What is the difference between Eliminate and Uninstall method in MDES SDK?
This article is applied to MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK releases deployed on Windows, MacOS.
Overview
When removing application software software using the MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK, we offered two methods on our official documentation: Uninstall and Eliminate. While both aim to remove a product from the system, they differ in how they work and when they should be used.
Uninstall method
The Uninstall method is the official, supported, and recommended way to remove applications.
- It works with products that are recognized and supported by OPSWAT’s database.
- It uses the product’s standard uninstall process to safely remove it from the system.
- It is reliable and tested for production use.
Eliminate method
The Eliminate method was designed to remove products, including those not officially supported. However, it is not reliable for production and has been marked for deprecation.
- It internally calls the
Uninstallmethod, then attempts additional steps if needed. - It may target unsupported or unknown products, which increases the chance of incorrect or incomplete removals.
- Due to quality concerns, it should not be used in production environments.
Use only the Uninstall method for removing software in your production environment. The Eliminate method will be deprecated soon from SDK.
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