Clean Machines

Is your hard drive getting crowded? Clean it up with one ofthese uninstall programs.

By Cassandra Cavanah

Software programs keep getting bigger. The latest version ofMicrosoft Office, for instance, eats up 124MB of hard-drive space.This means it's more important than ever to keep your harddrive free of unused files and programs. Not only does this giveyou extra space, but, like a well-maintained engine, your harddrive will be able to perform daily tasks more efficiently.

In the good ol' DOS days, cleaning your hard drive was easy.You simply deleted everything from an application'ssubdirectory and removed a statement or two from the autoexec.batfile. Both Windows 3.x and Windows 95 are much more complicatedthan that--an application will put files in various subextensionssuch as .INI, .DLL and .DAT, making it nearly impossible toidentify all the files associated with an application. This meanseven after a good cleaning, a lot of junk is still left on yoursystem, junk that has the potential to slow things down and evencause errors.

When it comes to removing programs, Windows 95 users have a legup on Windows 3.x users because Microsoft incorporated an uninstallutility in Windows 95. Unfortunately, this utility doesn'toffer the depth and detail of a stand-alone product--and it alsodoesn't work with Windows 3.x. You'll probably be betterserved by turning to one of the programs we review here. All threecome with a 16-bit version for Windows 3.1 users and a 32-bitversion for Windows 95/NT systems. Here we review the Windows 95/NTmodules.

Cleaning up

CleanSweep 95 from Quarterdeck is extremely easy to use. Its tabinterface makes navigation simple, and Quarterdeck's Wizardstake users through the uninstall process step by step. CleanSweepwarns users not to blindly delete programs and files and encouragesbacking up files to a directory for later deletion. If files weremistakenly deleted, CleanSweep's Restore function reinstallsthem. CleanSweep identifies deletions by time and date, lettingusers find the appropriate files for restoration, regardless of howlong ago the deletion took place.

I did a complete hard-drive cleanup with CleanSweep--deletingprograms, removing .DLL files, and getting rid of orphan files(files left behind after an application has been deleted). Theprocess was simple, and I took Quarterdeck's advice to back upfiles I was unsure about deleting--especially the .DLL and orphanfiles. This proved to be a useful safety measure, as Iinadvertently deleted a necessary file. Fortunately, it took just afew seconds to restore it. As an added safety measure, beforeCleanSweep removes files, users can view the list and deselectcertain files.

CleanSweep also includes general cleanup functions, such asarchiving unused programs and compressing them for later use. TheTransport Wizard lets you move all pieces of a program from yourhard drive to another drive. After compressing the program to onefile, the Restore Wizard can reinstall it on another machine. Thisis a lot less cumbersome than installing an entire program andmakes transferring programs and files from a desktop to a laptoprelatively painless.

CleanSweep's next version, which should be available by thetime you read this, will offer some new features, includingautomatic updates from the Quarterdeck Web site and a moreextensive application database.

Help Is On The Way

UnInstaller 3.5 from MicroHelp works a little differently thanCleanSweep. It has many of the same functions, but its interface issomewhat confusing, making it slightly difficult to unearth all itsfeatures. Instead of using the tabbed-interface style that makesCleanSweep so easy to use, UnInstaller has drop-down menus. Underthe Uninstall drop-down menu, for example, users will findfunctions for deleting, archiving, transporting and movingapplications. Once a function is selected, users search forapplications using the familiar Windows 95 "folder"metaphor to find application folders.

When deleting an application, I was surprised UnInstaller neverwarned me to save a backup. Upon consulting the manual, Idiscovered that MicroHelp incorporated the backup function into thePreferences area of the program--apparently, the default is to backup all deleted applications and files. (An on-screen message tothis effect would have been appreciated.) Before UnInstaller woulddelete any files, however, it did ask for confirmation of thedeletion.

I was impressed with the way UnInstaller and CleanSweep bothtidily cleaned up my desktop--deleting folders and icons relatingto the removed programs. To compare the two, I ran the duplicatefile finder function, a feature that lets users delete or renameduplicate files, and came up with virtually the same list.

Mapping It Out

Micro Logic's DiskMapper is a completely different type ofprogram but offers some of the same functionality of the trueuninstall utilities.

In a sense, DiskMapper shows you a road map of your hard drive.It sections off the various folders and files on your drive, layingthem out like tiles to illustrate how much space they take up inrelation to each other. Position your cursor over a folder or file,and you'll see its full title and how much space it'seating up. Select a file, hit the delete key, and watch it vanish(after some warnings, of course). You can also select entireprograms for deletion or compression.

DiskMapper color-codes the various levels of your harddrive--with the drive itself one color, the folders within itanother color, the files within the folder another color and so on.With such an intense visual, I quickly saw large, unused files thatcould be deleted, as well as old folders full of material I knewwas dated and unnecessary.

DiskMapper doesn't offer the same kind of detail asCleanSweep or UnInstaller, such as the ability to locate duplicateand orphan files, but it's an interesting utility that gave mea much clearer idea of what was on my hard drive.

After using DiskMapper, I was able to go back and delete filesand programs using one of the other uninstall utilities. (You candelete programs and files using DiskMapper, but it will only deletethe contents of a folder, not the folder itself. In addition, itdoesn't automatically track down stray program files that mightexist in other areas of your hard drive.)

Bottom Line

If you're ready to streamline your hard drive, be sure topick up a copy of one of the two uninstall programs reviewed here.Both are good, but I preferred the ease-of-use offered byQuarterdeck's CleanSweep over MicroHelp's UnInstaller.Then, if you're really serious about digging out all theunnecessary stuff on your drive, check out DiskMapper--you candownload a free trial version from Micro Logic's Web site athttp://www.miclog.com