Best way to try out new software, without clogging the OS?

We all know that installing/uninstalling loads of different programs over time slows windows down immensely.
What's the best way to try new software?

I always search for portable versions of new programs I want to demo, but this isn't a viable solution for all programs, as the amount of software with portable versions is limited, up to date portable versions even more so.

Running a virtual box could work, but is quite cumbersome, and takes up valuable disk space.

 

myth from the past in days of crappy xp.

i install tons of apps for maybe a day or so on my systems. doesn't bother them.

and if it feels slow one day, a run of ccleaner normally fixes it. but after having a need for it on xp nearly weekly, i haven't run it in 2009 at all anymore, not having the need.

 

Get revouninstaller.

It is free, and scans the hard drive and registry for "left overs".

It is the only solution, really....

R

 

I don't believe it's a myth. My Vista install got noticeably slower over time, programs always leave remnants - hence why you can't just uninstall then reinstall trials to prolong their lifespans.

 

those traces don't slow down the system. they don't get touched except from the app itself.

systems can get slower over time, that's what defragmentation, disc cleaning and such is for.

 

You could do a virtual OS and install them on there?

Oh right, you already said that. But, you could limit the RAM is even like 512mb and keep the space dynamic so that it'll only use up the space you need to use which can be quite small if you use like a slipstreamed XP or something.

 

Install them, try them, uninstall if you want to..

It doesnt slow the OS if you defrag and perhaps clean the registry once in a while or something..

 

what he said

 

http://www.sandboxie.com/

 

a) 'uninstall software' usually only starts up the standard software deinstall process. One or two of them will look for registry or directory leftovers but that isn't anything that a trustworthy registry utility can't or won't do.

b) set yourself up a virtual machine with something like virtualbox. run your test installs there.

 

I think the best solutions are sand boxing the application, or running them in a virtual machine. The problem in Windows is when you install, it puts crap in the registry, and I believe Windows reads the registry when it starts up, or at least starts a program, so you can theorize that Windows has to go through it to find something when a program or Windows starts, and more crap in the registry, more time it takes. Also, remnants such as empty folders also just get in the way of indexing. With today's tech though you probably won't notice it because it just is really fast compared to the yesteryears. Things like CCleaner and Revouninstaller can get most of the stuff for the most part when you need to clean up, but if you sandbox it or use a virtual os then there is nothing to clean up, meaning nothing to worry about laying around. It's more of a preference. If you get annoyed by having a few empty folders around, or think you have some registry keys left over that you don't want it can lead to you just reformatting again and that's just a hassel to do to have that nice clean system feeling.

 

I just thought of another way though it is time consuming. I was basically doing this when I had Vista, and was dual booting Win7 RC. Got so attached to Win7, that I hardly booted into Vista; the only time I did was to try out new software. Create a new partition and install another OS. Dual-boot. meh lol. Yes, I am aware you will need a key, but you get a very long time to use the os, plus using the expiration trick you can get it for even longer.

 

Might as well use a VM then, no? Way faster.

 

Yeah, that method was already mentioned. But not all pc's can use virtualization (including mine), so that would be an alternative.

 

everyone can. not everyone has hw vm support things. but virtualisation software existed years before hw supported it. vmware works on every pc. so does virtualpc.


not that it's needed at all, as i said before. just fixing some missconceptions.

no. it doesn't. the registry is like a folder structure. if you want to go to c:\users\yourname\pictures, do you care how much other folders are in there? no? why not? as you know the path. so does every app not care about the rest of the registry, and the os not care about the crap apps store in it as well.

no, as by default, indexing never happens on such folders.

exactly.