Lets face it Windows XP is not really the best at managing and cleaning up installer information on its own unless the program you are using cleans it up itself…which most don’t really do. This could lead to problems when you are uninstalling and reinstalling software. For instance old settings from the previous installation could still be there that you may not want and could cause issues, even if you delete the programs contents under the ‘program files’ folder. The painful way to handle this is to browse around and look for all of the *.msi and *.dll files that relate to that installer. And you better be showing all files, and not hiding operating system files. This process is painful, plus you have to check the author of each *.msi by checking its properties. secondly you would also have to check registry keys. This is not how I want to spend my day. I need something faster and something that gives me less of a headache.

Fortunately Microsoft has created a utility to handle this. Once you install this utility it will show up under your start menu programs. Then just run and all of the installers are listed, with the author and program and everything. Its really neat and helpful. Then just select a program from the list, and click remove. Viola installer clean. Now re-install your software and you are good to go.

Link to Microsoft’s Installer CleanUp Utility: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301