Software Uninstallation Vs Software Traces

As a SAM practitioner, we all face the following situation.

SAM Practitioner: “Please initiate complete uninstallation for software XXX from system YYY”

Administrator: “We have completely uninstalled the software from the targeted systems and the software entry is not visible in Add/Remove Program”

Post next software Scan, again software XXX is getting reported from system YYY.

SAM Practitioner: “The installation is still visible”

Administrator: “How is that possible? We cannot find the software in the targeted system”

And from that moment the investigation begins, where the SAM practitioner needs to analyze all the raw signatures, the scan tool is generating for that specific software on multiple systems and then try to come up with an evidence sheet on probable location where the software traces can remain post the uninstallation process. Post this initial investigation, administrator will again try to remove the initial software traces and then the whole cycle will again start till the software is no longer getting identified by the SAM tool. This process is not efficient as it is waste of productive hours for both SAM practitioner and the administrator.

This whole situation highlights the importance of software deployment process. An organization with a robust software deployment process can address the above issue efficiently.

So, when an organization decides to roll out a brand-new software or perform mass upgrade of an existing software within its end user estate, along with installation package an uninstallation package needs to be created and tested. The process should be as follows:

1)     Package the software installation files and the configuration files (if any)

2)     Deploy the software package to targeted system

3)     Scan the system via the SAM tool agent

4)     List out all the raw signatures and traces the agent is generating

5)     List out the installation folder’s structure and entries in add remove program

6)     Package the uninstallation file.

7)     Deploy the uninstallation package

8)     Verify whether the software entries have been removed from add remove program and installation files

9)     Rerun the scan for SAM tool agent

10)  Verify whether any traces are left for the software

11)  If yes, then a custom script needs to be created and tested to make sure all the traces are deleted

12)  If the custom script cannot perform this task, then a SOP needs to be created for manual removal of traces

13)  Once the whole process is tested for multiple systems, then using SCCM or Intune, create both Installation and uninstallation package which can be connected to AD workgroups for ease of deployments

This process may look lengthy and time and resource intensive, but this approach will help the organization to manage the uninstallation and upgrade process effectively.

** This process can get more complicated if the targeted software also uses a license key which is important for compliance identification. This is where a script-based identification process of license key will come handy**

Try this via ChatGPT

“Write VB script code which will identify all the license key installed in on windows system and it will display laptop hostname, operating system, License key, software name for the license key and license key location”