question! (computers) why does this happen?

[ZEGH8578]

i was gonna install oblivion, and the menu gave me the "Play Game" right away, i had it before, i uninstalled it before
the same thing happened with my Fallout, went right to "Play Game"

both times i had to "browse" the iso, and dig up the setup.exe,
but why does this happen?

where do i go, for any future event, to make sure the game is completely gone? Both of them were uninstalled correctly. its happened before, with other games as well.

[Icequeen]

Alot of things uninstall but still leave traces on your drive.

To delete it fully you'd have to know the folder it installed in program files, and then there's still sometimes crap in the registry that it leaves.

Sometimes the program maker will have a step-by-step for a manual uninstall, which at times works better.

[ZEGH8578]

Alot of things uninstall but still leave traces on your drive.

To delete it fully you'd have to know the folder it installed in program files, and then there's still sometimes crap in the registry that it leaves.

Sometimes the program maker will have a step-by-step for a manual uninstall, which at times works better.

i sortof assumed it left stuff behind, but why and where exactly :I

a very few games ive had didnt even come with an uninstall feature, which annoyed me greatly :I

[Icequeen]

Usually traces in the registry (location can vary some), normally the destination folder is empty but the empty folder itself is left behind in program files.

Why I'm not sure with some of them, sometimes if detects that the file might be in use or shared by another program uninstall won't touch it.

I remember there was a version of Norton you had to boot into safe mode to get rid of it completely, some programs can be a real pain in the ass to get rid of. 

[ZEGH8578]

Usually traces in the registry (location can vary some), normally the destination folder is empty but the empty folder itself is left behind in program files.

Why I'm not sure with some of them, sometimes if detects that the file might be in use or shared by another program uninstall won't touch it.

I remember there was a version of Norton you had to boot into safe mode to get rid of it completely, some programs can be a real pain in the ass to get rid of. 

hah, i had the oh-so-charming "098tvyn9ghvhmv96t8yuc86hu698hmt8chuc0chu7c0j9hcyug8tgu9tyuch9ncut8n985" folders in my C for about a year, THREE of them, before i figured out how to get rid of them...
thank you microsoft! from their stupid updates 

[bodie]

you could try the 'search' feature and type in the name of the game,  it may show up there,  if there are any left

[DukeNukem]

Fucking lazy programming.

Look in these folders:

C:\Program Files
C:\ProgramData
C:\Users\[your username here]\AppData\ (and search in the three subfolders, which are Local, LocalLow, and Roaming)

The "ProgramData" and "AppData" folders are hidden by default, so go to your Folder settings and enable showing the hidden folders and files. You should be able to see (and delete) most of the shit the uninstallers leave behind.

[ZEGH8578]

Fucking lazy programming.

Look in these folders:

C:\Program Files
C:\ProgramData
C:\Users\[your username here]\AppData\ (and search in the three subfolders, which are Local, LocalLow, and Roaming)

The "ProgramData" and "AppData" folders are hidden by default, so go to your Folder settings and enable showing the hidden folders and files. You should be able to see (and delete) most of the shit the uninstallers leave behind.

hm i dont have a ProgramData folder.
i always show hidden files.
i did notice a lot of crap remains left in the users folder

(im still on XP)

[DukeNukem]

Fucking lazy programming.

Look in these folders:

C:\Program Files
C:\ProgramData
C:\Users\[your username here]\AppData\ (and search in the three subfolders, which are Local, LocalLow, and Roaming)

The "ProgramData" and "AppData" folders are hidden by default, so go to your Folder settings and enable showing the hidden folders and files. You should be able to see (and delete) most of the shit the uninstallers leave behind.

hm i dont have a ProgramData folder.
i always show hidden files.
i did notice a lot of crap remains left in the users folder

(im still on XP)

I'm on Windows 7. I have no experience with XP, because I literally jumped from Windows 98 to Windows Vista.

[Zippo]

i was gonna install oblivion, and the menu gave me the "Play Game" right away, i had it before, i uninstalled it before
the same thing happened with my Fallout, went right to "Play Game"

both times i had to "browse" the iso, and dig up the setup.exe,
but why does this happen?

where do i go, for any future event, to make sure the game is completely gone? Both of them were uninstalled correctly. its happened before, with other games as well.

on windows computers and often on linux as well installers will install data and the un-installer will not take it off for a few possible reasons. in the case of oblivion it is probably because they want you to play it more so they make you look at it every time you start up. in some cases such as viruses its to corrupt files or get information, its likely you dont even see these sub-programs that you got by downloading and installing another program. in the case of other programs they will leave it to advertise new games or leave it for other software to use. examples of this would be "game spy" an anti cheating program used to stop people from using hacks on games like modern warfare two, and though i have not used it i would imagine it likely has adds hot linked to a website when you open it.

Alot of things uninstall but still leave traces on your drive.

To delete it fully you'd have to know the folder it installed in program files, and then there's still sometimes crap in the registry that it leaves.

Sometimes the program maker will have a step-by-step for a manual uninstall, which at times works better.

i sortof assumed it left stuff behind, but why and where exactly :I

a very few games ive had didnt even come with an uninstall feature, which annoyed me greatly :I

What you can try doing is googling for "win 7 oblivion install folders" or a variation of that to find someone who actually used oblivion enough to know this rather then me

[ZEGH8578]

i was gonna install oblivion, and the menu gave me the "Play Game" right away, i had it before, i uninstalled it before
the same thing happened with my Fallout, went right to "Play Game"

both times i had to "browse" the iso, and dig up the setup.exe,
but why does this happen?

where do i go, for any future event, to make sure the game is completely gone? Both of them were uninstalled correctly. its happened before, with other games as well.

on windows computers and often on linux as well installers will install data and the un-installer will not take it off for a few possible reasons. in the case of oblivion it is probably because they want you to play it more so they make you look at it every time you start up. in some cases such as viruses its to corrupt files or get information, its likely you dont even see these sub-programs that you got by downloading and installing another program. in the case of other programs they will leave it to advertise new games or leave it for other software to use. examples of this would be "game spy" an anti cheating program used to stop people from using hacks on games like modern warfare two, and though i have not used it i would imagine it likely has adds hot linked to a website when you open it.

sounds familiar, is this whats _often_ prompted as a "bonus" install with a lot of games?
i ALWAYS click no

[Zippo]

i was gonna install oblivion, and the menu gave me the "Play Game" right away, i had it before, i uninstalled it before
the same thing happened with my Fallout, went right to "Play Game"

both times i had to "browse" the iso, and dig up the setup.exe,
but why does this happen?

where do i go, for any future event, to make sure the game is completely gone? Both of them were uninstalled correctly. its happened before, with other games as well.

on windows computers and often on linux as well installers will install data and the un-installer will not take it off for a few possible reasons. in the case of oblivion it is probably because they want you to play it more so they make you look at it every time you start up. in some cases such as viruses its to corrupt files or get information, its likely you dont even see these sub-programs that you got by downloading and installing another program. in the case of other programs they will leave it to advertise new games or leave it for other software to use. examples of this would be "game spy" an anti cheating program used to stop people from using hacks on games like modern warfare two, and though i have not used it i would imagine it likely has adds hot linked to a website when you open it.

sounds familiar, is this whats _often_ prompted as a "bonus" install with a lot of games?
i ALWAYS click no

this "bonus" often wont have a choice, it installs with the normal files and then does not get removed till you do it manually... mac does not get these often though because there apps are just one file kind of like a disk image that you just open and the app works, no install needed you just drag and drop the program file where you want it.... its why i use them, none of this slow down after 5 years because i was to lazy to keep it clean and then have to reformat the hard drive to recover what little speed i can form my machine

[renaeden]

Why didn't you use the forum for computer threads?

[Semicolon]

i was gonna install oblivion, and the menu gave me the "Play Game" right away, i had it before, i uninstalled it before
the same thing happened with my Fallout, went right to "Play Game"

both times i had to "browse" the iso, and dig up the setup.exe,
but why does this happen?

where do i go, for any future event, to make sure the game is completely gone? Both of them were uninstalled correctly. its happened before, with other games as well.

It happens because you touch yourself.