14 DAY TRIAL // You may think that Ashampoo UnInstaller is just a simple tool designed to eliminate the traces of the programs you want to remove from the system. But the bundle also integrates modules for getting your computer into ship shape and keeping it that way.
The price is $39.99 / €39.99, but you are offered a grace period of 10 days for testing the application. This can be extended to a total of 40 days if you register with Ashampoo.
Installation is nothing complicated and requires simply following the instructions on the screen. The entire procedure ends with a screen where you can choose between three interfaces for the program.
Unlike the previous editions of the bundle, Ashampoo UnInstaller 5 no longer uses the “before and after” snapshot comparison method for determining the modifications triggered by the software installation. Now the application uses real-time monitoring when installing a program.
Besides the increased comfort, this approach also speeds up the installation routine. More than this, you are free to work on your computer as you please, because only the actions of the monitored installer are recorded.
The interface is simple, offering quick access to the complete list of installed programs, installation logs or the suite of additional tools designed to improve the performance of the system. The main panel also lets you start uninstall routines for both logged and unlogged applications.
To make things more comfortable for you, the developer provides the possibility to start the monitoring service with Windows and keep it active at all times. It comes with a default list of filenames that trigger logging, which can be enlarged with entries of your own.
There is also a set of installers that are excluded from logging. These web browsers and applications that show additional details during installation. However, this list is editable as well.
Working with Ashampoo UnInstaller is an easy task, especially since program install/remove activities are accompanied by tutorials that explain the procedure. Once you’ve learned the ropes, you can disable them.
When you add a program to the system using the monitoring service, you’ll be able to see the amount of time spent on the operation, the number of files written to disk and the amount of registry modifications. After the installation procedure completes, you have to stop the monitoring yourself and the program will have a log with the changes that occurred.
During our tests, Ashampoo UnInstaller managed to accurately detect the setup files for many applications and in most cases it was able to log the changes. However, in the case of Google Chrome, despite showing plenty of modifications no log was created. On the same note, with Dropbox (logged installation) some folders were left behind in “AppData\Roaming” directory.
Glitches aside, compared to the previous releases, we noticed that the speed of the install operation has been greatly increased thanks to the new real-time monitoring method.
If monitoring is not enabled, the program lets you select the executable setup file and logging will start automatically.
Ashampoo UnInstaller’s functionality is not reduced to the programs whose installation it oversees. On the contrary, it can be used for any application already on the system, if you want a more thorough removal procedure.
For unlogged software, it will scan for any left-over data (files, folders, registry entries) and eliminate it. However, as we noticed in the case of Dropbox, some items may still remain on the system.
The list of tools bundled in modules for improving overall system performance by getting rid of unnecessary data or by trimming down the list of startup processes. Included in the application is Ashampoo’s defragmenting tool for optimizing file order on the disk and thus execute tasks faster.
Additional tools refer to file-related tasks, such as secure deletion, recovering data deleted by accident or uncovering duplicates.
“Tools” area in Ashampoo UnInstaller is impressive through the sheer number of utilities it packs. They are all pretty standard, but in some cases they are not as efficient as they should be. During our tests Internet Cleaner failed to remove all temporary files created by Internet Explorer and did not take into consideration portable installations of browsers.
On the upside, the Duplicate Finder offers multiple criteria for comparing files and deciding whether they are duplicates or not. The most reliable of the methods is matching them by name, size and data, but you can also find items sharing the same name and size or just the name.
File shredding also offers various deletion methods, the most efficient of them being DoD 5220.22-M with 7 passes and Gutmann, which uses 35 overwrites to corrupt the data.
When you start the defragmentation utility, it’ll warn you about its effects on SSD drives, namely that it’ll shorten their lifespan. The tool can do its job proactively, which means always defragging data, but only when the hard disk is idle. Furthermore, it features boot-time defragmentation for dealing with system files as well.
UnInstaller 5 also provides the means to manage system fonts and restore points. These operations can also be done from Windows, but you can access them faster from Ashampoo’s suite. Moreover, in the case of the Startup Tuner and Service Manager, the knowledge of the community is expressed through value ratings for each of the entries.
Ashampoo UnInstaller can be used efficiently with applications for which it does not have a log with the modifications it produced when added to the system because it performs a registry scan to uncover installation entries. It comes with a suite of 12 tools that can help you boost system performance and keep it running at peak speed. We noticed that some of the dialogs have not been translated to English and are displayed in German; such is the case for creating a new group for installed programs. The bundle is primarily an instrument that can remove other programs altogether from the system, but it evolved in a suite bent on increasing the performance of the system.
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