Norton CleanSweep, originally released by

Quarterdeck The quarterdeck is a raised deck behind the main mast of a sailing ship. Traditionally it was where the captain commanded his vessel and where the ship's colours were kept. This led to its use as the main ceremonial and reception area on bo ...

in 1995, is a software application designed to aid in the removal of installed programs on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. Quarterdeck was acquired by

Symantec Symantec may refer to: * Gen Digital, an American consumer software company formerly known as Symantec * Symantec Security, a brand of enterprise security software purchased by Broadcom Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, ...

in 1998.

History

In Windows 3.x, some applications were removed from the computer only via the

File Manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage computer files, files and folder (computing), folders. The most common Computer file#Operations, operations performed on files or groups of files incl ...

, so several files ( INI files, DLL libraries,

fonts In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) inclu ...

or drivers) remained in the system, taking up harddrive space and hindering performance. This opened a market for applications dedicated to solving this issue. Quarterdeck introduced CleanSweep in early 1995 as a utility to completely uninstall complex Windows applications. Its main competitors back then were MicroHelp UnInstaller and Remove-it from Vertisoft Systems. CleanSweep 95 (2.0) for

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

was released later in 1995 as the very first application of this kind for the new operating system. Quarterdeck was acquired by Symantec in 1998.

Features

Upon startup, CleanSweep loads three components, each of which tracks and logs changes made to aid in uninstallation. If the program has not been monitored CleanSweep can be pointed to the main

executable In computer science, executable code, an executable file, or an executable program, sometimes simply referred to as an executable or binary, causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instruction (computer science), in ...

file or the main program group. It also comprises several "wizards" to simplify common PC tuneup activities. The "Smart Sweep" module takes care of monitoring all the setup programs being run. On detecting the execution of a setup program, it makes a note of the program files location, changes to Registry and other details. The "Internet Sweep" module monitors the installation of

ActiveX ActiveX is a deprecated software framework created by Microsoft that adapts its earlier Component Object Model (COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies for content downloaded from a network, particularly from the World Wide W ...

controls and Plug-ins. The "Usage Watch" component keeps track of files which are being accessed. The "Unused and Low Usage File Finders" information collected through Usage Watch to determine which files are infrequently accessed and thus may no longer be needed. CleanSweep keeps backups of all uninstalled programs for a specified amount of time. If an essential file is accidentally removed, the user has the option of restoration.

Reception

InfoWorld review of the first version (2.0) for Windows 95 commended easy to use interface, but criticized limited support for Windows registry editing. Review of the CleanSweep Deluxe in 1997 compared it favorably to the first release of Norton Uninstall Deluxe. PC Magazine recognized CleanSweep in its 1998 comparison of uninstallers as the editor's choice highlighting its combination of performance and safety.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quarterdeck Cleansweep CleanSweep Gen Digital software Utilities for Windows