used files that you don't want to delete. The Move function transfers an application to another drive (network, removable or second hard drive) or folder. Move also updates all application settings to reflect the new location of the moved application. The Transport function makes a copy of an application that can be restored onto another computer system (via floppy or removable disk, or network drive).

File Cleanup helps locate and remove unwanted and unnecessary files including duplicate files, disconnected shell items, registry items and Internet files just to name a few. Uninstaller uses an Explorer-like window to list candidate files, along with text and color-coded recommendations.

Quick Cleanup provides a prioritized list of candidate files to delete to achieve a specified amount of disk space. Let's say you just found a "must have" shareware program on the BBS but you need to free up 15 Mb of disk space. Select Quick Clean, select the drive to clean, choose 15 Mb to free, and review and delete (with or without backup) from the prioritized file list.

Restore allows you to restore Uninstaller backup and archives. Restore gives you the choice of replacing all existing files, replacing older files with newer files only or never replacing existing files.

Reports tracks, saves and displays all operations you perform in Uninstaller. I've found this very useful when rstoring backup and archive files.

Installation Monitor enhances Windows' application setup process by tracking the changes made during installation. Monitor is effective on DOS, as well as 16-bit and 32-bit programs.

As a previous Uninstaller user, I like version 4's updated interface and conservative deletion recommendations. I found the archive function was able to compress applications like MS Exchange, MS Schedule + and MS Power Point between 3:1 to 4:1. If you're not a power user, I recommend you strongly consider Uninstaller 4 a "must have" utility. I've found it one of the best uses of 8 Mb of hard disk space I've ever made.

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