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Complete Program Deleter 1.4
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 disk containing
the latest version of Complete Program Deleter, in case any 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
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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
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
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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 that the program is being installed
on. Press a letter from A to Z, or press ENTER to select C. It is not
necessary to press ENTER if you press a letter key.
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
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.
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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.
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
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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
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
Page 5
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
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
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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 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.
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
Page 7
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
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.
**** 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,
Page 8
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
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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