April 8, 2005

Manually removing Google Desktop

From the email that google sent me, here is how to remove Google Desktop by hand:-
Thank you for your note. If you're unable to uninstall Google Desktop
Search through Add/Remove Programs and/or "Start" > "Programs" > "Google
Desktop Search" > "Uninstall Google Desktop Search," you can remove it
manually. To do so, edit the Windows system registry and then delete the
appropriate program files. Here's how:

TO EDIT THE WINDOWS SYSTEM REGISTRY:
Note: editing the Windows registry is an advanced process. You may prefer
to contact your system administrator.

That said, you should be able to solve the problem by deleting the
following registry keys:

- Hkey_Current_User\Software\Google\Google Desktop
- Hkey_Local_Machine\\Software\\Google\\Desktop\\InstalledNTUserName
- Hkey_Local_Machine\\Software\\Google\\Desktop\\InstalledUserSID

Restart your computer so this change can take effect, and then remove the
program files for Desktop Search. Here's how:

TO REMOVE GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH:
Open C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME-THAT-NO-LONGER-EXISTS\Local
Settings\Application Data\Google\Google Desktop Search. Delete all the
files in this directory.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Regards,
The Google Team

Posted by Andy at April 8, 2005 6:34 AM
Comments

i absolutely dislike google. it moves in and takes over everything like a bush in iraq then leaves you screwed up for life.
I want google OFF my computer but am not knowledgeable enuf to find a way to uninstall it - the easy way you post is not available on my computer and i am too much ov a novice to understand what the hell you're saying in ehe "manual instructions".
I'm really serious and don't want your so called "service". will you please help?
by the way, I have also restored my computer to a previous date and that didn't work either.

thank you

Posted by: Phil Shedd at April 12, 2005 4:08 PM

This was incredibly helpful. I had the same problem with uninstalling Google Desktop as a different user than the one that installed it. The above solution worked just as promised. Thanks for doing the work for me so I don't have to deal with this annoyance.

Posted by: Brad Parker at April 12, 2005 8:50 PM

Thanks for posting this, it sure saved me from a major headache. Just one thing left out, you need to stop the "Google Desktop" process before you are able to delete the files from the folder. Afterwards you can then actually delete the Desktop in Control Panel.

Thanks again!

Posted by: John at April 25, 2005 11:33 PM