How Can I Uninstall Utorrent?
Utorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing utility that allows users to download torrents--small programs that contain the information to access larger files--and use them to acquire media and software. Because Utorrent does not come prepackaged with an installer, it also does not include an uninstall option and may not show up on your list of installed programs. However, you can remove the program.
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How to Uninstall Utorrent
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Because Utorrent doesn't come with an installer, it generally does not show up on your list of installed programs, and therefore you cannot uninstall it from the "Add/Remove Programs" menu. If you cannot uninstall Utorrent from the "Add/Remove Programs" menu, you have to follow several steps to manually uninstall the program.
First, get rid of the desktop shortcut that may have been installed with the program. Place your mouse pointer over the shortcut and right-click. On the list of options that appears, click on "Delete." This eliminates the shortcut from your desktop but, as the box that pops up warns you, does not eliminate the program from your computer.
To get rid of the program itself, navigate through your program files folder to the folder created when you installed Utorrent. To find this folder, you can click on "All Programs" in your Start menu and scroll down to the folder for Utorrent (programs are listed in alphabetical order). You can also double-click on "Computer" (Vista) or "My Computer" (XP), which opens a window listing all your drives. Double-click your hard drive. This opens a new window with all the folders on your hard drive. Locate the folder "Program Files," and double-click that folder. Now find the folder labeled "Utorrent" and double-click on that folder.
Once inside the Utorrent folder, right-click on each listed element of the program and choose "Delete" from the menu. This sends the program's files to the recycle bin and eliminates Utorrent from your computer. Be sure to empty the recycle bin to completely get rid of the program files.
If you have been using Utorrent, your computer may have associated certain files or file types with the program. Cancel these associations and eliminate any possible program leftovers from Utorrent to be sure that it doesn't interfere with any of your computer's other operations. To do this, you need to have a program called CCleaner. CCleaner is a useful utility that searches for and gets rid of any extra bits of old programs that may be lurking in the background files of your computer. It also helps to clean out leftover bits of code left from Internet surfing.
To get CCleaner, do a quick Internet search for it, select a download site, and install the program once it has downloaded. To run it, double-click on the desktop icon that was installed with the program and click "Analyze." Once CCleaner has completed its search, it provides you with a list of things that it can safely eliminate. Click "Run cleaner," and all of those things will be gone, including any pieces of Utorrent that may have been hiding in other files and folders on your hard drive. Any settings that were associated with Utorrent will also be freed.
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