General question.  What is the best (most efficient and reliable) way to remove undesirable software from a clients PC?

Specific example.  I am trying to recognize when a client PC has Yahoo Messenger installed and, when detected, uninstall it.  I've run up against several issues so far.

Setup so far is the following:

A configuration group to check for Yahoo messenger.
Under this group, are two entries.  The first checks for a registry key specific to the install of Yahoo Messenger.  The second is All Others.  These configuration groups work properly, assigning the client PC to the appropriate group.

A package to assign a variable the value of the uninstall string for Yahoo Messenger, gained from the registry.

A script to run the package to populate the variable and run the uninstall string from the variable.

The script is assigned as a task to the group that finds Yahoo installed.

3 main issues here:
1. When the "Yahoo installed" group gets populated, the task doesn't seem to want to run unless I right click the task and reinstall.
2. The method of getting the uninstall string from the registry, while it ensures it will get the right location regardless of where the client installs Yahoo, also does not run a silent uninstall.  The user is asked to confirm uninstallation.  I would rather have a silent uninstall.
3. If the user cancels the uninstall, the task does not seem to run again, even though the computer is still listed in the "Yahoo installed" group.

Polling, as this is still a test environment, is set for continuous.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Here are some suggestions for the 3 issues you raised, based on some testing in our lab.

1. When you first install the task to the group, try using "reinstall" instead of install. Also, it may take two polls for the task to kick off. The computer joins the group on the first poll, and it runs the task on the 2nd poll.
2. The uninstall string can be changed to use /S instead of /U for a silent uninstallation, for example C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\UNWISE.EXE /S C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\INSTALL.LOG
3. You want the "uninstall Yahoo" task to rerun every time a computer joins this group. For example, Yahoo may be reinstalled by a user, and the user's computer would join the group again. However, currently the task doesn't rerun - it only runs the first time a computer joins the group. We've come up with a workaround.

Manually create a Package (for example, rerun.pwc) that has the registry settings shown in the attached screenshot. You will have to modify the bottom two keys to be appropriate for your environment. Look in the registry of a test system that has received your "uninstall Yahoo" task to get the Channel GUID and the task number. Set the delete property on the task number registry key to "always delete". All the other keys are automatically set to "never delete".

Assign this Package as a recurring task to repeat at user logon. The process should happens as follows: a user installs Yahoo>their computer joins the group>Yahoo is automatically uninstalled>the user logs out and logs in, which causes the rerun.pwc to install>the user installs Yahoo again>the "uninstall Yahoo" task will run again.

Let us know if these suggestions are helpful!

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