"Total Uninstall" is a small program that does compares of before and after installs. it determines what changed in both the file system and in the registry.
While the program itself is simple, it has to be used correctaly understanding what is going on.
The simplicity of the program makes it easy to understand, but that same simplicity means the user has to push all the buttons right at the right time.
When it comes to removal, a higher level of understanding what is going on is also nessisary. I find the progam is everything that has ever been needed to break the re-install cycles, on the other hand if you do not understand what is happening, you will be re-installing :-)
It is capable of uninstalling things that the system does not allow. Even if everything cannot be uninstalled and changed back, It still provides a List of what it could not do to finish up.
When it comes to expecting it to fully change everything back the way it was, there are just some things that are not going to work that way. So it is never a total solution by itself, but with it and a human you can probably get an 89% solution.
It can also be used for other needs to trace what is going on , or what is being mulched in your system, not just installs. It is NOT locking down the systems image, like some software that might be used on Public computers, to keep changes from occuring. It is not going to be much assistance when a virus hits. While it could be used on a more continuous basis to track system changes, it is not for that either.
It is mostly usefull for more fully removing something you installed and traced and understand somewhat.
RegShot, can do a compare of only the registry items that changed.
If your just deleting registry entries, in XP use RegSeeker, or any other registry utility that makes a backup of the removed items.
Resco uninstaller does some of that too.
In XP you can do a quick backup of the entire registry with Erunt. registry backups are not to large in size, so making backup after backup of the whole registry, can be easier than the whole images.
any of this stuff only works in conjunction with a full image backup of the system. other usefull things to have, a full backup of the registry.