Bypass Prevention
How to Enforce a Program on Windows and Prevent Uninstall
Prevent a program, such as an application that blocks content, from being uninstalled and deleted by a user on Windows PCs.
One common question we get from Tech Lockdown members is "how do I prevent uninstall of a program on a Windows PC?" If you want to prevent intentional or accidental bypass of an important application, such as a content filtering software, preventing it from being uninstalled is an important step. Restricting the add/remove programs feature for Windows and removing the option to right click and uninstall a program are effective ways to prevent uninstall of important software.
Preventing a specific program from being uninstalled is a common scenario for people who are trying to block porn on a PC . In order to prevent a content filtering policy from being bypassed, usually some underlying software needs to be installed and kept running on the target machine. After the software is installed, here are some ways to keep it from being removed.
Self-enforcing Programs
Some software is designed with bypass prevention built-in. For example, Tech Lockdown members get access to a Windows Enforcer Tool that keeps the content filtering application from being uninstalled or stopped.
If the user attempts to uninstall the application within Add/remove programs or Apps & Features on Windows 11, the option to modify or uninstall will be disabled and greyed out.
Second, instead of blocking or disabling task manager completely , the Enforcer Tool automatically restarts the PC's Content Filtering VPN if it becomes disabled for some reason.
Disable All Application Uninstalls
If the software you are trying to enforce can't protect itself from being uninstalled, your other option is to disable the ability to uninstall programs on the Windows PC.
This will affect all programs currently installed, and can only be undone with a separate command.
To do this, open Command Prompt as Administrator on your computer, then copy/paste the following command:
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" /v NoUninstallFromStart /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
This will remove the option to uninstall any application or program from your windows computer. This includes within the Start menu:
And Settings:
