The One Built-in to Windows is Quite Slow and Difficult to Launch

In Windows XP, the “Add/Remove Programs” can take long to load on systems that just meet the minimum requirements of XP. Even the faster computers may notice a slowdown for computers that have more software installed since the list generated will be larger. Although Vista shows noticeable improvements to the built-in feature, you still need to find it in the Control Panel which can be a bit inconvenient when navigating through the interface unless you make a shortcut.

Just about all of the 3rd party tools including the free ones load much faster than Control Panel item. They can also be conveniently launched from the Start Menu or desktop without the effort of making a shortcut to the Control Panel item.

Built-in version Lacks Features

There are times when you install a newer version of a program on top of the older version (or easily recognized as upgrading), an uninstall entry appears for both the new version and the older version making uninstallation a bit confusing. You cannot edit or remove these entries unless you do it manually using the Windows Registry Editor which is not recommended for beginner users. Some software program uninstall tools allow you remove or edit entries to shorten the list making the list run even faster the next time you start the program.

Some orphan entries may appear there as well where the uninstall entry leads to a missing file. A software program uninstall tool can let you either correct the entry or remove it instead.

There are a few uninstallers that are disguised as viruses as well if you have malware installed. It is best to edit the uninstall entry of these suspicious items first so you can see where the entry points to allowing you to scan it using a virus scanner.

Many of the uninstall tools are free to try anyway with some of them small enough to fit even in the smallest flash drives so you can use it in other computers as a portable application. They are very handy to use and the best ones have a nice and fast user interface for even newbies to understand.