Windows 8.1 Bible

Chapter 30: Repairing and Removing Programs

IN THIS CHAPTER

Installing missing program features

Repairing damaged programs

Removing programs you don't want

Most of the time, your applications will operate smoothly and without incident. Occasionally, however, you might need to repair a program that is having problems. Or, you might want to remove a program or a Windows feature that you aren't using.

In this chapter, you learn techniques for managing installed programs. You learn how to change or repair programs, as well as how to remove programs you no longer need or want. You'll do most of these tasks in the Control Panel's Programs and Features applet or from the Windows Start screen.

Changing and Repairing Programs

Some large programs let you choose how you want to install the program. For example, you may be given options to do a Minimum Install, Typical Install, or Complete Install. You might do a Minimum or Typical installation to conserve disk space but later discover you need a feature that only the Complete Install would have provided.

Sometimes a program might become corrupted and not work properly anymore. That can happen when you inadvertently delete a file that the program needed. Or it might be caused by some minor glitch that compromised a file that the program uses.

The first step to changing or repairing a program is to get to the Programs and Features applet in the Control Panel. Here's how:

1. Press Windows+Xon the desktop and click Control Panel.
2. In the category ...