(Excerpts from a message dated 10-18-99, Linda Proulx to All)

Hi Linda--

LP>Does OS/2 need an uninstall program like Win does?  If yes,  what are
  >good ones?

    OS/2 is not Windows :-).  As I understand it, OS/2 has few, if any,
of the Windows nuisance maintenance requirements, such as requiring a
third-party "uninstall" utility to get rid of the junk that Windows
scatters all over your system.  (I really wouldn't know for sure,
because I've never done Windows!)

    In general, about the only thing that OS/2 will put into your boot
drive uninvited, when you install an application, are entries
corresponding to your desktop objects (and, with some poorly designed
programs, changes to your CONFIG.SYS).  Almost everything else
associated with the application you wish to delete is in the directory
containing that application.  (Well-constructed OS/2 programs do not
have the annoying Windows habit of re-installing system DLLs in strange
places!)  Strictly speaking, OS/2 does not need an  uninstall program
for several reasons:

    1)  "Well designed" OS/2 programs, such as those that are furnished
by IBM and show up in your OS/2 -> Install -> "Installed Features"
directory, come with their own uninstall program that is also reached
through that directory.  Some well-designed applications come with their
own "uninstall" program that is contained in the same directory as the
application.  (Run a "Seek and Scan Files" search on "uninstal*.*" for
all fixed disks to see how many "uninstall" utilities you already have!)

    2)  Most other programs can be "uninstalled" by deleting the
directory they were loaded into (using the desktop DRIVES object for the
drive and directory in question).  This will leave junk in the
OS2\OS2.INI file (that should be removed periodically by using an "ini
cleaner" program) and, perhaps, in CONFIG.SYS (that should be removed by
using one of the three text editors that are furnished with OS/2).  I
use UniMaint (a shrink-wrapped "commercial" program) for cleaning up my
ini files and for other useful desktop maintenance jobs.

    3)  As a last resort, there are third-party OS/2 "uninstall"
utilities, although I have never used one.  One such came as part of my
UniMaint desktop maintenance set of programs.

    Regards,

        --Murray

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 * MR/2 2.25 #120 * Stay alive!  Learn something new every day.

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