Comodo Programs Manager

Comodo makes a plethora of products ranging from PC tuneup utilities to antivirus suites, but the free Comodo Programs Manager is one for those who wish to manage their systems' applications. The app is designed to let you enable, disable, and update software?as well as rid your computer of broken installations or failed uninstalls that would muddy the registry or hard drive. Comodo Programs Manager has an intuitive, easy-to-use design, but a few niggles keep it from greatness.

Getting Started
Comodo Programs Cleaner scans the hard drive and presents a content summary on the home screen. This home screen consists of a main content area and a dark gray column to the left of it where you'll find four categories: Programs, Drivers and Services, Windows Features, and Windows Updates. In the main content area I saw the number of installed programs (64), drivers and services (423), Windows features and updates (105), and other information. Unfortunately, you can't tweak from this screen, so you have to click one of the categories to the left.

The Comodo Programs Manager Experience
Clicking "Programs" opened a listing of all the applications on my test PC. I could see games (Dead Rising 2), utilities (Geekbench), and a variety of other installs. A drop-down box let me view applications by either their names, icons, or other factors, and a search box returns results on the fly as you key in letters. Clicking an application and then clicking "Standard Uninstall" removes the program from the system. Some programs give you the option to "Change" the install (which opened the installer and let me modify the program to add or remove features) or "Repair" the install (which fixed damaged installations with the click of a button). The application occasionally froze, which required that I close out and then reopen. On the up side, you can back up apps that you install, so that you may recover them at a later time should a problem arise.

"Drivers and Services" lets you remove drivers, but most of the names read as description-less techno-babble, so you should tread lightly in removing them unless you know (or research) what they are first. I understood that an Nvidia driver update was for my PC?s graphics card, but when I saw a very vague ?Beep,? I scratched my head and left it in place. After all, a missing driver can cripple an application. There were a few easily recognizable drivers (such as LogMeIn Remote File System Driver) that I uninstalled with ease.

"Windows Features" lets you disable programs individually, or as a batch. The features are listed in a Windows Explorer-like tree that let me enable/disable the "Games" folder (and all games inside), or dig into the sub-folders and enable/disable the individual titles. I liked the flexibility given here.

"Windows Updates" lets you view all of the installed updates, as well as a list of available updates. The PC test bed had nearly 50 installed updates, and 40 available updates. Acquiring the new updates was as simple as checking the appropriate application boxes and clicking the "Install" button in the lower-right hand corner.

Should You Download Comodo Programs Manager?
Yes. Comodo Programs Manager lets you manage your applications in updates from a central location?no need to tinker within Windows' separate areas. It could be more stable?it froze a bit too frequently for my taste?but it's an app that you should check out if you frequently dabble in application management, and especially if you (like me) install and uninstall apps frequently.

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