Software uninstallation system, method and computer program product

• US 8,527,977 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2007
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: McAfee, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Original Assignee: McAfee, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Cheng, William, Hwang, Kenneth, Kannan, Ravi, Katchapalayam, Babu, Liu, Bing, Narasimhan, Balaji, Ramanujam, Gopal, Tran, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang, Insun
• Application Number:
  US11/855,985
• Time in Patent Office: 2,181 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product are provided for uninstalling software on a computer. In use, a plurality of software products identified on a computer is displayed. Further, a first user instruction to uninstall at least a portion of at least one of the software products from the computer is received. Such first user instruction is received via an interface. Still yet, the at least a portion of the at least one software product is uninstalled from the computer, in response to the receipt of the first user instruction. Also, a second user instruction may be received to cancel the uninstallation. Thus, the uninstallation may be cancelled, in response to the receipt of the second user instruction.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

installing a software update client application on a client computer, wherein the software update client application is capable of facilitating the installation and uninstallation of one or more updates of diverse software products;

creating an electronic message that identifies one or more diverse software products for which an update notification is desired;

conveying the electronic message to a service provider computer over a network;

installing a software update on the client computer, the software update associated with the electronic message;

receiving a first user instruction to uninstall the software update from the client computer;

said first user instruction being received via an interface; and

uninstalling the software update from the client computer, in response to the receipt of the first user instruction.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the computer is restored to a state prior to the installation of the software update.

3. The method according to claim 1, and further comprising storing a configuration of the computer before the step of installing a software update.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interface includes a field for indicating the software update.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interface includes a window for describing the software update.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interface includes a cancel option for canceling the uninstall operation.

7. A non-transitory computer program storage device having stored thereon computer usable program code to cause a client computer to:

install an update client application, the update client application capable of facilitating the installation and uninstallation of one or more updates of diverse client applications;

identify one or more diverse client applications for which an update notification is desired;

create an electronic message identifying the one or more diverse client applications and a user;

send the message to a service provider computer over a network;

install an update on the client computer, the update associated with the electronic message;

receive a first user instruction to uninstall the update from the client computer, the first user instruction received via an interface; and

uninstall the update from the client computer, in response to the receipt of the first user instruction.

8. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 7, wherein the diverse client applications comprise client applications from diverse vendors.

9. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 7, wherein the service provider computer maintains information from diverse vendors to facilitate updating the diverse client applications from diverse vendors.

10. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 7, further comprising computer usable program code to cancel uninstall activity in response to a cancel request from a user.

11. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 7, wherein the computer usable program code to identify the one or more diverse client applications includes computer code to:

install a software update client application on the client computer;

use the software update client application to register a user of the update client application with the service provider computer.

12. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 7, further computer usable program code to:

receive, over a network, a client software update notification message from a computer identifying at least one client software application update;

identify, from the client software update notification message, a source computer from which to obtain the at least one client software application update;

establish communication with the source computer over the network; and

download the client software application update from the source computer over the network.

13. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 12, wherein the source computer comprises a computer other than the service provider computer.

14. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 12, further comprising computer usable program code to:

verify that the client computer meets installation requirements identified in the client software update notification message; and

install the downloaded client software application update on the client computer.

15. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 7, further comprising computer usable program code to:

receive, over a network, a client software update notification message from a service provider computer indicating the availability of a client software update; and

provide a notice to a user of the client software update availability, wherein the notice is visible.

16. A non-transitory computer program storage device having stored thereon computer usable program code:

the computer usable program code to cause a service provider computer to;

acquire information about one or more software updates for one or more client applications from diverse vendors;

identify a user that has indicated interest in the one or more client applications;

obtain an email address for the user;

generate a message identifying the one or more client applications; and

send the message to the user over a network; and

the computer usable program code to cause a client computer to;

install an update client application, the update client application capable of facilitating the installation and uninstallation of the one or more software updates of client applications;

install the one or more software updates by the update client application on the client computer, the one or more software updates associated with the message;

receive a first user instruction to uninstall the one or more software updates by the update client application from the client computer, the first user instruction received via an interface; and

uninstall the one or more software updates by the update client application from the client computer, in response to the receipt of the first user instruction.

17. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code to generate a message further comprises computer code to include one or more requirements for use of the one or more software updates in the message.

18. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 17, wherein the one or more requirements include one or more conditions a client computer must satisfy to install the one or more software updates.

19. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 16, wherein the message identifying the application includes a source for the one or more software updates . . . one more software updates comprises a source computer of a vendor of the diverse vendors.

20. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code to acquire information comprises computer usable program code to acquire information about a software update from a vendor of the software update.

21. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 16, wherein the computer code to identify a user comprises computer usable program code to search a user profile database.

22. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 16, wherein the computer code to send the message comprises computer usable program code to send an email message.