We've all been there. Your PC starts feeling sluggish, the hard drive is screaming for mercy, and you realize you have three different browsers and a dozen games you haven't touched since 2021. You need space. You need speed. Honestly, learning how to uninstall apps on windows 10 should be the easiest thing in the world, but Microsoft has a funny way of hiding things in plain sight. Sometimes a simple click works. Other times, you're digging through old-school menus that look like they belong in 1998.
It’s annoying.
The truth is that Windows 10 is a bit of a hybrid. It's caught between the "Modern" settings look and the classic Control Panel that power users still swear by. If you just grab an icon and hit delete, you aren't actually uninstalling anything; you're just moving a shortcut to the trash while the actual gigabytes of data stay exactly where they were.
The Settings Menu: The Easiest Way to Start
Most people should start with the Apps & Features section. It's the "official" way now. You hit the Start button, click that little gear icon for Settings, and go to Apps.
Right there, you’ll see a giant list of everything installed on your machine. You can sort by size, which is a lifesaver if you're trying to figure out what's actually eating your SSD. Found that 50GB game you don't play? Click it. Hit Uninstall. Confirm it. Done.
But wait.
Sometimes that button is greyed out. Microsoft calls these "System Apps." They really want you to keep the Calculator and the Calendar, even if you never use them. For those, the standard Settings menu basically tells you to buzz off. It’s frustrating when you want a clean machine and the OS is gatekeeping your own storage space.
Why Some Apps Just Won't Die
You might notice that certain apps, especially those pre-installed by manufacturers like HP or Dell (often called bloatware), don't always behave. They might disappear from the list but leave folders in your Program Files directory. Or worse, they keep running a background process that checks for updates for an app that isn't even there anymore. This is why the "simple" way isn't always the best way if you're a perfectionist.
The Old School Control Panel Method
Believe it or not, the Control Panel still exists in Windows 10. It’s tucked away, but for many "legacy" programs—think older versions of Photoshop, specialized hardware drivers, or utility software—this is actually more reliable.
To get there, just type "Control Panel" into your search bar. Go to Programs and Features.
This view is much denser. It looks like a spreadsheet. It’s great because it shows you exactly when something was installed. If your computer started acting weird last Tuesday, you can sort by "Installed On" and see exactly what piece of junk snuck onto your system that day.
I’ve found that the Control Panel is often better at triggering the "official" uninstaller provided by the software developer. The Settings menu sometimes tries to handle the process itself and fails, whereas the Control Panel just hands the reins over to the app's own "Goodbye" script.
👉 See also: Why Your Ereader Screensaver Dithered Grayscale Looks Better Than You Think
Dealing with the Windows Store Headache
Apps you downloaded from the Microsoft Store (now just called the Windows Store) are different animals. They’re "sandboxed."
If you're wondering how to uninstall apps on windows 10 that came from the store, the quickest way is often just right-clicking the icon in your Start menu. You don't even have to go deep into settings. Right-click, Uninstall, and it vanishes. Because Store apps are managed differently by the OS, they usually leave less "junk" in the registry compared to traditional .exe installers.
However, the Store itself can get buggy. Sometimes an app is stuck in a "Pending" or "Installing" state and won't let you remove it. In those cases, you often have to reset the Store cache by typing wsreset.exe into the Run command (Windows Key + R). It’s a weird extra step that most people don't know about, but it clears the pipes so you can finally delete that stubborn app.
Using PowerShell for the "Un-deletable" Stuff
This is where things get a little nerdy, but it’s the only way to deal with things like Xbox Game Bar or the Mail app if you truly want them gone.
PowerShell is basically the command line on steroids.
💡 You might also like: Why Everyone Gets the Ratio in Fraction Form Calculator Wrong
You have to run it as an Administrator. If you want to see everything installed, you type a command like Get-AppxPackage. It will spit out a wall of text that looks like Matrix code. To remove something, you use Remove-AppxPackage.
A word of caution: You can actually break parts of Windows if you go too crazy here. If you uninstall the wrong system component, your Start menu might stop working or you might lose the ability to preview images. It's powerful, but it’s a "measure twice, cut once" kind of situation. Most casual users should stay away from PowerShell unless they are following a very specific, verified guide for a specific app.
Third-Party Uninstallers: Are They Worth It?
You’ve probably seen ads or recommendations for tools like Revo Uninstaller or IObit.
Are they scams? No. Are they necessary? Sorta.
When you uninstall an app normally, it almost always leaves something behind. Maybe it's a folder in AppData, or a few dozen entries in the Windows Registry, or a log file. Over years of use, these "leftovers" accumulate. It’s called "bit rot."
Third-party uninstallers work by running the standard uninstaller first, and then scanning your entire hard drive and registry for anything that shares the app's name. They find the scraps.
- Pros: They keep your computer feeling "fresh" for longer.
- Cons: Some of the free versions are aggressive with their own notifications, which is ironic because they become the very bloatware you were trying to avoid.
If you are a gamer who installs and uninstalls fifty games a year, a dedicated uninstaller tool is actually a pretty smart move. If you only uninstall an app once every six months, it’s probably overkill.
Common Mistakes and Misconceptions
One thing people get wrong is thinking that "Disabling" an app is the same as uninstalling it. It isn't. Disabling just tells Windows not to open it. The files are still taking up space.
Another big one? Thinking that deleting the folder in C:\Program Files is a good idea. Don't do this. If you manually delete the files, the "registry keys" (the brain of Windows) still think the app is there. This creates "ghost" entries in your apps list that are nearly impossible to remove because the uninstaller file itself was deleted. Always use the official "Uninstall" button first.
👉 See also: US Telephone Number Lookup: Why Most People Waste Their Time on Dead Ends
Actionable Steps for a Cleaner PC
If your goal is to truly optimize your machine, don't just delete one app and call it a day.
- Audit your Startup: While you're in the Apps settings, look for the "Startup" tab. Many apps you "uninstall" might actually have separate helper tools that launch when you turn on your computer. Kill those first.
- Check for "Orphan" Folders: Go to
%appdata%(type that into your folder search bar) and look for folders named after companies or apps you deleted months ago. You can safely delete these to reclaim space. - Empty the Temp folder: Hit Windows + R, type
temp, and delete everything. Then do it again with%temp%. This clears out the installation files that apps often leave behind after an uninstallation process. - Use Disk Cleanup: Windows has a built-in tool called "Disk Cleanup." Run it as an administrator and check the box for "System error memory dump files." This is often where the real storage-hogging junk lives.
Cleaning up Windows 10 isn't just about clicking "Uninstall" and moving on. It’s about being thorough. By using a mix of the Settings menu for modern apps and the Control Panel for legacy software, you can keep your system running significantly faster without needing to do a full factory reset. Just remember to back up your important data before you start poking around in PowerShell or deleting things in the registry—better safe than sorry.