Desktop Apps
Desktop apps are the classic Windows programs: installed from a setup file, listed under Programs and Features, and removed by their own uninstaller. In O&O AppBuster they carry the type Desktop App.
How O&O AppBuster finds them
O&O AppBuster reads the Windows uninstall registrations directly, in more places than the Windows Apps & features page looks at:
| Location | What is found there |
|---|---|
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall | Machine-wide installations (64-bit) |
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\...\Uninstall | 32-bit installations on a 64-bit Windows |
HKU\<SID>\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\...\Uninstall | Per-user installations of every logged-on profile |
HKCR\Installer\Products | Windows Installer product registrations |
That last point is what makes O&O AppBuster more thorough than the Windows dialog: a program can be registered as an installed Windows Installer product without having a visible uninstall entry, and those registrations are exactly what blocks a later reinstallation.
Per-user installations are read for loaded user profiles — accounts that are logged on. Software that another user installed only for themselves while they are logged off is not visible.
Removing desktop apps
Desktop apps are removed by their own uninstaller. O&O AppBuster starts it and waits for it to finish. This is deliberate: the uninstaller knows about services, drivers, scheduled tasks and file associations that a generic remover would leave behind.
What that means for you:
- You may see the uninstaller's own window and have to confirm its dialogs. Some ask whether to keep settings, or want you to close the program first. O&O AppBuster cannot answer those questions for you.
- There is no removal scope. Desktop apps have no concept of per-user removal, so the scope choice in the removal dialog does not apply to them. The dialog tells you this when your selection contains desktop apps.
- Selections are processed one after another. If you remove ten desktop apps, ten uninstallers run in sequence, and you may be clicking through ten sets of dialogs.
After the uninstaller has run
If an uninstaller leaves its registration behind, O&O AppBuster removes that registration from the relevant 64-bit, 32-bit, or current-user registry location. This prevents the removed app from remaining in Programs and Features.
Modify
Some desktop apps register a modify or repair option in addition to their uninstaller. Where that exists, the app's context menu offers Modify, which starts the installer in its change mode. Use it when a program is misbehaving and you would rather repair it than remove and reinstall it.
Getting them back
O&O AppBuster cannot reinstall a desktop app. Once its uninstaller has run, you need the program's own setup file again.
What O&O AppBuster can do for installed desktop apps is update them, if the Windows Package Manager knows them.
This is the category where a system restore point earns its keep. Removing a Windows app is reversible; removing a desktop app whose installer you no longer have is not.
Bridge apps: desktop apps that look like Store apps
Some programs are installed by an MSI but also register themselves as a Windows package — Visual Studio Code and TortoiseGit are common examples. These "bridge" apps would otherwise show up twice, or be misclassified as Store apps that could be removed per user.
O&O AppBuster scans the registry before the package manager for exactly this reason. Such an app is classified as the desktop app it really is, and the package information is merged into that single entry.
The practical consequence: a bridge app is removed by its MSI uninstaller, which is the only way that actually works for it.
Things worth checking before you remove
- Drivers and hardware utilities. Removing the manufacturer's tool can cost you functionality that Windows does not replace.
- Runtimes such as Visual C++ Redistributables and .NET runtimes. They look like disposable clutter and are not: other programs depend on them, often silently.
- Components installed by a larger suite. An entry named like an add-in or a plugin service usually belongs to a parent program. Removing it breaks the parent, not just itself.
- Apps whose entry you cannot place. Look at the properties first — publisher, install location and install date usually identify it.
O&O AppBuster recommends keep for anything it does not explicitly classify as disposable, which covers most of these cases.