NirSoft (http://www.nirsoft.net) is a website run by Nir Sofer, from where you may download freeware programs written by Nir. It is one of our favorite websites and Nir's MyUninstaller is one of the best in the business of uninstalling programs you no longer want to run. It is currently in version 1.55 and runs on all versions of Windows - from Windows 98, up to and including the latest Windows 7!

All programs at NirSoft are freeware - and Nir has written a huge number of programs, covering virtually every facet of Computing too. No advertisements, no donations: download and use straightaway!

Weighing in at about 44 KB only, NirSoft MyUninstaller is nonetheless a very powerful, efficient and safe Uninstaller. Its tiny size is, to a large measure, the result of its spartan interface and lack of a standard Windows installer for itself: you create a sub-folder under your Program Files folder and unzip it. If you plan to use it frequently, you may also place a shortcut to NirSoft MyUninstaller, on your Desktop. Uninstalling NirSoft MyUninstaller is similarly spartan - merely delete the sub-folder containing the Executable file: no Registry entries, no data or initialization files to uninstall! NirSoft MyUninstaller uses Windows' built-in features to accomplish these tasks, thus keeping the download file size to an amazing 44 KB!

NirSoft lets you uninstall broken installations, where Windows Add/ Remove Programs fails to uninstall the application, yet continues to carry some of the application's files and Registry entries. The Windows Add/ Remove Programs is unable to remove the application's listing, under the Add/ Remove Programs screen, when this happens. However, NirSoft Uninstall allows you to remove the application name from the listing, even when its uninstall files no longer exist on your Hard Disk. (This typically happens when you delete an application's folder, without running its Uninstall program). In fact, it uses an application's own Uninstall command, augmenting it with more features, to bring you an amazing uninstall solution in this microscopic 44 KB application!

NirSoft My Uninstaller File Menu

The File Menu of Nirsoft MyUninstaller has the following Sub menus:

1. Uninstall Selected Software
2. Change Software Installation
3. Quiet Uninstall
4. Delete Selected Software
5. Open Installation Folder
6. Installation Folder Properties
7. Open Entry in RegEdit
8. Save Selected Items
9. Properties (of selected item)
10. Exit NirSoft MyUninstaller

As you can see, the first 3 sub menus under the File Menu are for uninstalling applications. You have a choice of Uninstalling the application the MyUninstaller way, changing the installation by invoking the application's built-in Repair/ Remove option (if present) or quietly uninstalling the application, without any confirmation screens. Note that the quiet mode works only where the application allows it.

The next set of sub menu items let you delete the application's listing from the Windows Add/ Remove Programs screen, open the application's installation folder for further action, inspect the installation folder's properties or open the application's entries under RegEdit, for further manual action. We DO NOT recommend that you attempt to edit the Windows Registry - unless you play with the Windows Registry for a living - and even then, we recommend that you backup your Registry, before you commence editing it! For more on the Windows Registry, click here

The Edit Menu of NirSoft MyUninistaller lets you search and choose a particular installed application or choose all installed applications.

The first group of sub menu items under the NirSoft MyUninstaller View Menu lets you view a HTML Report of either selected, or all application installations.

The next group lets you show/ hide the following:

1. Windows Updates

2. MS Office Updates

3. Items with no Uninstall

4. Any x64 applications you may have installed

The third group of sub-menu items lets you change the way NirSoft Uninstaller screen is displayed. You may view the listing with Gridlines, in Quick View mode, without Loading the Icons (and thus, load it a wee bit faster), Mark New Installations, run NirSoft MyUninstaller in Advanced Mode or Analyze Special Shortcuts. We will briefly discuss the Quick Mode below and right afterwards, the Advanced Mode sub menu as well.

Quick View: By default, each time you run NirSoft MyUninstaller, it automatically scans and analyzes all installed applications. If you have installed dozens of applications, NirSoft Uninstaller takes a while to load. By turning on the Quick Mode from the View Menu, you allow all information gathered by MyUninstaller to be saved into a special INI file under your 'Application Data' folder. Thus, the next time you run NorSoft MyUninstaller, information about installed applications will be loaded from the INI file, instead of NirSoft Uninstaller re-analyzing your system for applications from scratch. Note that if you have installed new software since the last time you ran MyUninstaller, you MUST refresh the installed applications listing by Refreshing or pressing the F5 key.

Advanced Mode: NirSoft Uninstall lets you select and uninstall several applications at the same time, if you choose the Advanced Mode from the View Menu Item. Once enabled, the Advanced Mode lets you select contiguous, multiple applications by pressing the Shift key and clicking the left mouse button on the first and last application in the block of applications to be selected. By pressing the Control key and clicking the left mouse button, you may also select non-contiguous applications one at a time and uninstall them all in one go. Use the Advanced Mode feature with caution! Else, you may end up deleting programs you want to keep!

The next Group contains tools to change the font used by NirSoft Uninstaller and the last Group contains tools to change the width of the columns of NirSoft Uninstaller. The very last item under the View Menu is the option to Refresh the listing.

NirSoft MyUninstaller's Help Menu consists of Help, Create Shortcut on Desktop and About sub-menu items. If you run a 64-Bit Windows version, NirSoft MyUninstaller could turn out to be your only choice of Uninstaller, for the only other Uninstaller that is compatible with Windows Vista 64-Bit or Windows 7 64-Bit is Martau's Total Uninstall, which is also priced the highest!

Unfortunately, the built-in CHM Help file does not open from the Help sub menu - something which we wish Nir corrects rightaway!