The "Add/Remove Programs" utility is a standard Microsoft Windows UI for listing applications installed on the computer and providing basic mainterance actions like uninstalling, repairing or modifying the installations.
The "Add/Remove Programs" utility is a standard Microsoft Windows UI for listing applications installed on the computer and providing basic mainterance actions. This utility is usually found in the Control Panel.
The list presents some basic information like the name of the application, installation date, approximate size. There are some other bits like publisher's name, company, or product version, but availability of these metadata vary as they are provided by the authors of the applications.
Typical mainterance actions provided by "Add/Remove Programs" are actually:
- uninstall
- repair (i.e. try restoring some deleted or damaged files)
- modify (i.e. turn some features on or off)
The obviously missing "Add" part from the name comes from the fact that on many versions of the Windows, user may find here some button/link that takes the him to completely another view which allows him to install or uninstall some core Windows programs and services. It is not possible to "Add/Install" a completely random 3rd party application from here. For this, simply run the related Installer or MSI package.
It's worth noting that not all above-mentioned mainterance actions are always available. As with the metadata provided by application's authors, the extra mainterance options must be explicitely supported by the MSI package provided by application's authors. Very often the "uninstall" is the only available action.
