It's MY Computer

David Heath
Monday, 11 February 2008 13:22

Your IT - Home IT

Nothing’s changed!  Too many vendors of 3rd party software products would like to possess your computer to the greatest extent possible, even after you uninstall their software.

Yet again, stories are doing the rounds (for instance here: http://windowssecrets.com/comp/080207/#story1) detailing the problems users have in fully uninstalling various software.  The story on Windows Secrets is specifically about Symantec’s Norton Anti-virus, but also refers to McAfee amongst other anti-virus packages and more generally about a range of ‘security” products.

Regularly such products fail to properly uninstall, leaving behind program fragments, which may or may not continue to run, folder structures and other pieces – particularly registry entries.

Many are the times I’ve personally attempted to install some new piece of software only to be thwarted by the continuing presence of such previous software fragments.  Errors such as “I cannot continue installing while XXX software is running on the system” are common, even though I’ve previously uninstalled XXX software.  Commonly, this comes from manufacturer-installed trial versions.

Symantec have recognised the problem by offering the “Norton Removal Tool,” something I’d prefer to suggest is an admission of guilt!

The final step, and one they refuse to take, is the removal of a “marker” DLL file and a number of registry entries.  These are generally used to identify that the PC has previously had a limited-time trial package installed and is often sought out by the same package to refuse a user the opportunity to install the trial over and over.  The usual weasel-worded justification for this is “Digital Rights Management,” done in the hope that their behaviour is justifiable under and supported by the relevant US legislation.

I have one simple response to all this. 

Dear Software Vendor: It’s MY computer.  If I want to uninstall your software, please don't claim ownership of any part of it.  If I have chosen to sever any relationship with you, it is behoven upon you to also sever the relationship by permitting a full and complete uninstall of the product, not to leave behind sneaky little markers in the hope you’ll catch me out at some time in the future.

It’s all about trust – if you don’t trust me, why on earth should I bother to trust you?