How to uninstall Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is one of the standard programs used for businesses as they can set up email accounts and company-wide calendars for their staff. It's a simple program to use and you don't have to worry about connecting to the internet and then going to a separate web site to access your email (which you can do in case your Outlook goes down). Even with all the benefits of Microsoft Outlook, a lot of people do not like to use it and it becomes a burden to their computer. It does take up a lot of space that you can fill up with your own calendar program and email account. If you are annoyed by Microsoft Outlook, you do have the option to uninstall Microsoft Outlook from your computer.

Here are some step-by-step instructions that will help you uninstall Microsoft Outlook:

1. To get started you need to click on your `Start' menu and select your `Control Panel'. Once you are in the control panel, you need to get into your `Add/Remove Programs' area so you can uninstall Microsoft Outlook.

2. There will be a long list of all the programs that are currently installed on your computer, which gives you the option to remove them from your system or you can repair some of the programs that have been damaged. Scroll down this list and look for Microsoft Office. Depending upon which version you may have installed, it may be saved under a different file name. Once you find it, you need to click on `Change'.

3. This should take you to the Microsoft Office Setup feature where you can repair the program or you can remove it from your computer. You want to look for the section that says `Add or Remove features'.

4. Now you need to click on this and uncheck the box for the automatic Microsoft Outlook Updates. Once you do this, Microsoft will automatically remove the program from your computer. You will need to go through the entire process of checking `yes' or `no' as Microsoft asks you a series of questions.

5. Once you have gone through the uninstall wizard, you simply need to click on `finish' and Microsoft Office has officially been removed from your computer.

You can choose to restart your computer once you have successfully uninstalled Microsoft Outlook but you may want to wait because you still need to go one step further to remove all of the hidden files on your computer. This is the biggest downside to large programs like Microsoft Outlook because they automatically install extra files on your computer that you often don't know about.

To remove all of the hidden files from your computer, follow this simple process:

1. Click on the `Tools' button in your `My Computer' section. While you are here, you need to click on `Folder Options' and `Advanced'. Now you need to tell your computer to show all of your hidden files and folders by clicking on that icon.

2. Now that you are in this folder, you will see several files. Be careful when you are here because you can easily remove folders and files that are vital to your operating system and this can land you in a world of hurt as your computer may not run properly. The application you are looking for should read something similar to this: `C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft"

3. Now you need to click on this folder and click `Delete' and it will remove it from your computer. This will get rid of all the files that were tied to Microsoft Outlook like email, contacts, and your calendar.