Consequences - Abandoned XP Program on Vista?

[jaygreg]

On my Windows 98SE and XP machines, I run the best bookmark program I ever
found; PowerMarks... a database, tag oriented ditty that's fast as
lightning. ( http://www.kaylon.com/power.html ) Unfortunately... the company
stopped supporting it over a year ago. I want to install it on my new Vista
multimedia machine. I assume if it doesn't run properly, all I need do is
uninstall the puppy and Vista will take care of removing EVERYTHING it put
wherever. Am I being too naive? Would you chance the install?

 

[fatsteve]

On my Windows 98SE and XP machines, I run the best bookmark program I ever
found; PowerMarks... a database, tag oriented ditty that's fast as
lightning. ( http://www.kaylon.com/power.html ) Unfortunately... the company
stopped supporting it over a year ago. I want to install it on my new Vista
multimedia machine. I assume if it doesn't run properly, all I need do is
uninstall the puppy and Vista will take care of removing EVERYTHING it put
wherever. Am I being too naive? Would you chance the install?

Even if it doesn't remove "EVERYTHING" what is it going to leave
hundreds of mb's of files laying around? The installer is only 700kb so
I doubt it. Anyway I use XMarks http://www.xmarks.com

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Yes, you're being naïve. Unless you have a third-party install
monitor/uninstall program on your system, the major installers (Windows
Installer, InstallShield, et.al.) use the program author's uninstall script
to remove components so it's possible you could wind up with leftovers.
Even System Restore may miss components (though those are unlikely to cause
major issues given the nature of the files that System Restore does not
restore).

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

On my Windows 98SE and XP machines, I run the best bookmark program I ever
found; PowerMarks... a database, tag oriented ditty that's fast as
lightning. ( http://www.kaylon.com/power.html ) Unfortunately... the company
stopped supporting it over a year ago. I want to install it on my new Vista
multimedia machine. I assume if it doesn't run properly, all I need do is
uninstall the puppy and Vista will take care of removing EVERYTHING it put
wherever. Am I being too naive? Would you chance the install?

You're not being accurate, but I'm not sure I would call it naïveté .
Note the following:

1. Vista (and every other version of Windows) does not take care of
removing *anything* when you uninstall a program. It's the uninstall
program that comes with the program that takes care of removing
things. That's true even if you uninstall from the Control Panel,
since all that does is run the program's uninstall program.

2. For a very simple program, the uninstall program may take care of
removing everything, but as a general rule, most uninstall programs
will leave a little behind, usually in the registry,

3. As a general rule, leaving a little behind in the registry doesn't
hurt you at all.