Never installed Spotify but....

This might be the answer to blocking the unwanted installs.

ShamrockRig said:

Ahhh yeah i forgot about portable apps, Yeah i just delete those once im done with it, Unless theres an option to install it which i'll take all day and then leave it for if i need it again. Weird, Because its installed im willing to leave it there, If its not i delete it. Strange lol

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I'm the opposite. I find portable versions everywhere I can (and in some cases I've even extracted the files from an installer when I can) so I don't have to reinstall after a clean install. I have a drive that has all the 'portable' apps in a single folder called Programs, completely separate drive from anything system related.

Although there is some duplication (as in I have folders for both beta and release versions of some apps) it currently has 138 folders, so call it at least 100 unique apps that I can use whenever I want, and that I use often enough that keeping them makes sense. I used to do this previously with the PortableApps platform, but realized that it is just as easy for me to do it manually in a folder once I started having a dedicated drive available to store them.

The one thing I have not done yet is to make my browsers fully portable, so that I can always have them ready to go even after a clean install. With Firefox it's pretty easy, wtih others not so much. So I've just made sure I copy the \AppData repositories before clean installing so I can restore those browser profiles after a clean install. Takes a bit longer, but easier than even using sync features that all browsers now have, because it is literally the same profile I was just using before the clean install.

idgat said:

No, you can't (well, I s'pose you "can" but that doesn't remove it from the system)

Installation of programs in a Windows system is a complex process, and involves the installation of many prepherial (but necessary) files in directories other thah the program directory in C:\Program Files / (x86) - other directories such as C:\Windows and any of it's subs.
Quite often, if a program detects components still left behind, an update will determine a "broken" program, fix it by restoring the missing (deleted) components .... Oooh, look, that program keeps coming back.

Deleting = bad move. Uninstall (properly and thoroughly) = good move.

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Funny, I was originally going to write a similar post as a response to ShamrockRig in my last post, but I realized that both he and I understood this already. And to be succinct, it's not just the files - there are registry entries, and data files in the \Users tree, perhaps even stuff in \ProgramData, and more. But as he says below:

ShamrockRig said:

yeah we established this, I dont believe anyone recommended doing it it. I suppose you could delete it manually and use revo or something to get rid of the rest but..well if you're gonna do that whats the point.

As we said, Only really done when for whatever reason an uninstall isn't possible, For me personally...its been years

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Yup. We're well versed in this lol.

johnlgalt said:

I'm the opposite. I find portable versions everywhere I can (and in some cases I've even extracted the files from an installer when I can) so I don't have to reinstall after a clean install. I have a drive that has all the 'portable' apps in a single folder called Programs, completely separate drive from anything system related.

Although there is some duplication (as in I have folders for both beta and release versions of some apps) it currently has 138 folders, so call it at least 100 unique apps that I can use whenever I want, and that I use often enough that keeping them makes sense. I used to do this previously with the PortableApps platform, but realized that it is just as easy for me to do it manually in a folder once I started having a dedicated drive available to store them.

The one thing I have not done yet is to make my browsers fully portable, so that I can always have them ready to go even after a clean install. With Firefox it's pretty easy, wtih others not so much. So I've just made sure I copy the \AppData repositories before clean installing so I can restore those browser profiles after a clean install. Takes a bit longer, but easier than even using sync features that all browsers now have, because it is literally the same profile I was just using before the clean install.



Funny, I was originally going to write a similar post as a response to ShamrockRig in my last post, but I realized that both he and I understood this already. And to be succinct, it's not just the files - there are registry entries, and data files in the \Users tree, perhaps even stuff in \ProgramData, and more. But as he says below:



Yup. We're well versed in this lol.

Click to expand...

Ah i totally get that, That makes perfect sense! Im not one for clean installing windows too often, I think i've had two or 3 clean installs in the last 3 years or something. Maybe longer. I do keep on top of everything though and im not one for fiddling where i don't know how to fiddle! Mainly a gamer nowadays, I went through the break it to learn it method with pc's years ago and pretty much know everything i do from personally learning or via you guys on here over the years :)