Safely Uninstall Programs and Software From Windows Vista

In order to safely remove unwanted programs and software from Windows Vista, we need to uninstall them. Uninstalling software that you no longer use is a great way of freeing up that little bit extra space on your hard drive - allowing you to install another computer application that you might find that little bit useful and give you even more space to download things while on the internet.

Where’s the option to uninstall unnecessary software?

Some programs come with the ability to run an uninstaller and which, when run, will automatically remove any instance of itself from your computer - which is obviously very helpful. However, some programs do not. When we are faced with the all-to-common scenario of having to have to manually uninstall a program from Windows Vista, then it requires a little more effort - but not too much!

We need to start off by clicking on the Windows Start button and heading over to the Control Panel via the menu:

Next we need to go straight to Uninstall a program which is located under the Programs option towards the lower left of the screen:

Upon doing so will bring us to the Uninstall or change a program wizard screen; you may need to allow your computer to fully load and generate the list of programs you have installed on your system’s hard disk. Depending on how many programs you have installed will greatly influence the amount of time you may need to wait before the process is complete. However, it generally doesn’t take very long so don’t worry!

How do I uninstall programs I no-longer need?

Good question! The reason we’ve come this far is to accomplish just that: to uninstall some of the rubbish that steadily accumulates on our computer systems. As you may have no doubt noticed: the list of programs that was generated just a moment ago isn’t just there to look pretty (granted that Windows Vista does indeed have a nice way of making virtually everything look pretty) but it is in fact there as a means for you to help distinguish just which software can be safely removed from your PC.

Windows Vista also scores extra browny-points by kindly organizing the list of programs alphabetically by default to make things just that little bit easier; however you can tell Windows Vista to organize them in a number of different ways, such as by size or date, if you prefer.

When you have decide which program(s) that you want to uninstalled and have already tracked ‘em down - simply single click on its title under the Name column and this will bring up some additional options which includes the options to uninstall of repair them. For the purpose of this tutorial, I will attempt to uninstall Corel Paint Shop Pro XI from my system by clicking the new Uninstall link which can be seen in the upper navigation bar:

After clicking Uninstall, you will be presented with a prompt which will ask you to confirm whether or not you definitely wish to uninstall this program from your hard drive. Obviously clicking ‘yes’ will continue the procedure and Windows Vista will take care of the rest for you; and selecting ‘no’ will abort the uninstallation and you will return to the original Uninstall or change a program menu.

Be careful what you uninstall though! Attempting to remove certain important programs from your computer could render other programs unusable - only uninstall programs that you are comfortable with.