Copyright: Made with Shalom Help Maker www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/shelpm/


Introduction

 Total Uninstall™

Total Uninstall helps monitor any changes made to your system during the installation of a new application. It allows you to perform a complete uninstall without having to rely on the supplied Add/Remove program which can leave files or changes behind.
Detected system changes are presented in a graphical tree view.
Any other computer activity that made changes to the file system and/or registry can also be monitored.

NOTE:  You cannot uninstall applications previously installed on your system that were not monitored with Total Uninstall.

Main Features
 Monitor installation changes of registry and file system
 Completely and thoroughly uninstall monitored applications
 Statistics of detected changes
 User configurable views of the detected changes
 Easy browsing between monitored applications
 Agent for notification of running installation programs
 Perform search in detected changes
 User configurable scanning profiles and uninstall profiles
 Shared .dll file handling
 Export to .txt; monitored application list, tree of changes and uninstall log
 Export registry to re-appy changes
 Print detected changes
 Full Unicode support (if available)
 Multi-language interface


System requirements

Hardware requirements
Total Uninstall has minimal hardware requirements, It should work successfully on any hardware capable of running any 32-bit version of Windows.

Software requirements
The program is self-contained and it does not need or depend to any system libraries, installed updates, patches etc. The program was tested on the following operating systems: Windows 98SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP. It also can run on other operating systems.


Installation of Total Uninstall

Installation
Extract all the files from the .zip package if it is archived. Execute the setup executable and follow the instructions.

Update
Install the new version over the existing. The installation setup program will update all the necessary files and will remove obsolete files. The application data and setings are preserved.

How to Uninstall
Uninstall Total Uninstall 3 using the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs dialog box.


How it works?

1. Pre-install scan
Total Uninstall creates a snapshot of your system (file system and registry) before the monitored application is run.
In the most of the cases monitored application is a setup utility but can be also any kind of application or other activity that make changes in the system.

2. Installation
Run the installation procedure.
Give a name for the changes that will be logged. Usually it should be the name of the installed application.
If the installer requires to reboot the system you can do it without affecting the monitored process.
Total Uninstall will start again after reboot giving you the chance to continue and finish the monitoring process.
It's strongly recommended to run the installed application before continuing with the next step. Don't forget to close the installed application in this case.

3. Post-install
Total Uninstall will build a new system snapshot and will compare with the pre-install snapshot. The detected changes will be saved automatically under the given name for easy reference.

4. Uninstall
Based on the detected changes Total Uninstall can reverse all changes to previous state.
Just select from list the application that you want to uninstall and start the uninstallation.


Registration

Purchasing
Total Uninstall is available as Shareware - another way of saying Try Before You Buy.  It is fully functional for a period of 30 days. After 30 days, the program will only allow entry of a Registration Key. You can buy the application online by filling out the online purchase form.
To start the order process go to the Help menu, click on "Register..." and then on the "Buy" button. This will start the online purchase form.

Registration
After completing the purchasing procedure, a registration key will be sent to you by email. This key is required to register the program. It is recommended that you make a backup copy of this e-mail (e.g. print out a hard copy).
Please fill in the exact values as you received by email. You can copy-paste the information directly into the registration window. Press "Register" button when you are ready.
If the registration information is valid, you will get a confirmation message saying the application has been registered. After the confirmation message, you can see the registration details in the "About..." dialog.
If you lost your registration info, please send me your purchase info and specify your name, company name and e-mail address you used to buy your copy of Total Uninstall. I will send to you your registration info again.
If you have questions or you experience problems related to the registration process, you can use the support e-mail to contact me. I will be happy to assist you with the registration.


Contact

Get the latest version of Total Uninstall from http://www.martau.com

Before asking for support please read the help file carefully.
Send technical support requests to: support@martau.com

Copyright
© 2001 - 2006, Gavrila Martau, Romania


Main Menu

File

Install
Start the wizard to monitor an installation.

Uninstall
Open the uninstalation dialog.

Delete
Delete the current monitored application log.

Rename
Rename the current monitored application log.

Notes
Add user notes to current monitored application log.

Save
Save the modification from the monitored application log.

Export - Changes
Export the detected changes of the current monitored application to a text file

Export - Uninstall Log
Export the uninstall log of the current monitored application to a text file

Export - Monitored Applications
Export the monitored applications list to a text file

Export - Registry to re-apply Changes
Export the registry changes: new key/values and modified values (new data). The export details can be changed in the Export dialog.

Print
Print the detected changes of the current monitored application

Exit
Exit the application

Edit

Remove from Log
Remove the selected nodes and theirs subnodes from changes tree only.

Delete Completely
Delete the selected nodes and  and theirs subnodes from changes tree and physically from file system or registry. Enabled only if in the current selection are created items that phisically exist.

Delete from System Only
Delete physically the selected nodes and theirs subnodes from file system or registry. Enabled only if in the current selection are created items that phisically exist.

Add to Scan Exclude List
Add the selected branch to all scanning profiles with the "Lock" option disabled.

Add to Compare Ignore List
Add the selected branch to all comparing profiles with the "Lock" option disabled.

Open
Depending of the type of selected node
- file - open file with the associated application
- folder - open the folder content in Explorer
- registry key - open the registry editor and jump to the key
- registry value - open the registry editor and jump to the parent key

Text View
Open the file with your default text viewer (option by default Notepad).

Hex View
Open the file with your default hex viewer (option by default Notepad).

Properties
Show shell properties for files and folders.

View

Applications
Show or hide monitored applications panel

Details
Show or hide the panel containing the current monitored application details: Summary, Changes and Uninstall log. The uninstall log is available only for uninstalled applications.

Filter
Show or hide the filter panel for monitor applications.

Summary
Switch the Details panel to Summary.

Changes
Switch the Details panel to detected Changes Tree.

Uninstall Log
Switch the Details panel to Uninstall Log tree. Available only if the current monitored applicaton is uninstalled.

Expand All
Full expand the selected nodes.

Collapse All
Full collapse the selected nodes.

Uninstall Log Details - Warnings
Show or hide the warnings from uninstallation log tree.

Uninstall Log Details - Successful Actions
Show or hide the successful actions from uninstallation log tree.

Current view
Apply the chosen view profile in changes tree.

Items details
Show node details for selection from the changes tree.

Toolbar - Visible
Show or hide the toolbar.

Toolbar - Captions
Show or hide the toolbar captions.

Status Bar
Show or hide the status bar.

Tools

Search
Open the search dialog.

Pending file rename operations
Open the dialog to show and optionally try to apply pending file rename operations queued at next Windows start-up.

Options
Open the options dialog.


Toolbar

Install
Start the wizard to monitor an installation.

Uninstall
Open the uninstalation dialog.

Save
Save the modification from the monitored application log.

Applications
Show or hide monitored applications panel

Details
Show or hide the panel containing the current monitored application details: Summary, Changes and Uninstall log. The uninstall log is available only for uninstalled applications.

Expand
Full expand the current details tree. If the active tree is the Changes tree pressing <Shift> will limit the expanding to changes.

Collapse
Full collapse the current details tree.

View
Apply the chosen view profile in changes tree.


Monitored applications panel

The panel contains the list with monitored applications. The already uninstalled applications (using Total Uninstall) are shown in a dimmed color.

Sort the monitored application list pressing the header columns.

Filter monitored applications from list using the Filter field. Only  items containing the entered string will apear in the list.

Rename an item from list pressing F2 or using the "Rename" context menu item. You have to save this change to make it permanent.

Add notes to an item from list using the "Notes" context menu item. You have to save this change to make it permanent.

Use "Delete" context menu item (Del) to delete all information concerning the selected monitored application.


Details panel - Summary

General information about the current monitored application.
Ctrl-A will select all the content.
Ctrl-C will copy selected lines to Clipboard


Details panel - Detected changes

Detected changes made by monitored application in a tree view. The content is according with the current applied view profile.

Detected changes

Registry
    created key
    deleted key
    new value
    deleted value
    modified value

File System
    new folder
    deleted folder
    new file
    deleted file
    modified file - date time stamp or size

Actions

Expand All
Full expand the selected nodes.

Collapse All
Full collapse the selected nodes.

Remove from Log
Remove the selected nodes and theirs subnodes from changes tree only.

Delete Completely
Delete the selected nodes and  and theirs subnodes from changes tree and physically from file system or registry. Enabled only if in the current selection are created items that phisically exist.

Delete from System Only
Delete physically the selected nodes and theirs subnodes from file system or registry. Enabled only if in the current selection are created items that phisically exist.

Add to Scan Exclude list
Add the selected branch to all scanning profiles with the "Lock" option disabled.

Add to Compare Ignore list
Add the selected branch to all comparing profiles with the "Lock" option disabled.

Open
Depending of the type of selected node
- file - open file with the associated application
- folder - open the folder content in Explorer
- registry key - open the Regedit and jump to the key
- registry value - open the registry editor and jump to the parent key

Text View
Open the file with your default text viewer (option by default Notepad).

Hex View
Open the file with your default hex viewer (option by default Notepad).

Properties
Show shell properties for files and folders.


Details panel - Uninstall Log

Visible only for uninstalled applications with Total Uninstall.
A popup menu is available to show or hide the Warnings and/or Successful actions.


Status Bar

1. Shows a hint for each action from menus or toolbar.
2. Shows the number of monitored applications.
3. When there are files queued to be deleted, moved or renamed by Windows at next startup then a warning icon is shown in status bar.
4. A globe icon is shown to remind you or to confirm that there are news or updates on the author website.


Pending file rename dialog

Pending file rename dialog

During installation or uninstallation of programs the files and folders that are in use cannot be deleted, replaced or renamed.
These operations are queued at the next Windows startup.
The dialog shows a list of file rename operations that are queued at the next Windows start up.
It is possible to have two types of operations in the list, a different icon is shown in the destination column:
 file or folder queued to be deleted, also the destination path is empty
 file queued to be replaced or renamed

The "Apply" button retry the pending file rename operations. In the most of the cases the operations are executed succesfully because the files in questions are no longer in use.
In this way you can avoid an unnecessary system restart.
The pending file rename operations that fail are shown in red and the successfully applied operations are removed from the list.

This dialog can be open from main menu or with double click on the status bar icon and warning text that shows that are pending file rename operations.


General

Minimize to Tray
Check this option if you want minimized Total Uninstall to appear as an icon in the system tray (where the clock is displayed) instead of a standard button in the task bar.
Note that if the Total Uninstall Agent is enabled always will appear an icon in the system tray.

Text Viewer
Full path of the text viewer executable used to display file content when calling the "Text View" for files in Changes tree context menu.

Hex Viewer
Full path of the hex viewer executable used to display file content when calling the Hex View" for files in Changes tree context menu.

Language
Current language for user interface.

Enable Total Uninstall Agent
The Total Uninstall agent will monitor running processes. A balloon or dialog notification will be shown if a new process name will be detected to match one of the defined masks.

Running setup program notification
Select the type of the notification. The Balloon notification is available only for Windows XP.

Masks for setup program  file name
File name masks for installation programs. Standard DOS wildcards * and ? can be used.
If you start often the installation of programs from a folder then add this folder to include list like "d:\download\*" without quotes.

Auto-start with Windows to continue unfinished monitoring process
When the "Before" snapshot is created and you want to continue later the monitoring process or a restart is detected Tota Uninstall will add an entry in the registry to be automaticaly started after  system reboot. Tota Uninstall will offer you to continue the monitoring process.

Integrate Total Uninstall into shell
A new item "Monitor with Total Uninstall" will be added in Windows Explorer context menu (right-cick) for .exe and .msi files. Using this action Total Uninstall will be started ready to begin the monitoring process.

Registry Editor
The registry editor is called to open a key from changes tree. Possible options:
- Open registry keys using standard Windows Registry Editor.
- Use other registry editor to open registry keys. You have to provide the full path to the registry editor and necessary command line switches. If the key parameter must be placed somewhere in the command line you can use the %key% as a placeholder. If you don't provide a placeholder for the registry key then Total Uninstall will add to the command line the key path as a new parameter.


Scanning Profiles

Add
Add a new un-initialized scanning profile to the options tree. After that, you have to select it and configure.

Remove
Show a list with scanning profiles that can be deleted. The default profile cannot be deleted and will not appear in the list.

Snapshots Folder
The full path used by Total Uninstall to store the system snapshots files (.sns files)

Snapshots count
Limit the number of the system snapshots stored in the Snapshots folder. The older snapshots will be deleted when a new snapshot is created  to maintain the count.

Folder size
Limit the folder size with system snapshots. The oldest snapshot will be deleted when a new snapshot is created to maintain the folder size limit.

File extentions with version information
For scanning profiles with the option to include file Version information this list of extensions will be used to limit the number of files queried for version information.


Scanning Profile

Name
The name of the scanning profile.

Save As
Save the current scanning profile as a new profile that is added to the available scanning profiles.

Description
Description of the scanning profile.

Play Sound On Finish
 Play a sound when the scanning process is finished. The next field must contain a valid wav file path. The "Test" button will try to play the current sound file.

Lower program priority during scan
Scan the system using a lower CPU priority. The system will be more responsive during scanning process. If in the system is a process with a higher priority then the scanning process will take a lot of time. You can give to scanning process a normal priority using the system menu of the Install wizard unchecking "Low priority" item.

Locked
If this option is selected the "Add to Scan Exclude List" action from changes tree will ignore this scanning profile.
This is usefull when you want fixed scanning profiles and also others with the exclude list open to additions from changes tree.

Default
Make the current profile default. The default profile has this option disabled.

Include Keys
This is the list of registry keys that will be scanned if this profile is used.

Exclude Keys
This is the list of registry keys that will be skipped when scanning with this profile.
Items in this list are added  from changes tree with command "Add to Scan Exclude List". The profile must have the "Lock" property turned off in this case.

Include Folders
The list with the Folders or Drives that will be scanned.

Exclude Folders
Folders skipped when scanning.
Items in this list are added  from changes tree with command "Add to Scan Exclude List". The profile must have the "Lock" property turned off in this case.

Version
Include file version information of the scanned files in the snapshot.
This will increase the time needed to build the snapshot several times and is useful in rare cases.
Normally you don't need to activate this option.
The files that will be queried for version information must have the extension in the "File extensions with version information" list.


Comparing Profiles

Add
Add a new un-initialized compare profile to the options tree. After that, you have to select it and configure.

Remove
Show a list with comparing profiles that can be deleted. The default profile cannot be deleted and will not appear in the list.

Location of Installation Logs (.tun files)
The full path used by Total Uninstall to store the installation logs (.tun files) and unistallation logs (.tlg files)


Comparing Profile

Name
The name of the comparing profile.

Save As
Save the current comparing profile as a new profile that is added to the available comparing profiles.

Description
Description of the comparing profile.

Play Sound On Finish
 Play a sound when the comparing process is finished. The next field must contain a valid wav file path. The "Test" button will try to play the current sound file.

Locked
If this option is selected the "Add to Scan Exclude List" action from changes tree will ignore this comparing profile.
This is usefull when you want fixed comparing profiles and also others with the ignore list open to additions from changes tree.

Default
Make the current profile default. The default profile has this option disabled.

Compare registry
Activate comparation of the registry keys and values from snapshots.

Ignore Keys and Values
This is the list of the registry keys and values that will be ignored when comparing with this profile.
Items in this list are added  from changes tree with command "Add to Compare Ignore List". The profile must have the "Frozen" property turned off in this case.

Compare files
Activate comparation of the files and folders from snapshots.

Ignore Folders and Files
This is the list of the folders and files that will be ignored when comparing with this profile.
Items in this list are added  from changes tree with command "Add to Compare Ignore List". The profile must have the "Frozen" property turned off in this case.


Change Views

Add
Add a new change view to the options tree. After that, you have to select it and configure.

Remove
Show a list with change views. The default change view cannot be deleted and will not appear in the list.

Change View

Name
The name of the change view.

Save As
Save the current change view as a new view that is added to the available change view.

Default
Make the current change view default. The default change view has this option disabled.

Created Items
Show the created items as noded in the changes tree.

Deleted Items
Show the deleted items as noded in the changes tree.

Changed Items
Show the changed items as noded in the changes tree.

Before Column
Show the column that displays the details of the detected changes before the monitored installation.

After Column
Show the column that displays the details of the detected changes after the monitored installation.

Data Size
Display the data size of the registry value in bytes.

Data Type
Display the data type of the registry value.

Display Binary Data as Text
If this option is off, the registry binary data is displayed using hexadecimal notation. This is an exact representation but for an unexperienced user displaying in this way the data has no meaning.
If this option is on, the binary data is displayed as text even it's type indicate that the data doesn't contain a text.

Modified Date
Show the modified date of the file.

Created Date
Show the created date of the file.

File size
Show the file size in bytes.

File version
Show the file version if the file contains the version information and in the same time the option to extract file version was selected in the used scanning profile.


Uninstall Profiles

Add
Add a new uninstall profile to the options tree. After that, you have to select it and configure.

Save As
Save the current uninstall profile as a new profile that is added to the available uninstall profiles.

Remove
Show a list with uninstall profiles. The default uninstall profile cannot be deleted and will not appear in the list.

Uninstall profile

Name
The name of the uninstall profile.

Description
Description of the uninstall profile.

Delete created values
Delete created registry values.

Create deleted values
Create deleted registry values.

Restore changed values
Restore changed registry values.

Delete created keys
Delete created registry keys. For keys that still contain sub-keys after all detected new sub-keys are removed a dialog is shown to confirm the deletion of the remaining sub-keys from the not empty key.

Create deleted keys
Create deleted registry keys.

Decrease shared file counter
Shared file counter is a registry value that indicate the number of installed modules that needs that shared file. A values less than one indicates that the file is not needed anymore and can be deleted from system without any harm. It is possile that sometimes the containing value for some counters not to be correct because of some bad installers or uninstallers.
Each counter of each shared file is decreased with the same amount that was increased during installation process. If the value reach the zero or less the value is removed. Also the associated shared file is made candidate for removing. The user is asked with a standard dialog if wants to keep or remove the file.

Delete created files
Delete the created files.

Use Recycle Bin
The files are deleted via Recycle Bin (slower, but safe).

Delete created folders
Delete created folders. For folders that still contain files after all detected new files are removed a dialog is shown to confirm the deletion of the remaining files from the not empty folder.

Restore file created date
Restore file creation date.

Remove uninstalled application from list
The information associated with monitored uninstalled application is removed or not depending of this option when uninstalling process is complete.


Pre-install snapshot

Application Name
A friendly name for the monitored application, usually the monitored application name and it's version. It will be used further to reference the monitored applicaton.
This field is optional in this step.
You can fill this field automatically using drag&drop fom Explorer of the monitored application (usually the setup executable). Also other naming alternatives will be available in the drop-down box.

Suggest
Enabled when the path for the monitored application is filled. Pressing this button will suggest a name for monitored application based on the available description, version information and file name.
By default, Total Uninstall will not replace automaticaly the application name if is not empty.

Application setup path
Full path of the monitored application. This field is optional.
You can fill this field automatically using drag&drop fom Explorer of the monitored application (usually the setup executable).
The Browse button can be used to search for monitored application installation pack.

Build a new snapshot
A new system snapshot will be build before the monitored application is run.

Use last snapshot
Instead of building a new system snapshot the previous system snapshot can be used. Usefull for successive monitored installations.
Note that the previous snapshot will determine the scanning profile used for the second snapshot.
If the previous snapshot doesn't exists or is too old this option is not available.

Scanning profile
The used scanning profile to build the new snapshot or the scanning profile used to build the previous snapshot.

Snapshot name
The name of the created system snapshot. Optional.


Installation and post-install snapshot

Application Name
A friendly name for the monitored application, usually the monitored application name and it's version. It will be used further to reference the monitored applicaton.
This field is mandatory in this step.
You can fill this field automatically using drag&drop fom Explorer of the monitored application (usually the setup executable). Also other naming alternatives will be available in the drop-down box.

Suggest
Enabled when the path for the monitored application is filled. Pressing this button will suggest a name for monitored application based on the available description, version information and file name.
By default, Total Uninstall will not replace automaticaly the application name if is not empty.

Application setup path
Full path of the monitored application. This field is optional but must be supplied if you want to start the installation from the Total Uninstall interface.
You can fill this field automatically using drag&drop fom Explorer of the monitored application (usually the setup executable).
The Browse button can be used to search for monitored application installation pack.

Launch setup application now
Using this option an pressing the Next button the installation process will be started. The field application setup path is used.

Application is installed. Make the post install snapshot and find the changes
Pressing the Next button the monitoring process will continue with the final step, post install snapshot and detection of the system changes.

Post Install snapshot name
The name of the post install system snapshot. Optional.

Complete the monitor process later (Close)
Choosing this option will allow to close the wizard and to continue manually the monitoring process later.

Notes:
 Because most of the applications creates the registry entries, .ini files etc at first run is recommended to start the installed applications, make some specific operations and exit. Then you can continue to complete the monitoring process.

 Many install utilities requires that you restart Windows to complete the process. Don't worry - Total Uninstall will close with Windows and will restart when the Windows is restarted. Then you can continue  to complete the monitoring process.

 While installing, if you keep open this screen, Total Uninstall will detect the monitored application name that is usually added to standard Add/Remove Programs applet. Press Suggest button to replace current name with detected name.


Recommendations

It is recommended to uninstall the monitored applications in the reverse order.
Because several applications can register the same file extension you can get an incorrect association with an already uninstalled application if you uninstall the monitored applications in a random order.
Here is an example of such situation that can be avoided if the uninstallations are in the reverse order.
1. Windows clean install, .jpg files are registered to Internet Explorer
2. Installing application APP1 that register the .jpg extension
3. Installing application APP2 that re-register the .jpg extension
4. Uninstalling the APP1 will restore the .jpg extension association back to previous state, Internet Explorer. The .jpg extension is now registered with Internet Explorer.
5. Uninstalling the APP2 will restore the .jpg association to APP1 but this is already uninstalled->invalid association. In this case, you can avoid this situation if you choose to do not restore the registry values from the used uninstall profile.

Close the applications that will be uninstalled
Because the Total Uninstall delete files that are in use only after a reboot close the applications that will be uninstalled.
Use the operating system task manager or other utility to close the application/related processes to be uninstalled.


Uninstallation

Uninstall Application

Selected monitored application to be uninstalled.

Uninstall Profile
The name and the description of the uninstall profile used to restore detected changes.

Changes that Total Uninstall application can restore/uninstall:

Registry
    created keys will be deleted
    deleted keys will be created
    created values will be deleted
    deleted values will be created
    modified values will be restored

File System
    created folders will be deleted
    created files will be deleted