Another computer question

Does anyone know if downloading and uninstalling different programs
all the time clogs up your computer somehow? I like to learn
different programs and I have been told it is bad for my computer to
do this.

**Dalin**...

Hmmm ... let me take a stab at this and then someone can tell me if
I'm wrong. I think if you download and uninstall programs a lot you
will find fragments of those programs thrown all over your computer.
But - if you defrag it should put things to rights. If you do a lot
of downloading and uninstalling you must defrag often. But you will
probably have lots of left over parts of programs. I don't know what
you do about those.

david...

Yes. That's the primary reason that windows eventually crashes or becomes
unstable. for example, when Dalin gets a new computer, the first thing we

david...

good point, sweetie. often old DLL files get left behind and, since
installs sometimes scatter them to many subdirectories, it can be
impossible to know which aren't needed. removing any that are sometimes
needed will crash the PC.

do is install Eudora and Agent and AVG. that's pretty much it. then, her
computer remains rock-stable for years until it dies. on the other hand,
when I have a computer, I install and uninstall a number of programs. and
my computer is sometimes unstable requiring my intervention. that's one
reason that I periodically back up the entire drive.

some programs do not fully uninstall, but leave almost everything intact
on hard drive. I routinely find the subdirectory and most/all files still
there. most (virtually all) leave trash in the registry. some leave 3-4
entries and others leave hundreds of entries -- all trash.) and some only
partly uninstall, leaving a mess. for example, on my old computer I
uninstalled Roxio easyCd and the removal caused my D: drive (CD) to
disappear. it took hours to get it back and not easy. and some programs
won't uninstall. yup, the control panel button to uninstall is there, but
when you press it, you get a system error. ain't fun.

if you like to do this, i suggest that you back up registry frequently,
clean registry frequently, and check for unused files on hard drive
frequently. occasionally compressing registry is also helpful. there are
a number of programs available to assist in all this, but it's all still
a judgement call. my computer was unstable last week and is now back to
solid, but it's a matter of PC hygiene.... :)) good luck.

Chakolate...

Paco, if your computer takes an excessively long time to boot up, and
seems slow, then you should absolutely take david's advice. But if
you're satisfied with the way it's running, I wouldn't touch the
registry. There are just too many ways to screw up your machine.

Just this woman's opinion, of course.

Chak, who does clean her registry

david...

i agree, chak. my point was that, if you install and uninstall lots of
programs, you need to be prepared for a possibly serious problem down the
road. you can mitigate this by gaining knowledge of the registry and its
maintenance. but to dive in? i agree. can be a disaster... :)