Revo Uninstaller Pro

www.snipca.com/45550 Price: $24.95 (£20) a year Free trial: 30 days What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11

The uninstaller in Windows is notoriously basic – it removes programs slowly and provides little information about each one. Revo Uninstaller is a much more powerful and versatile tool, and with the Pro version discounted by 50 per cent to $12.47 (£10) in the developer’s Easter sale (which may be over by the time you read this), we thought we’d investigate if it’s worth paying for.

As with the Free edition, Revo Uninstaller Pro makes it very easy to remove software – including apps from the Microsoft Store – by ticking its name and clicking Uninstall. But it also lets you uninstall multiple programs at the same time using its Quick Uninstall tool (see screenshot), and deletes the remnants they leave behind, including registry keys. Both versions have a Hunter mode, which lets you uninstall programs by dragging a crosshairs symbol over their windows or icons, but only Pro enables you to remove browser extensions. We used it to finally get rid of an annoying Avira antivirus add-on that kept reinstalling itself in our browsers.

On the downside, if you want to run Revo Uninstaller Pro from a USB stick, you need to buy its portable version for $29.95 (£24.25), whereas the Free edition can be run from your hard drive or a removable drive. However, the program’s toughest competition comes from the excellent Bcuninstaller (www.snipca.com/45552), which offers the same features (minus the ability to remove browser extensions), but is completely free to use.