Hi, I'm cleaning up my laptop by deleting apps. But later I discovered that I was only deleting items in the software list, not actually deleting the software. My problem now is that I can't find that app in Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features and Settings > Apps > Apps & features. I'm very confused and don't know how to delete that application, some of which are application. I have tried deleting and reinstalling CClean many times with many different versions but it still does not show the applications I deleted in the previous uninstallation. What a terrible addiction experience. How can I fix this? Please help me.
If you have used CCleaner's Uninstall tool and used 'Delete' rather than 'Uninstall' then that only removes it from the Windows registry, it doesn't actually uninstall it.
It does tell/warn you about that pretty clearly when you use it:
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That might seem an odd thing to want to do but it does have a use.
It's used to prevent other users of the computer from uninstalling things easily, or simply so that it's then not so easy to uninstall something by mistake.
If you have done that by mistake then there are a few things that you can still do to uninstall the app.
- In File Explorer browse to where the app's exe file is (usually C:\Program Files\whatever-app-name or C:\Program Files (x86)\whatever-app-name ) and see if there is an 'uninstall.exe' or similar name that you can just double-click to uninstall it.
- Reinstall the app over the existing one. That will put it back in the registry listing again so you can then uninstall it in the normal way.
- Try a 3rd party uninstaller such as Revo. (As the app is no longer listed in the Registry then you might need to use 'Force Uninstall' which is a Pro or Pro trial feature of Revo).