Cannot remove / uninstall Kazaa?

Infopackets Reader 'BluzzOne' writes:

" How do you remove Kazza? It seems impossible to uninstall. I have ad-aware 6 which removed the Spyware associated with Kazaa, and it no longer runs. I think Kazaa needs the adware in order to function. "

My response:

You are correct: Kazaa will not run without the Spyware (adware) attached, which is why so many users prefer to use Kazaa Lite -- it doesn't come bundled with parasite code.

The Add / Remove Programs in Control Panel should remove Kazaa from your computer, although I'm not sure what happens to the uninstall program if you use a Spyware removal tool to remove components from Kazaa *before* it is fully uninstalled via Add / Remove Programs in Control Panel.

Nevertheless, I have noticed that a full uninstall of Kazaa Media Desktop will still leave "droppings" in the System Registry; to remedy this, you can use a program called jv16 to completely remove Kazaa from the registry (including any b3d / c2 media Spyware traces that may also remain). More information about the System Registry here.

BluzzOne emailed me for a second time and said, " Thanks Dennis. I tried to use Add / Remove Programs in the Control Panel to get it rid of Kazaa, but a RunDLL box came up with an error message and the uninstall aborted. What now?"

Answer: After you use jv16 to remove *all* Kazaa entries from your registry, delete the Kazaa folder from your hard drive (usually located in c:\program files\kazaa)*. Next, go to Start -> Program Files, and search for the Kazaa Program File Folder. Right click it and select Delete to remove it from your Start Menu. Doing all of this will completely remove Kazaa from your system.

Side note: Be careful not to delete your download folder (which may be present in your Kazaa folder, depending on where you specified to save your Kazaa downloads).