BEST WAY TO REMOVE PC JUNK
Why you must use these advanced filters
I install a huge amount of software – some good (the programs we recommend each fortnight), some awful (the stuff you don’t hear about, unless we’re telling you to avoid it). Consequently, my poor hard drive gets cluttered in no time.
Back in Issue 545, I explained how I use Bcuninstaller ( www.snipca.
com/38938 – click the ‘Installer and Portable’ link) to remove batches of programs in one go. Bcuninstaller has benefited from several updates since then, and I’ve also learned some new tricks.
One of my favourite new features lets me create a system restore point before it uninstalls anything, meaning I can quickly roll back any changes if necessary. To activate this feature, go to Tools, followed by Settings, select the Uninstallation tab, then tick ‘Create a system restore point before uninstalling’.
I’ve also recently started using Bcuninstaller’s advanced filters that, although not new, let me hide programs from the uninstall list that I’ve no intention of removing. This includes my favourite programs (such as VLC and Paint.net), plus various Intel and Dell tools that – if removed – would break my laptop.
To do this, I click ‘Advanced filtering’ in the left-hand menu, then I re-order the list of programs by Publisher and tick those I want to hide (if you can’t see these tick boxes, go to Tools, followed by Settings, select the General tab, then tick ‘Select using checkboxes’).
If there’s a group of programs I want to hide, I can select them all by clicking the first then the last program while holding down the Shift key, then ticking one of them. Once I’ve selected everything, I right-click one of the programs, then select ‘Exclude’ (see screenshot above). The selection is then added to my filter.
I also removed programs that Bcuninstaller marks as ‘empty’ – in other words, those that I’ve uninstalled but – for whatever reason – remain in the Windows registry. After selecting these programs, I right-click them, then select ‘Uninstall manually’. I then check the ‘Item path’ (see screenshot left) for each, to make sure they aren’t related to programs I still use, before clicking ‘Delete selected’. If you’re unsure about any, I recommend leaving them in place and instead just add them to your filter, as explained above.
My first attempt at creating a filter didn’t go well after I realised the program clears all filters when you exit it, meaning I had to recreate them from scratch. I’ve since discovered that I have to save the filter (click ‘Save as…’ at the top), then reload it each time I launch Bcuninstaller (open the ‘Advanced filtering’ window, click ‘Add from list…’, then locate the saved filter).
Thanks to my cleaning and filtering, every time I open Bcuninstaller I see only those programs I might uninstall.