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There comes a time in every piece of equipment where they are faced with the inevitable – retirement. The end of the road for hardware is much clearer cut than software, as it’s obvious when hardware has “had enough.” Software on the other hand, is usually retired when it just doesn’t make sense to update/upgrade anymore or it’s no longer serving the purpose it once did. New software deployments cost money, so it’s not a decision made lightly. The challenges faced with getting rid of software versus hardware are also much more complicated. Hardware is wiped clean and recycled, but software needs to be uninstalled throughout the organization. This can be a tricky process, as oftentimes, the software will leave footprints on the system that can effect licensing as well as the installation of a new program.

Extensive testing must be done in order to ensure that you successfully uninstall the software in its entirety. There are tools available to automatically uninstall software, which will certainly save you time over doing it manually, but don’t skip the testing when using these. Unsuccessful uninstalls can also wreak havoc on your software asset management repository - anybasic discovery tool will pick-up those traces left behind and count them as assets.

Be sure to run a thorough check both before and after your uninstall to insure that you get it all!

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