removal

The bottom line: The new Kaspersky Anti-Virus for 2012 introduces a dual cloud-and-local security system bundled under an overhauled interface that's both easy to use and familiar. The suite's scans aren't the fastest, but it definitely will protect you.

Review: Kaspersky Anti-Virus continues to provide users with a high level of protection that includes security tools not offered by many competitors. The 2012 version won't change the face of personal computer security, although this particular package of security options has attracted enough devotees to make it a best-selling program, both in and out of the security … Read more

Uninstalling media players can leave invalid Autoplay entries in your Registry that repeatedly prompt you to use programs that you've already attempted to get rid of. Autoplay Repair is a utility that can display these invalid entries and let users delete them for good. Although we like the idea of the program, it's not necessarily easy to use.

The program's interface is plain and doesn't offer a lot of direction for new users. A tabbed Autoplay Manager screen lets users view the installed Autoplay handlers for audio and video files, audio CDs, DVDs, blank discs, images, … Read more

Windows 7 comes preloaded with a few classic games that some find great for passing the time. For those who don't enjoy these games, though, all they end up doing is taking up (sometimes very valuable) hard-drive space. Wouldn't it be great if you could remove them, and get them back whenever you wanted?

Step 1: Open the Windows Control Panel. This can be found in the Start Menu on the right side.

Step 2: Under the Programs heading of the main page, click on Uninstall a Program.

Step 3: On the left side of this window, click … Read more

The bottom line: One of the first applications built to find and remove malware and spyware, Ad-Aware's reputation has been well-justified. The latest version adroitly addresses some user concerns, yet performance-based annoyances remain.

Review:

Editors' note: Portions of this review are based on CNET's review for Ad-Aware 9.5 Free.

Ad-Aware 9.5 Pro Internet Security continues the development progress that publisher Lavasoft began in the previous version. No longer content with offering only malware protection, Ad-Aware now includes antivirus protections licensed from Sunbelt, the makers of Vipre, as well as interesting in-house improvements.

Lavasoft first started changing … Read more

The bottom line: One of the first applications built to find and remove malware and spyware, Ad-Aware's reputation has been well-justified. The latest version adroitly addresses some user concerns, yet performance-based annoyances remain.

Review:

Ad-Aware 9.5 continues the development progress that publisher Lavasoft began in version 8. No longer content with offering only malware protection, Ad-Aware now includes antivirus protections licensed from Sunbelt, the makers of Vipre, as well as interesting in-house improvements.

Lavasoft first started changing Ad-Aware's protection engine more than a year ago in version 8.1, when it introduced Genotype. This heuristics-based technology identified … Read more

We are constantly installing and uninstalling software, and as we're sure you can imagine, that leaves us with a whole lot of empty folders and other junk on our computer. For that reason, we were quite excited about trying FMS Empty Folder Remover. This utility promises to scan your machine for empty folders and then delete them, tidying up your hard drive after multiple installations and uninstallations.

The program's interface is bare bones and not entirely intuitive. We clicked the Open Folder button since it seemed like the most logical starting place, and an Explorer window opened that … Read more

Uninstalling apps you don't use is a great way to keep some free space for new apps and can sometimes lead to improved battery life or even a faster device. If you've followed the guide for uninstalling apps without the Android Market, you may have noticed that most of the preloaded apps are resistant to being removed. For help removing these apps once and for all, follow this guide:

Note: Removing these apps requires root access. For help rooting your Android device follow this guide, courtesy of CNET's Seth Rosenblatt. … Read more

PC Decrapifier is a compact application designed to remove unneeded programs from brand-new and used PCs. It's portable freeware that can run on any Windows XP, Vista, or 7 machine without having to be installed. It scans your PC for junk programs and other applications and removes them all at once when you're ready.

PC Decrapifier's simple wizard-based interface opened as soon as we clicked the program's executable file. After checking for updates, we clicked through the EULA and a warning page that noted the difficulty in distinguishing between trial and paid versions of software and … Read more

As the name suggests, Any File Remover claims to be able to remove any file from your system, overwriting the file in question using one of several methods to ensure it's gone. As with any tool capable of securely and thoroughly deleting any file, it should be used with great care.

This free tool's interface is extremely simple, with two buttons--Select File(s) and Clear Grid--and three Expert Options for choosing a file overwriting method: Random Data, ASCII, and blanks. We could also set the number of delete passes from 1 to 100. File and Help menus only … Read more