Windows Utilities Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

This awesome tool will quickly uninstall any program and remove all its traces

Posted on April 18, 2025

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Windows’ native “Uninstall a program” utility is an extremely inefficient and cumbersome tool for removing programs from your machine.

In addition to being slow to display a list of installed applications and remove the ones selected, the removal process sometimes fails and almost always leaves behind traces of uninstalled programs which clutter up the Windows registry and slow your system down.

As luck would have it, there are several excellent third-party alternatives to Windows’ Uninstaller utility. [Read more…]

System Explorer: The ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of Windows tools

Posted on October 21, 2023

I love writing about great free software that makes using computers, tablets and smart phones easier to use, more secure and more user friendly.

And I must admit, my favorite software programs of all tend to be free Windows utilities.

In previous posts I wrote about two outstanding Windows utilities (Process Explorer and Autoruns) that every PC user should have at the ready at all times.

Today I’m going to tell you about System Explorer, a wonderful program that bundles these two utilities together with a host of other useful tools into a single tabbed package. [Read more…]

Q&A: Is cleanmgr.exe a virus?

Posted on January 9, 2023

Question from Melinda: I have a question about my Acer Windows laptop, Rick.

Yesterday morning I asked a friend on Facebook a computer question and his reply was that I need to run a file called cleanmgr.exe.

I’m a little leery about running .exe files because I remember reading that they can be dangerous.

Here’s my question: Is cleanmgr.exe a virus or is it safe for me to run? And if it’s safe, do you think I should run it? [Read more…]

Try this powerful free replacement for Windows’ Task Manager

Posted on October 2, 2022

The native Windows Task Manager has long been the go-to utility when we need to see which programs are running on our PC or kill a “hung” process.

While Microsoft has really expanded the features and power of Task Manager in recent years, it still has some serious limitations.

Luckily, there’s an awesome replacement for the Windows’ Task Manager that you can download right now, and it won’t cost you a dime. [Read more…]

Why I recommend replacing Notepad with Notepad++

Posted on January 4, 2020

The Windows Notepad utility is one of the handiest little programs there is, but it comes with a number of frustrating limitations.

But even with those limitations I found myself using it several times a day simply because it’s so convenient.

But no more. I long ago switched to a wonderful free Notepad replacement app called Notepad++.

Notepad++ does everything the standard Windows Notepad does, only better. I won’t list all the great features here, but there are three features that really made it worth the switch for me: [Read more…]