How to remove potentially unwanted software from Windows 11

What is potentially unwanted software

Potentially unwanted software is not viruses or malware, but software close enough to them. Most often, such software is produced by companies that work quite legally. The format is different: adware, browser extensions, Windows cleaning tools, antiviruses with false positives, software that sends too much of your data, and even programs that do not provide the promised functionality. Antiviruses do not always correctly recognize malicious adware, which leads to difficulties. In order to get rid of the virus, the user will have to take a number of measures, for example, independently searching for and removing suspicious programs, extensions, checking browser properties, etc. Also, advertising viruses can replace other programs and processes in the system, which can complicate their detection and further struggle. Next, we will look at the process of removing potentially unwanted software from Windows 11.

How to remove potentially unwanted software from Windows 11?

Since many viruses work in the form of a program, it is very important to detect and remove it yourself. Otherwise, further actions will not bring results or it will be temporary. You can access the list of programs on your computer through the “Apps & features” window.

Step 1: Remove potentially unwanted software from system

Method 1. Removing potentially unwanted software in Windows 11 via Settings:

Press Win + I combination to open Settings.

Go to Settings > Apps > Apps and Features on the right.

In the Menu choose Settings and click on it.
In the opened list find an unwanted program (a program you want to uninstall) and click on the 3-dots icon.

Click Uninstall button and then click the Uninstall button again to confirm the action.

Method 2. Uninstall potentially unwanted software in Windows 11 via the Start menu:

Left-click on the Start button and click “All Apps” to open the list of installed programs.
Right-click on the program you want to uninstall and click Uninstall.

Click Uninstall button again to confirm the action.

Method 3. Removing potentially unwanted software in Windows 11 via the Control Panel:

Press the Win+R button combination and enter “control” to quickly open the Control Panel.

Open Programs and then click on Programs and Features.

Next, select the program to delete with one click and click on “Uninstall” from above.

Click on “Uninstall” again to remove the program.

Step 2: Deleting residual files through the registry

In rare cases, after cleaning the program, a record remains or an error occurs that it is impossible to find files. Sometimes, when deleting a program, some files may remain, which may indicate an incorrect deletion process. That is, after deleting the application, there may be a record of the application, but in fact it is missing. If this problem occurs, delete the program entry in the registry.

As in the first case, open the “Run” menu using the Win+R command, write regedit, click Ok.

In the window that opens, follow the path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
Please note that the program is usually displayed in the format “{05D996FA-ADCB…”
By selecting a folder, we find the DisplayName entry. At this point we see the name of the program that was not completely deleted.

Step 3: Remove potentyally unwanted software from browsers

A malicious advertising program could install various advertising extensions in browsers. Because of them, web browsers may still have ads and/or another welcome and search window. The situation can be corrected only by identifying suspicious extensions and deleting them.

Google Chrome:

If you cannot remove the extension from Google Chrome, as the delete icon is greyed out and the extension is marked as “managed by your organization”, you should first perform steps described in the How to remove Managed by your organization from Chrome? article and only then proceed with the removal.