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03 Feb 2019 - Podcast #628 - (17:38)
It's Like NPR on the Web
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Microsoft Windows has an option to uninstall applications, but it doesn't always work quite right, so there are third-party applications that can help. We'll take a look at some of them today.
Although the Windows Add and Remove Programs function, which depends on the application's uninstall process, works well most of the time, you'll need more power in some cases. Revo Uninstaller and IOBit Uninstaller are two of the best known, but you might also want to take a look at CCleaner, Geek Uninstaller, and Ashampoo Uninstaller. All but one of these have free and paid versions.
Free & $25 or $30 per year. The free version has no support, while the paid versions offer perpetual support and updates for one year. The more expensive paid option is portable and is licensed per user, while the basic pro version is licensed per computer. The application can monitor installation locations and the Registry to ensure that programs are completely removed when you uninstall them. A forced uninstall option can remove remnants left behind by an application's own uninstaller.
No free version. $40 (or maybe $20). The company's website teases with promotional discounts that appear to be time limited, but probably aren't. I don't like that approach to marketing, but Uninstaller 8 does more than just remove programs you want to eliminate: It also provides feedback and guidance.
At initial installation, you'll have the opportunity to start a 10-day trial, extend the trial period to 30 days, or to purchase a license. An overview page will recommend enabling the monitoring process, so the program can log installations automatically. If you don't do that, you can still use the Uninstaller's installation function to add a program. The Uninstaller can also remove pre-installed Windows apps and browser plug-ins from Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, and Firefox.
The uninstaller shows installed programs and displays ratings based on feedback from users and when it removes a program, the application shows how many files have been deleted, how much disk space the files consumed, and which Registry entries have been removed.
A Tools section reveals a variety of other utilities, including file recovery, file and directory wiping, a disk cleanup tool, a Registry manager, startup and services management, and a file association manager.
Free & $20 per year for up to 3 computers. The program is updated regularly to keep up with new applications that you might want to uninstall and it can remove toolbars and plug-ins, including ones that have been installed by sneaky applications. The interface looks a lot like the Ashampoo Uninstaller.
The IOBit Uninstaller can also remove applications installed from the Windows store and built-in Windows apps. The application can't track programs as they're installed as some other uninstallers do and the developers seem to have thought it would be good to display advertisements for the company's other applications, which is something that Ashampoo also does.
You'll find several useful utilities, too. Among them:
A software updater that keeps track of installed programs and can update them. Just about all of your update needs should be covered by this utility, applications that update themselves, Ninite, and the Windows updater
Free & $20 per year. During the sales process, you'll be prompted to add CCleaner's other applications and to order the software on disc. That raises the price to $40 per year. As with several of the other applications, the paid version offers real-time monitoring of applications when they're installed and support for users. There is no option to force uninstall applications, but the application attempts to remove everything an unwanted program has installed and CCleaner's regular cleaning function should identify anything that the uninstaller missed.
Free & $25 versions are available and I consider this one to be a good choice for two reasons: First you don't have to install it. Just download the zipped file, extract the executable, and run it. Second, even the free version offers a forced uninstall option that can remove broken programs and applications that a developer has made intentionally difficult to remove. It also can identify applications that have no built-in uninstaller. For example, it found HOTKEY, a Lenovo component that's not present in the Windows Add and Remove component. This is good, but it opens the door to accidentally removing something that's important.
The paid version includes a real-time installation monitor to track when programs are installed and where their various components are installed. There's also an option for removing applications in batches. Because the pro version includes the monitor application, it needs to be installed. The paid version has a perpetual license instead of the annual fee charged by most of the others.
Despite the fact that the Windows uninstaller is generally serviceable, having a more powerful application ready when it's needed is a good idea. Both the Ashampoo Uninstaller (no free version) and the IOBit Uninstaller (free version and $20 for up to 3 computers), seem to be the applications with the largest number of features. Otherwise, the free version Geek Uninstaller is a good choice if you want to avoid fees and Revo's paid version has a perpetual license, but there are no updates or support after the first year.
You may have heard or seen advertisements for Capterra, a web-based service that claims to help businesses find software solutions. I decided to take a look.
The site says that it features "validated user reviews and independent research" across hundreds of business software categories. The service is free for users because vendors pay Capterra when they receive web traffic and sales opportunities. The service lists all vendors, not just the ones that pay.
When displaying results, you can choose from 4 options:
Capterra also pays individuals who write reviews of the applications. The reviews vary considerably, from those written by people who understand software testing and evaluation to those who don't. Capterra does reject some reviews, but those seem to be ones written by people who don't understand the rules for reviewers. In part this is Capterra's fault because finding guidelines on the company's website is difficult. The site promises a full set of guidelines on the company's Privacy Policy page, which is the last place I would think to look for it and, in fact, the guidelines for reviewers are on a sub-page called Community Guidelines.
On a separate site, one reviewer complained that reviews were rejected because the reviewer hadn't used the application within the past year. The Capterra review team provided a link to the guidelines. The payments are low, so don't expect to become a wealthy reviewer. Nonetheless, most of the reviews of Capterra seem to be positive among those who have read the rules and are willing to follow them.
Those who use Capterra to obtain information about applications they're considering are overwhelmingly positive about it, but there are some inconsistencies.
I'm familiar with a number of website design applications and Capterra has reviews for more than 100 of them, from Wordpress with more than 6000 reviews to several with just one review and several dozen that are just listings without any reviews. Oddly, though, Adobe Dreamweaver is missing. Dreamweaver is one of the best known website development tools, but it's not there. Adobe Creative Cloud is listed (2800 reviews), but there are no reviews for the individual applications. That seems like a bad choice. Likewise, Capterra lists Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint, but not Word.
Capterra says that it has more than half a million reviews, having reached that number last year and says that more reviews were published in the first half of 2018 than in the eight years between 2008 and 2016. The top 5 applications reviewed are graphic design, presentation, network security, web conferencing, and meeting platforms.
Capterra was founded in 1999 and was acquired in 2015 by Gartner Research. Clearly this can be a useful tool for anyone who's trying to find the right application for a particular task. It's intended for use primarily by small and medium businesses, but individuals may also find it to be helpful. Capterra's website.
9to5Mac reports there is a serious bug in Apple's FaceTime application. It seems that calls placed via FaceTime allow the caller to listen to audio from the called phone before the person who's been called answers. Oh, and it can also activate the phone's camera.
How serious is this? Well, it's not something that can be hidden from the person who's being called. The phone will indicate that there's an incoming call, of course, and presumably the ability to see and hear what the phone sees and hears ends when the caller terminates the call or the called person refuses it.
9to5Mac says that they've been able to reproduce the issue "with an iPhone X calling an iPhone XR, but it is believed to affect any pair of iOS devices running iOS 12.1 or later." The on-line article explains how to demonstrate the issue using your own Apple smart phone.
So if you're discussing something that you'd prefer to keep secret (you plot to steal all of the gold stored at Fort Knox, for example), you should stop talking if you hear the sound of an incoming FaceTime call. 9to5Mac says pressing the power button turns on the video feed to the remote phone and other ways exist to start the video feed.
In the meantime, Apple has taken Group Face Time down until they can figure out how to solve the problem. Apple plans to have a fix for the problem by the end of the week, but for now turning FaceTime off might be a good idea. The problem also affects FaceTime calls made to MacOS computers.