Revo Uninstaller: is an arsenal of pc tools in just one program that removes programs entirely!

Version Tested: 1.83

Description:  Revo Uninstaller combines the “Add or Remove Programs” functionality of Windows, a startup manager like Starter and a hard drive cleaner like CCleaner. It also scans your computer for left-over registry keys and gives an option to delete them after uninstallation. Personally I think it is the best freeware ever to be produced on the whole planet.

This program is well designed, and all it’s functions are included in a nice UI with a lot of eye candy. Below lists the differnet functions of the program:

The Uninstaller:

Revo Uninstaller actually runs the uninstallers created within the program, like the Add and Remove component, but you can choose whether to run post-uninstallation scans and the depth of the scan in an interface as shown in the screenshot.

• Built-in – run only the applications uninstaller without any additional scanning
• Safe – includes the Built-in mode and performs additional scans in the Registry and on the hard drive to find leftover items that are safe to delete, This is the fastest mode.
• Moderate – includes the Safe mode and performs an extended scan to find all of the application’s leftover information in the most common places of the Registry and on the hard drive.
• Advanced – includes the Moderate mode and performs a deep and thorough scan to find all of the application’s leftover information in the Registry and on the hard drive. This is the slovest mode.

The moderate mode is recommended to uninstall programs, but if you don’t want to leave any traces of programs installed, choose advanced mode. Even if you choose safe mode, you should go through the list to check so that you don’t accidentally delete something you need, no program is ever “idiot-proof”. For example, when I uninstalled the Xvid codec, it identified some registry keys related to the DivX codec, so I unchecked it.

Creating a restore point:

The program automatically creates a restore point so that you can reverse uninstallations, but you can unselect this function in the options menu, like I did in the screenshot. Then, it analyzes the application data then runs the built-in uninstaller of the program. After this is done, you are prompted to press next to start the post-uninstall scans. At this point, you can cancel the process so the scan will not take place.

Post-uninstall scan: The program scans the computer’s registry for left-over keys in the window as shown in the screenshot on the left. This usually takes less that one minute even for advanced mode. You can choose which keys to delete in the following screen (see screenshot in the bottom-right). Remember only check bolded items or you could delete something important!

 

Search Box:  The search box does find-as-you-type on the installed programs to help you find entries easily.  (see screenshot below)

Hunter Mode: The Hunter Mode allows flexiblity in uninstalling programs, killing processes, and removing programs from auto-startup. For a detailed instruction on using “hunter mode”, see HERE.

Views in “installed programs” list: There are a few views available for selection, just like Windows Explorer.

• The icons view
• The list view
• The details view, which provides version, installation date, publisher,etc. info.

 

Context Menu: When you right-click on a program, a context menu is shown. It provides functions to Uninstall, remove entry, google the name of the program, open it’s install directory, open about link, open help link and opening the publisher’s home page. This is very cool.

The Startup Manager: is very similar to Starter, a program previously reviewed on this site. It tells you what windows will run at startup, and you have options to disable or delete those entries. You can add a new entry by browsing to the program’s directory and selecting the .exe file.

Windows Tools:  Revo has a section that contains a number of Windows functions such as system restore, system diagnostic, defrag, security center, and others.

 

 

The Junk File Cleaner: deletes all the backup and cache files that are on your computer. You can choose to exclude files and choose file types to scan for in the options box. (see screenshot)

Lastly, the tracks cleaner: Similarly to CCleaner, it has the following files to choose to delete:

• Browser cleaner: cleans history of visited sites, address bar history, temporary internet files, cookies, and index.dat files. Supports IE, Firefox, Opera, and Netscape.
• MS Office cleaner: cleans recent documents history for all MS Office applications.
• Windows cleaner: cleans recent documents history for a number of Windows programs/elements, such as find file history, clipboard, MS paint, recycle bin, and others.
• Evidence remover: use this to make sure to remove any traces of deleted files from your hard drives and ensure that all deleted files are unrecoverable.
• Unrecoverable delete: unrecoverable file and/or folder delete similar to ’evidence remover’ above. Can do batch processing.

Verdict:  This is a nice all-in-one program that has a lot of functions, just like an arsenal of pc tools as mentioned in the heading of the post. However, most importantly it functions as a primary uninstaller that works and deletes the entire program, even the registry entries.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, xp, 2003, vista, only 32-bit. Portable version also included.

Download: http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html