01-18-2012, 06:22 AM
If you delete files directly, then you're not getting rid of all of the junk data like shortcuts, or a little worse, all the entries possibly created in the registry from when the program was installed. These registry entries basically help tell some programs how to run. When the base exe is gone, they basically become entries that are just useless clutter taking up space in the Windows Registry for no reason.
The uninstaller is designed to remove all the shortcuts that it made (from installation), and remove all of the dependencies that it may have installed somewhere else on your computer such as dll's, config files, etc... Along with any possible registry entries that it needed to make so that the program could run properly. It's why the uninstaller should ALWAYS be used to remove a program.
If there's no Uninstall option, or uninstall file, it could mean a couple things.
1) It's a portable executable where all of the files that it requires are all contained in that folder (meaning it's safe to just go ahead and remove that folder and all it's contents)
or
2) It's a poorly coded program that just doesn't give you an uninstaller, so you'll just have to live with those entries left behind in the registry (not as common however, but possible)
Note: Not ALL programs make registry entries
The uninstaller is designed to remove all the shortcuts that it made (from installation), and remove all of the dependencies that it may have installed somewhere else on your computer such as dll's, config files, etc... Along with any possible registry entries that it needed to make so that the program could run properly. It's why the uninstaller should ALWAYS be used to remove a program.
If there's no Uninstall option, or uninstall file, it could mean a couple things.
1) It's a portable executable where all of the files that it requires are all contained in that folder (meaning it's safe to just go ahead and remove that folder and all it's contents)
or
2) It's a poorly coded program that just doesn't give you an uninstaller, so you'll just have to live with those entries left behind in the registry (not as common however, but possible)
Note: Not ALL programs make registry entries