A reader asks: “What should I do with files that are left on my system I uninstall an app?”

You usually can delete them, carefully.

Sometimes, leftover files are just sloppy programming — the app’s uninstall routine doesn’t target and remove everything that the app added to the system. D’oh!

Sometimes, the files are left in anticipation of future need. For example, if an app requires a somewhat uncommon Windows component, that component may be installed when the app itself is first installed. But, because it’s a Windows component, the app won’t uninstall it automatically, in case some other app is using that component. But if you know no other app is using that component, you can uninstall it, too.

Sometimes, it’s deliberate — a bit of code left behind as a marker, so future installs of that app will see that the app has already been installed on that system. (This is often used by “free trial” apps, so you can’t keep reinstalling the trial for extended free use.)

Sometimes, it’s just a plain error by the software or the programmers.

Sometimes, it’s a malware payload left behind.

And so on.

You can prevent garbage files and settings from accumulating through routine use of various cleanup apps.

In Windows 7/8/10, for example, you can use the classic (and soon-to-be-retired) Disk Cleanup Tool (info); or in Win10, two new cleanup options (info). You also can use any of the many available cleanup tools that can clean out junk files and obsolete entries in the Registry. CCleaner (free/paid; info) is perhaps the most popular of these.

However you do it, it’s smart to keep your PC relatively free from junk/unwanted/obsolete files!

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