First up, if you have been using your PC for a very long time, it is almost certain that you would have installed a good share of softwares, whether they be freewares, trialware, demos or even the occasional crapware that are automatically installed by certain "freewares".

Now, most of the time, the fastest way to get rid of them is to go straight to the Add/Remove Programs link under Control Panel, select the program you like to terminate and just click the 'Remove' button, and voila! That pesky hard-disk space waster is gone... Right?

Well, not quite. You see, these days, when a software is installed, there are literally tens to hundreds of files being strewn everywhere, from the original specified installation folder, settings folders and even the registry area. So the basic uninstall feature with your OS will remove most of these files, but will almost always miss quite a handful too. Worst of all would be those programs that doesn't have a straight-forward uninstall feature and forces you to go through a maze in order to get it off your system.

That's why it is always much better to search for a reliable program that caters specifically at this task of uninstalling programs ... safely and of course, quickly too.

One of the easiest way to do so would be to go to you favorite search engine and just type Uninstaller. Problem with that is that there are thousands of these programs out there. Some are good, some not so good. So it does take a lot of trial and error to find the one that works for you. Which also means you will be adding even more unwanted programs into your system.

Things to look out for when looking for a good uninstaller:
- Make sure the file size ain't too big. It's suppose to take out trash, not add more.
- Has an easy to use and understand interface. Too much flashy stuff just makes things complicated.
- Shows you the important details. Good to know what you are taking out, just in case.

One last thing. Whenever you are about to uninstall a software, make sure it is not running anymore / you have already closed the program. There are occasions where if you uninstall a software while it is running, it may cause the uninstaller to miss out on some files.

To get started, I recommend you try Perfect Uninstaller! since they have a free demo.

Here's to a cleaner and smoother system. Cheers.