Uninstalling hard-to-get-rid-of programs

Some programs just refuse to uninstall properly from your computer, no matter what you try to do to get rid of them. Some programs you install never make it to the Windows Add/Remove control panel, others simply disappear from the list. Making things worse is that some well-known apps don't create uninstallers on your machine. For instance, AVG Free, the antivirus program, puts its uninstaller into the downloaded installation package -- something many users zap right after they have a successful install. So to uninstall AVG, you'd need to download and install the program again, then select uninstall from the installation options list. Steve Bass has some very helpful tips on how to deal with these nuisances.