Removing programs

[gazzawazza]

Other people, (daughters and their friends and boyfriends) use our PC. Over time, the PC seems to 'collect' programs. There Now seems to be loads of programs installed which I have no idea what they are or what they do. I also think they may be slowing down the PC.

Can anyone explain (in simple terms please!) how you can tell which programs can be safely removed from your PC without causing problems?

Thanks in advance.

[Whickerman]

go to the control panel - click your start button, go to settings, it's one of the options there.

One of teh options you'll be given is 'Add or Remove Software' . Just be really sure you remove only what's of no use to you...

[gazzawazza]

Thanks for your fast answer Whickerman, but that isn't quite what I wanted.

Perhaps it wasn't clear enough in the question.

I have a basic idea how to remove programs, but I don't know how to tell if a certain program is important or not. Say there is a program there called 'conquercom' (made up name), how do I find out what it actually does/is it important before I remove the pesky little thing?

[stoo_pid]

Haven't got a direct answer for you gazzawazza I'm afraid (I have the same problem!). What I have done before is to just Google whatever info I can get from the add/remove programs window (e.g. the name of the application or the .exe file). It hasn't worked for everything but it has helped me to identify & get rid of a few programs.

[Whickerman]

the problem is that some progs use parts of progs already installed, so uninstalling one could cause another to fail - try get as much info as possible, and ask people to leave your pc alone!

[Cetti]

Hi gazzawazza. WinPatrol Plus might be the answer to your problem. It tells you about each of your programs and which one is safe to either disable or remove.

You can download the free program, but for �10 it's best to get the full version. One payment, not a yearly subscription and you have a cute little scotty dog that sits in your system tray that alerts you to anything untoward that appears on your computer. Here's the website - see what you think.

http://www.winpatrol.com/

[qapmoc]

Well basically anything in your ''add/remove progams'' list can be removed without affecting the basic operation of the computer, ie it wont stop working or whatever if you delete things there and windows will still start up.
However some things you will want such as word - excel etc... would also get removed, but in reality if you study the list for a bit and do some thinking you can usually tell which ones you would want to keep as they will have names which relate to the function, for example ''canon 1308tf camera'' or ''microsoft office XP'' or ''Sagem fast 800''

[gazzawazza]

Thank you all for your answers.