08-17-2003, 11:00 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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Wanted: Smooth Uninstallation!
[Rant] WHY can't more Pocket PC software developers create applications that uninstall as neatly and cleanly as they install?!?! Over the course of the past two days I've blown over four hours trying to get a simple set of utilities to uninstall from my Pocket PC, and it's got me furious! The uninstallation kept just a enough vestiges of the program in place to create an error message at each and every power-on and each time it took three screen taps remove the error message.
I finally figured out where the hack -- er, developer -- had gone wrong, but I'm also upset that this kind of ugly uninstallation is so common. I test a lot of software (as I'm sure a lot of our readers do), and it seems like I am constantly cleaning up files and directories left behind by incomplete uninstallations.
It doesn't have to be this way!!![/Rant]
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08-17-2003, 12:54 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 524
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Re: Wanted: Smooth Uninstallation!
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Originally Posted by Brad Adrian
[Rant]
It doesn't have to be this way!!![/Rant]
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I agree with you - and all too often it seems to be Today plugins that are the worst!.. Despite deactivating the plugin (untiicking it) and soft resetting before hand these often resist unloading. An example is JGUI's MY CLOCk - I must email the author to see how I should remove this without a hard reset as everytime it reports that the programme is either in ROM, in use or is read only! None of which is true. I have tried and tried and it just sits there! :cry:
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Regards
Griph
iPhone 4 32GB Jailbroken and iPad 3G 64GB .
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08-17-2003, 02:11 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Ouch!
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08-17-2003, 02:39 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
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Yes, uninstall issues are all too common with PPC. I routinely receive error messages in Add/Remove like "ERROR: This file could not be removed", or my favorite...the app uninstalls correctly, but the shortcut icon is still left behind in the Program folder. So I have to use File Explorer to clean up what Add/Remove left behind. :grumble:
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08-17-2003, 02:39 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 566
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Re: Wanted: Smooth Uninstallation!
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Originally Posted by Brad Adrian
but I'm also upset that this kind of ugly uninstallation is so common. I test a lot of software (as I'm sure a lot of our readers do), and it seems like I am constantly cleaning up files and directories left behind by incomplete uninstallations.
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Amen!
But I don't see this as a PocketPC only problem. I run into the same thing on every Windows based platform. Not being a developer, I've often wondered whether it's a Windows problem or a developer problem. Either way, it just annoys the heck out of me that so many 'uninstalled' programs leave at least a few files and their installation directory resident on my machine. Even more rare is for all relevant Registry keys to be 'uninstalled'.
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-= Sass =-
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08-17-2003, 02:43 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 284
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Re: Wanted: Smooth Uninstallation!
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Originally Posted by griph
...how I should remove this without a hard reset as everytime it reports that the programme is either in ROM, in use or is read only! None of which is true. I have tried and tried and it just sits there! :cry:
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I have found that for programs which resist removal at the level of the PocPC File Explorer (or Resco's File Explorer) that you can use ActiveSync's Explorer to remove the offending app. I had some font files installed by an app and it seemed no matter what I did I could not remove the font files manually after uninstalling the app. The files kept being reported as in use or ROM. I finally used the Activesync file explorer and I was able to remove the font files using that. You may want to give it a try if you haven't already.
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08-17-2003, 03:04 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 378
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Smooth Uninstallation
I certainly would like to see a program that would remove all the files installed. I've used "Remover," "CleanUP" and I won't know that there are some files left unless I go into the registry looking for something else and discover that the folder is still there.
I'm sure that I could gain a lot of memory if I could just perform a clean uninstall.
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"It's alright to pick your friends, but not to pieces."
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08-17-2003, 03:12 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 524
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Re: Wanted: Smooth Uninstallation!
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Originally Posted by CESkins
You may want to give it a try if you haven't already.
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Thanks for the advice - I shall give it a try. :-)
__________________
Regards
Griph
iPhone 4 32GB Jailbroken and iPad 3G 64GB .
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08-17-2003, 04:44 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 56
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Hey Brad, how about a forum section dedicated to software that uninstalls good and uninstalls bad.
With PPCT popularity and power I'm sure it would influence developers to get on the "good" list and/or get off the "bad" list.
Just a thought.
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08-17-2003, 05:13 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
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Brad, and the rest of ther MVP's on the team.....What do you think would be involved in having a program of Microsoft Certified applications? Or some organization that would set some minimum standards. Would the effort behind something like this be too much for the still relatively small size of the Pocket PC software market?
I don't mean that every piece of software for PPCs would have to meet those standards, but if an application had the certification it would give the consumer some assurance that they were getting something of a certain level of quality. It could be the the next step in Pocket PC's maturity!
Dave
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