Coronado Eagle, Volume 7, Number 4, 24 January 1996 — Bits and Bytes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Bits and Bytes

Dick Chilean

I have several programs in Windows that I would like to get rid of. What tips do you have?

Several. One of the problems in tossing Windows programs is they may have stuffed all over the place, so we will attack it as simply as we can. Find the program’s filename and directory. From the Program manager, hold down the Alt. and double click the program’s icon. A window will show up that tells you the directory that contains the program. Might want to make a note of the directory for the next step. Fire up the File Manager, go to the directory and locate the file. Click on it and press Delete. If the File Manager asks permission, click on the Yes button. The directory that contained the program may contain a bunch of files. Make sure you know that you can delete these. Unfortunately sometimes these files are used by other programs and deleting them can cause other difficulties. Next delete the program’s icon from the Program Manager. Just click on it and then hit Delete. These actions will take care of the bulk on the deletion, but some programs leave things in the .INI files. To check go into your Windows directory and look for files that are named similarly to the program that is headed on the way out and end in .INI. They can be deleted. While you are there take a look at your WIN.INI file and delete any line that says LOAD or RUN the deleted program. If you don’t, you will get some nasty complaints from Windows when it loads the next time. Probably the easiest way to trash programs is to get one of the uninstall programs and use it. One of the better ones is Uninstaller by Micro Help. Until next time