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- Complete Program Deleter 2.0
-
- Have you ever installed a program on your hard drive using the
- INSTALL (or SETUP, or whatever) utility that came with the program,
- decided that you did not like it, and then tried to remove it? If you are
- like me (and most other computer users), you probably found that you only
- recovered a fraction of the hard disk space you had before you installed
- the program. This is because the installation procedure scattered dozens
- (or even hundreds) of files all over your drive. Some went into
- subdirectories created by the installation process itself, and some went
- into subdirectories that already existed. This is especially true of
- Windows programs, that can install dozens of new device drivers and DLL
- or VBX files in the WINDOWS and WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectories.
- You also may have found that after you tried to remove the program
- manually, you got error messages when you tried to start up your computer
- again, or tried to run Windows. You may even have found that you could
- not run Windows at all because it said that you were missing vital files.
- The reason for this is that some installation programs automatically
- modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI files.
- After you delete the files associated with your program (those that you
- can find), these configuration files cannot find them when they try to
- load them. The results can be annoying at best. If you leave the files
- from that program you do not want on your disk, they not only take up
- valuable disk space, they take up RAM memory when they are loaded by
- these configuration files (AUTOEXEC.BAT, WIN.INI, etc.).
- Complete Program Deleter is the solution to this problem. It will
- delete all the files installed by your program's installation program,
- remove all subdirectories created by that program, and restore the
- AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI files to their original
- condition. (Some restrictions may apply in some cases. See the
- "Limitations" section below.)
-
- Paying for Complete Program Deleter
-
- Before getting on to the details of how to operate Complete Program
- Deleter (CPD), a few words about money are in order. This program is
- being distributed as shareware. This does not mean that it is free. It
- means that you are given the program to try it out for a 30-day trial
- period to see if you like it enough to continue using it. If you do
- decide that CPD is worth using, you are legally, morally, and ethically
- required to pay for it by sending $15.00 (US$ only) to:
-
- Leithauser Research
- 4649 Van Kleeck Drive
- New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169-4205
-
- If you install CPD on several computers, you need to register it for
- each computer. If you have a large number of computers, contact
- Leithauser Research for site licensing arrangements.
- In addition to a clear conscience, you will receive a letter telling
- you how to remove the shareware notice from the program and get rid of
- the annoying nag screens that will start popping up after you have been
- using the program for about a month. You will also receive a disk
- containing the latest version of Complete Program Deleter, in case any
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- improvements have been made recently. This disk will also be full of
- other handy shareware programs created by Leithauser Research. As with
- all shareware, you can try out these programs to see if you they are worth
- paying for.
- In addition to all these incentives, if you pay for this program we
- will be able to afford to spend more time creating additional helpful
- shareware programs and also improving this one.
- Regardless of whether you decide to continue using CPD, you are free
- to distribute CPD and the other shareware programs to all your friends
- and associates, provided that you include all files that came with CPD
- (CPD.EXE, CPD.DOC, CPD.PIF. REGISTER.FRM, etc.).
- Now that we have that out of the way, we can get on to the good stuff.
-
- Installation
-
- To install CPD, simply put all the files that come with the program
- (CPD.EXE, CPD.PIF, CPD.DOC, REGISTER.DOC, etc.) in a directory on your
- hard drive. If you plan to run CPD from DOS, I recommend creating a
- special directory for CPD (preferably called CPD) and putting the files
- there. This will keep all the files that CPD creates and uses separate
- from other programs. If you plan on running CPD from within Windows, you
- should put the CPD files in your Windows subdirectory.
- To run CPD from DOS, simply go to the subdirectory containing
- CPD.EXE, type CPD, and press ENTER at the DOS prompt. DO NOT put CPD in a
- subdirectory that is in your PATH and then run CPD from wherever you
- happen to be at the time. This will scatter the files generated by CPD
- all over your hard drive, making it very hard for CPD to find them.
- You can run CPD from within Windows, although there are some minor
- restrictions. First, Windows sometimes creates or modifies files as it
- operates. Programs running under Windows sometimes create files also.
- Since CPD works by recording what files are on your hard drive before and
- after you install a program, files being created or modified while it is
- running could confuse CPD. It is therefore recommended that you minimize
- this problem by making sure that you exit all other Windows programs
- before running CPD. That is, it is preferable not to run CPD while any
- other Windows program is running, even in a minimized state. The second
- limitation is that when you use CPD to delete a program and CPD restores
- your WIN.INI or SYSTEM.INI files to their original condition, these
- changes may not take effect until you restart Windows, which means
- exiting Windows and rerunning it. You should be aware of this and be sure
- to restart Windows whenever you use CPD to uninstall a Windows program.
- Although running CPD from DOS is considered preferable to running it
- from within Windows, CPD does contain easy provisions for running from
- within Windows. To install CPD in Windows, put all the CPD-related files
- in the Windows directory. Run Windows, and give the focus to the program
- group in which you wish to install the CPD icon. Then select Files/New
- from Program Manager. Select the Program Item radio button and click on
- the Ok button. Put CPD.PIF into the box marked "Command Line" and click
- on the Ok button. CPD will then be installed in the program group you had
- selected. You can then double click on the CPD icon to run the program.
-
- Initialization
-
- CPD will initialize itself the first time it is run, creating a file
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- called CPD.INI. This process is normally invisible. CPD assumes that your
- boot drive is drive C and that you have Windows in the WINDOWS
- subdirectory of drive C. CPD checks to make sure these assumptions are
- correct. If they are, it writes this information to the CPD.INI file. The
- only time you will need to do anything is if these assumptions are not
- correct. If CPD does not find Windows where it expects it to be, CPD will
- ask you where Windows is. If you do have Windows, type in the full path,
- including the drive. For example, you might type in D:\WIND if that is
- where your Windows programs are. If you do not have Windows, just press
- the ENTER key within inputting any path. If CPD cannot find your
- AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file in the root directory of drive C, it will
- ask you what drive is your boot drive. Press the letter of the drive. Do
- not press ENTER. Once CPD has all the necessary information, it will
- create the CPD.INI file. This entire process only happens the first time
- you run CPD.
-
- Operation
-
- When you run CPD, you will see a title page asking for money (see the
- "Paying for Complete Program Deleter" section above). After you press the
- space bar to clear the title page, you will see the main menu. To make a
- selection from this menu, first highlight the option of your choice by
- pressing either the up or down cursor keys or by pressing the number
- beside your choice. Then press ENTER. These choices are explained below.
-
- Quick Instructions
-
- This option simply gives you a one-screen explanation of how to use
- the program. It is not intended to replace reading these instructions,
- which include information on safety procedures as well as much more
- detailed information on how to use the program. However, it does serve as
- a quick start to using the program and it can be a helpful reminder of
- the basic procedure while using CPD.
-
- Create BEFORE File
-
- When you are about to install a new program, especially one that uses
- its own installation, select this option. CPD will ask for the name of
- the program you are about to install. Type the name and press ENTER. You
- do not need to be precise about this name. Just type something short that
- describes the program. This name is just to refer to the program on
- future menus.
- CPD will then ask for the drive(s) that the program is being installed
- on. Type a series of one or more letters (such as CD) to indicate what
- drives the program will be installed on, or press ENTER to select C. Most
- programs use only one drive, but if you have Windows on C and install a
- Windows program on D, for example, the program files will span both drives.
- CPD will then create a BEFORE.DAT file for the program you are about
- to install. This file contains information about your disk configuration
- before the installation of the new program. This BEFORE file can be
- fairly large (several hundred Kilobytes), but it will not be on your disk
- long (see Create AFTER File below). CPD will display information on what
- it is doing as it creates this BEFORE file. After creating this file, CPD
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- will return to the main menu. When you get back to the main menu, select
- the Quit option to exit CPD.
-
- Create AFTER File
-
- After you create the BEFORE file and exited from CPD, install your
- new program using that program's installation procedure. Then run the new
- program to allow it to create any configuration files that it creates.
- Once you have done this, exit the new program and run CPD again. Select
- Create AFTER File from the main menu. CPD will then create an AFTER file
- that describes the changes that were caused by the installation of your
- program. This file will be several kilobytes in size. Because you can
- have many AFTER files (one for each program you install), the AFTER files
- are numbered, such as AFTER1.DAT, AFTER2.DAT, and so on. CPD will also
- delete the BEFORE file that described the configuration of your disk
- before your new program was installed. You can have only one BEFORE file
- on your disk at a time.
- CPD will display a report of what it is doing as it creates the AFTER
- file. It also will display a report after it has created the AFTER file
- listing the changes it found on your disk.
- Once you have created the AFTER file for your new program, you can
- either exit CPD from the main menu or you can immediately delete the
- program using the Delete Program option on the main menu if you have
- already decided that you do not want it.
- It is very important that you create the AFTER file using CPD as soon
- as you have installed your new program and run it once. If you install or
- run any other programs between the time you create the BEFORE and AFTER
- files, any files created in that process and any changes in AUTOEXEC.BAT,
- CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, or SYSTEM.INI will be lost if you decide to delete
- the program you have just installed.
-
- Delete Program
-
- If you decide to delete a program for your disk, run CPD and select
- this option from the main menu. CPD will show you a list of the programs
- that you have created AFTER files for. Select the program you want to
- delete from your hard disk and press ENTER. The list of programs will
- also include the word "*CANCEL*" in case you decide to cancel deletion of
- a program after reviewing the list. Once you select a program to delete,
- CPD will load the AFTER file containing the information about the changes
- that were made in your hard disk when the program was installed. It will
- delete any subdirectories that were created when the program was
- installed, as well as any files these subdirectories contain. If the
- program's installation utility added any files to any subdirectories that
- already existed (such as the root directory or the Windows System
- subdirectory), it will delete these files also. Before doing this,
- however, it will ask you if you want to confirm deletion of each of these
- files in preexisting directories. If you press Y, it will ask for your
- permission to delete each file by name before deleting it. If you press
- N, CPD will immediately delete all these files without asking for your
- permission for each file. Note that only files added to your drive
- between the time you created the BEFORE file for that program and the
- time you created the AFTER file for that program will be deleted.
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- CPD will then look at the AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and
- SYSTEM.INI files. For each file, there are several situations that can
- exist. The first situation is were the installation did not modify the
- file at all. In that case, CPD will not even mention the file. In the
- second situation, the installation process modified the file, but the
- file has not been modified since then. In that case, CPD will inform you
- that the original file can easily be restored and ask if you want to
- proceed. If you press Y, CPD will restore the file to its original
- condition from before the new program was installed. If you press N, CPD
- will not restore the file.
- The third situation is where the file was modified by the
- installation process and has also been modified since then. This would
- most likely occur if you installed another program after the one you are
- now trying to delete. This is the most complicated situation. In this
- case, CPD will display a menu that gives you three options:
- 1) Do not attempt to restore file - If you select this option, CPD will
- leave the file as it is now, with all changes made by the first
- installation and any changes made since then remaining.
- 2) Replace file with original file - If you select this option, CPD will
- remove any changes made in the file. This includes both changes made by
- the installation of the program you are deleting and any changes made
- since then. If you do this, programs installed since the one you are
- currently deleting may not function properly.
- 3) Attempt to restore file while maintaining recent changes - If you
- select this option, CPD will analyze the original file from before the
- program you are deleting was installed, the file immediately after it was
- installed, and the file as it is right now. It will attempt to remove the
- changes made by the installation of the program you are deleting and
- still keep the changes that were made afterward. This can be tricky, but
- it can be done. There will be a message above the menu describing CPD's
- analysis of the files. This message will either say that there is a high
- probability that CPD can restore the original file while keeping changes
- made since the installation, or it will warn you that there is a
- possibility that there is a possibility that the original file cannot be
- completely restored. The file can be generally be completely restored
- when lines were merely added to it. The situation where it may not be
- possible to restore the original file completely occurs when lines from
- the original file were either deleted or radically changed when the
- program was installed.
- Despite all these disclaimers, I recommend that you select the third
- option. There are two reasons for this. First, CPD is actually very good
- at removing changes made during the first installation process while
- maintaining changes made since then. For example, if the installation
- process changed your AUTOEXEC.BAT's PATH=C:\DOS line to
- PATH=C:\DOS;C:\NEWPROG, CPD could restore it to PATH=C:\DOS. Second, CPD
- takes several precautions when it changes the file. First, it creates a
- copy of the file as it is now before making any changes in the file. This
- file will have the same root name as the file being restored and be in
- the same directory, but will have the extension CPD. For example, if CPD
- is restoring the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory, it will create
- a file called AUTOEXEC.CPD in the root directory before making the
- changes in AUTOEXEC.BAT. If CPD is restoring WIN.INI in the Windows
- directory, it will create a file called WIN.CPD in the Windows
- subdirectory. The CPD file will be the same as the file before CPD
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- started making changes. If you find that CPD has damaged the file in some
- way, such as losing important changes made since the installation of the
- program you are deleting, you can always reverse the changes by deleting
- the file damaged by CPD (such as WIN.INI) and renaming the CPD file (such
- as WIN.CPD) to the old name. For example, if the AUTOEXEC.BAT file were
- not working properly after CPD tried to restore it, you would type
- DEL \AUTOEXEC.BAT
- REN \AUTOEXEC.CPD AUTOEXEC.BAT
- at the DOS prompt and AUTOEXEC.BAT would be back where it was before CPD
- attempted to reverse the modifications made when it deleted the program
- you had installed. Second, if CPD finds any lines in the original file
- that are totally missing or changed beyond recognition in the current
- file, it writes this lines into a file with the same name and location as
- the file it is changing, but with the extension MIS. For example, if CPD
- found that some lines that had been in WIN.INI before the installation
- were missing from WIN.INI now, it would create the file WIN.MIS in the
- WINDOWS subdirectory. you could then manually reinsert them into WIN.INI
- if you wanted to. You could use WIN.CPD as a guide to see if it gives any
- clues as to where to put these lines by looking for similar lines in that
- file. Note: If you installed program A and then program B and then
- deleted program A and then program B using CPD, you would expect there to
- be missing lines from your files when you delete program B. These are
- lines deleted by CPD when it deleted program A. You do not want to put
- these back into the file.
- There is one additional suggestion about deleting Windows programs.
- If you do decide to delete a Windows program using CPD, it is better if
- you first delete the icon or program group from Windows manually before
- using CPD to delete the files and correct the INI files. Deleting the
- icons is very easy in Windows. Most Windows programs create a program
- group when you install them. To get rid of this, first minimize the group
- to an icon. Then click on the group icon to give it the focus. Then click
- on the Program Manager's Files menu and click on Delete on the pull-down
- menu that appears. Windows will ask if you want to delete the program
- group, and you click on Yes. If the program is only installed as an icon
- in an existing program group, simply click on that icon to give it the
- focus, then click on Program manager's Files menu and then the Delete
- option.
- When you delete a program group or icon from Windows this way,
- Windows automatically adjusts tab order and other management activities
- internally. If you do not delete a program group before using CPD to
- delete the program, the next time you run Windows, you probably will get
- a message saying something like "Group File Error. Cannot open program
- group file C:\WINDOWS\FILENAME.GRP. Do you want Program Manager to try to
- load it in the future?" There will be a Yes and a No button on this
- message. You should click on the No button. If the program was only an
- icon instead of a program group, the icon will still be there when you
- run Windows. If you click on it, you will get an error message saying
- that Windows cannot find a necessary file. You can delete the icon as
- described before. As I said, it is generally easier to delete the icon or
- program group from Windows before using CPD to clean up your disk.
-
- Delete AFTER file
-
- If you have used a program for a while and decided that you want to
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- keep it, you can delete the AFTER file that allows CPD to delete the
- program from your disk. This saves disk space, reduces clutter in the CPD
- menus when it asks you which program to delete, and eliminates the chance
- of you accidentally deleting a program by choosing the wrong program from
- the menu.
- If you choose this option from the main menu, CPD will display a list
- of programs that it can delete. Select the one that you have decided that
- you will not be wanting to delete with the cursor keys, and press ENTER.
- CPD will delete the AFTER file for that program from your disk. This
- program will no longer appear on the list of programs under the Delete
- Program option, and you will no longer be able to delete this program
- from your disk using CPD.
- It is a good idea to remove old programs from the CPD menu in this
- way, since it gets progressively harder to delete old programs without
- endangering changes made by more recent installations as you add more and
- more new programs.
-
- Delete BEFORE file
-
- Occasionally, after you have created a BEFORE file and installed
- a program, you will decide that you love the program so much that you
- would never think of deleting it. Also, you may sometimes create a
- BEFORE file and forget to create the AFTER file for a long time (like
- weeks or months) after you install the program. If you created an
- AFTER file after all that time, CPD would think that every file you
- created in that time was part of the installed program, and would
- delete them if you ever uninstalled the program. You obviously would
- not want to do this. In either of these cases, you probably would
- not want to make an AFTER file for that program. The Delete BEFORE file
- function allows you to delete a BEFORE file without bothering to create
- the AFTER file and then delete that AFTER file.
- cases, you might decide not to bother to make
-
-
- Delete safety backup files
-
- As described above, CPD creates safety backup files when it modifies
- one of the configuration files (AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, or
- SYSTEM.INI) while deleting a program form your disk. Files with the
- extension CPD are complete copies of the file as it was before CPD
- deleted the program from your disk. Files with the extension MIS contain
- lines that were in the original file before you installed the program you
- used CPD to delete and which were missing after you installed it. You
- will not usually have any of these MIS files. CPD only creates an MIS if
- it is unable to safely replace the missing lines into the restored file,
- which is rare.
- Once you have used CPD to delete a program and have tested your
- computer to make sure that everything (including Windows) is working
- properly, you have no further need for these files. As is befitting a
- program used to delete unwanted files from your disk, CPD will delete all
- these files if you choose this main menu option.
-
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- Quit
-
- This option on the main menu obviously exits CPD and returns you to
- the DOS prompt.
-
- Limitations
-
- As was mentioned previously, there are several limitations on the
- ability of CPD to restore your drive. These limitations are as follows:
-
- 1) If the installation of a program overwrites an existing file on your
- hard disk by installing a new one with the same name, CPD cannot restore
- the old file. (For that matter, neither can any other method. Once a file
- is overwritten it is gone, gone, GONE.) For example, if you had a file
- called ROUTINES.DLL in your Windows System subdirectory and the new
- program overwrote that file with a file of the same name, CPD could not
- recover the old ROUTINES.DLL file. It will just leave the new one in
- place, in hopes that this is just a more recent copy of the same file.
- 2) Suppose that you create a BEFORE file, install program A, create an
- AFTER file, and then install another program. Suppose further that
- Program A installs a file (probably in the Windows System subdirectory)
- and that Program B either overwrites that file with an identical file or
- sees that the file already exists and therefore does not reinstall it
- even though it needs that file. CPD has no way of knowing that program B
- uses that file, since it sees that the file was installed by program A,
- not program B. If you use CPD to delete program A, it will delete that
- file. Program B will then not work properly. You would then need to
- reinstall that file, either by copying the file from program B's disk or
- by reinstalling Program B entirely. This situation is not very likely to
- happen, but you should be aware of the possibility in case a program
- suddenly stops working properly after you have used CPD to delete a
- previously installed program.
- This potential problem is the reason you have the option of having
- CPD ask you for permission to delete any files placed in subdirectories
- that the program you are deleting did not create when it was installed.
- Judicious use of this option should help avoid this problem. Just press N
- when CPD asks if it should delete any file that you think might be used
- by any program you installed after the one you are deleting. In addition,
- this option allows you to keep any files that you might find useful
- later. For example, any programs created by MicroSoft Visual Basic 3.0
- require a file called VBRUN300.DLL. If you find that your program has
- installed this file, you might want to keep it when you delete the
- program because you may later acquire a different program that needs it
- but does not have it in the package (a common situation with shareware
- programs).
- 3) The same situation as described in #2 above applies to alterations in
- the AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI files. That is, if
- program A makes a change and program B would have made the same change,
- CPD has no way of knowing this when it reverses the changes made by
- program A. It would reverse the changes made by program A and program B
- may not work properly. That is where the *.CPD file can save the day, by
- renaming it to the original name as described above.
- 4) Windows sometimes can create complex relationships between all the
- files (mostly INI files) that is uses. Deleting a file from Windows can
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- have broad effects, and CPD cannot always anticipate all these effects,
- especially if you use some third party Windows desktop programs instead
- of the normal Windows Program Manager. Trying to have CPD do all the work
- of deleting a Windows program could theoretically cause conflicts between
- these files. That is why it is STRONGLY recommended that you remove the
- program icons and group using the normal Windows procedure described
- above. Then you can use CPD to delete the programs files from your hard
- disk and clean up WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI, which deleting the Windows icon
- and program group does not do.
- As you can see, most of the potential problems that could develop
- using CPD are the result of using it to delete programs after you have
- installed other programs. For this reason, CPD is most effective when
- used to delete a program within a reasonable period of time after the
- program has been installed. However, CPD can be used at any time after
- the program has been installed, and is much more effective than
- attempting to delete a program by hand or using most competing products.
- CPD will not delete files created by other programs after the AFTER file
- was made (such as data files), unless they are put into a subdirectory
- created during the installation of the program you are deleting, which
- would be EXTREMELY unlikely.
- Note: You should not use CPD on a networked computer. On such a
- system, you might have no control over files that other computers in
- the network are putting on various hard disks. Remember that any files
- added to a hard disk between the time you create the BEFORE and AFTER
- files will appear to CPD to be part of the installed program. If someone
- else puts a file on the same hard drive as the program you are
- installing between the time you create the BEFORE and AFTER files, that
- file could be deleted if you uninstall the program the AFTER file
- contains installation information on.
-
- **** DISCLAIMERS ****
-
- Complete Program Deleter has been tested and every effort has been
- made to make it safe and effective. It has been found to be safer and
- more effective than trying to delete a program by hand or using a
- competing product that costs far more. However, any removal of files or
- modification of configuration files (AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS. WIN.INI,
- and SYSTEM.INI) does contain a certain inherent risk. This risk must be
- borne by the user of the Complete Program Deleter. The Complete Program
- Deleter is provided "AS IS". In no event shall Leithauser Research or any
- person associated with the creation or distribution of this product be
- responsible for any damages, including but not limited to loss of
- business profits or loss of information, that results from the use or
- misuse of the Complete Program Deleter.
-
- Sorry about that folks, the lawyers made us say that. However, CPD is
- believed to be safe and effective when used as directed, subject to the
- limitations described in the above section on "Limitations".
-
- Bug Reports, Suggestions, Requests, etc.
-
- I am very interested in hearing about any problems you may have with
- this program. I am also interested in hearing any suggestions anyone may
- have for improvements or additional features. I can be contacted at the
-
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- postal address given near the beginning of this document for sending
- shareware payments (notice how I subtly inserted a reminder about
- shareware payments again). I can also be reached at the following EMAIL
- addresses.
-
- GEnie: D.LEITHAUSER
- America Online: Leithauser
- Compuserve: 74046,1556
- Internet: 74046.1556@compuserve.com
-
- In emergencies, I can be reached by phone at 904-423-0705. The best
- times to call are from 11 AM to 11 PM Monday through Saturday, 2 PM to 11
- PM Sunday.
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