Windows uninstall advice

 

Microsoft PC Manager tells me to uninstall Teracopy (haven't used for 180 days), but I use it all the time when doing a copy of a large number of files?

That recommendation from Microsoft PC Manager is a bit misleading. The program isn’t actually measuring how often you launch an app in the way you think—it’s usually just checking whether the main executable has been opened recently. Utilities like TeraCopy often get used indirectly (right-click context menu, replacing Explorer copy operations, etc.), so the tracker thinks they’re “unused” even when they’re doing the work.

With TeraCopy in particular this happens a lot because:

• It can run through the Windows Explorer copy hook, not as a normal program you double-click.

• The main EXE might not be opened directly for months.

• PC Manager simply flags it as “unused for 180 days.”

So the advice to uninstall is safe to ignore if you rely on it for large file transfers. PC Manager is only offering a storage cleanup suggestion, not detecting real usage.

Given what you described—copying large numbers of files—TeraCopy still has real advantages over normal Windows copying: verification, better error handling, and queue control. Many people keep it installed for exactly that reason.

In short: nothing is wrong with your system. PC Manager just doesn’t understand how that utility is being used.

If you’re curious, there’s also a small technical twist here: since Windows 11 improved its own file copy engine, some people stopped needing TeraCopy. But if you’re moving huge directories or lots of small files, TeraCopy can still outperform Explorer.

One thing I’m curious about: when you use it, are you letting TeraCopy replace the default Windows copy dialog, or do you usually start it manually for big transfers? That changes how Windows logs its usage.

I use the normal right click "copy." A window opens give me the choice. I use regular copy most of the time but when doing a backup with a lot of files I use Teracopy.

That explains it perfectly. The way you’re using TeraCopy is exactly the scenario where Microsoft PC Manager gets confused.

When you right-click Copy in Windows 11 and then get the choice between the normal copy dialog and TeraCopy, what’s happening technically is this:

Windows Explorer launches the copy operation, and TeraCopy is called as a helper process. You’re not actually “opening” the TeraCopy program in the way PC Manager measures usage (double-clicking the application or launching it from the Start menu). So its usage counter may never update.

So PC Manager concludes:

“Program not used for 180 days.”

But in reality:

You are using it frequently—just indirectly through Explorer.

Your workflow makes good sense:
• Normal copy for everyday tasks
• TeraCopy for large backups with many files, where its error recovery and verification are useful.

That’s exactly how many experienced Windows users employ it.

In short: ignore the uninstall suggestion. It’s a simplistic housekeeping rule, not a real analysis of your behavior.

A small practical note you might find interesting: when copying very large numbers of small files (typical of backups), TeraCopy often still performs better than the built-in Windows copy because it queues operations more efficiently and handles retries cleanly. That’s why many people keep it even though Windows copying improved in recent versions.

Out of curiosity—since you mentioned backups—are you mostly copying to an external drive, or to another internal disk? With many small files the behavior can be quite different depending on which it is.

An external. Another thing it often recommends uninstalling are versions of Microsoft C. I have been do so for awhile but don't think I need C at all since I do no programming.

That recommendation is actually a much more dangerous one to follow than the TeraCopy suggestion.

The “Microsoft C” items you’re seeing are almost certainly the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages. They have nothing to do with whether you personally program in C or C++. They are runtime libraries used by many Windows applications.

In other words, a lot of programs are written in C or C++, and when they run they expect certain Microsoft support libraries to be present. Those libraries are what the redistributables provide.

A few important quirks explain why you see many different versions:

First, programs are often compiled against a specific version of the runtime (for example 2013, 2015–2019, 2022). They may refuse to run or crash if the exact one they expect is missing.

Second, the versions are usually side-by-side, meaning Windows keeps several installed simultaneously so older programs continue to work.

Third, many programs install them silently during setup, so you may never notice.

So the rule most Windows professionals follow is simple:

Do not uninstall Visual C++ redistributables unless something is broken and you are repairing it.

Removing them doesn’t usually save much space (often only 10–20 MB each), but it can break random programs later—sometimes months afterward when you install or open something that expects that library.

Utilities like Microsoft PC Manager often flag them because they appear “old” or “unused,” but that judgment is not very intelligent.

A safe mental model is this:
They’re more like shared plumbing inside Windows, not applications.

Given your background as a former programmer analyst, you might appreciate the analogy: they’re essentially dynamic runtime libraries that many independent executables link against.

So if you’ve been uninstalling them and nothing has broken, you’ve simply been lucky so far—but I would stop removing them going forward.

One small thing I’m curious about: when you look at the installed programs list, do you see both x86 and x64 versions of those Visual C++ redistributables? That often puzzles people too, but there’s a perfectly logical reason Windows keeps both.

On occasion I use another utility to remove empty drives and bad shortcuts?

That sort of utility is generally harmless, and it can even be useful housekeeping.

Programs that remove empty folders, dead shortcuts, and similar clutter are simply scanning the filesystem for things that point nowhere or contain nothing. Windows itself does not clean those up very aggressively, so after years of installing and uninstalling software they accumulate.

There are two slightly different things such utilities typically check:

Broken shortcuts. These are .lnk files that point to programs or files that no longer exist. Deleting them is completely safe because they’re just pointers.

Empty folders. These sometimes remain after uninstalling software. Removing them is also normally safe, though occasionally a program expects a folder to exist and recreates it later.

The only place to be a little cautious is with tools that go beyond that and start cleaning the registry. Many “cleanup” programs bundle registry cleaners, and those have a long history of causing odd breakages while providing little real benefit.

So a reasonable rule of thumb is:

• Removing bad shortcuts – safe.

• Removing empty folders – generally safe.

• Cleaning the registry – usually best avoided unless you know exactly why you’re doing it.

This is one of those areas where modern Windows is already fairly robust. On a system running Windows 11, aggressive cleanup utilities are much less necessary than they were twenty years ago.

From the way you describe your habits—using tools occasionally and for specific tasks—you’re actually using them in the safest possible way, rather than letting them run automatic “deep cleaning.”

I’m curious which utility you’re using for that job. Some of the older ones (like CCleaner or similar tools) used to be extremely common, but their reputation has shifted over the years.

I only let the Windows utility do any deleting and don't touch the registry.

That’s actually the most sensible way to use those tools.

If you let the scanning utility identify things but only allow the actual deletions through the built-in features of Windows 11, you’re staying within the safety rails Microsoft designed. In other words, Windows is still the one making the final decision about what gets removed.

Avoiding the registry is especially wise. The Windows registry looks like a place where you could “clean things up,” but in practice the entries take very little space and removing the wrong one can cause obscure failures months later. Modern Windows is perfectly happy to carry around a lot of unused registry entries.

Your approach—occasionally cleaning broken shortcuts and empty folders while leaving the deeper plumbing alone—is exactly what many careful system administrators do. It keeps the system tidy without introducing risk.

The only two general maintenance habits that still matter on modern Windows machines are quite simple: keep updates current and maintain reliable backups (which you’re already doing with your external drive and TeraCopy).

From the pattern you describe, you’re treating utilities like Microsoft PC Manager as advisors rather than authorities, which is the right mindset. Those programs tend to make very aggressive suggestions that are not always wise.

If you’re interested, there is also a small trap many people fall into with external backups on Windows—it has to do with timestamps and skipped files during large copy operations. Since you’re copying large numbers of files, it might actually be relevant to you. I can explain it if you like.