How can I remove all traces of a ClickOnce application from a customer's computer?

Question

I have a ClickOnce application that about 120 customers are using. This week, I found out two customers declined an update in January and were stuck on an old version. I dis

Answer 1

If you've already run the uninstall and it hasn't sorted it, try deleting the files in

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\

You'll have to do some looking around to find your application, but it shouldn't be too hard.

In the past I've used the below code to avoid the users having to click the update button, this will install it without them even knowing.

Private Shared Function UpdatedApp(ByVal AppLog As Logger) As Boolean

    Try
        ' Check to see that this program has been delpoyed
        If Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed Then
            Dim CurrApp As System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment = System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment

            AppLog.WriteLine("Application Version : {0}", CurrApp.CurrentVersion)
            AppLog.WriteLine("Checking for updates")

            ' If theres a update then Install it
            If CurrApp.CheckForUpdate() Then
                AppLog.WriteLine("An updated version is available. This update will now be applied.")

                ' Update the app to the current version
                CurrApp.Update()

                ' Upgrade the settings (that is, the connection string).
                My.Settings.Upgrade()

                AppLog.WriteLine("Version {0} is now installed, the application will now restart", CurrApp.UpdatedVersion)

                Return True
            End If
        Else
            AppLog.WriteLine("Application version: *Dev Version*")
        End If
    Catch ex As Exception
        AppLog.WriteLine("The application is unable to check for updates. The program will execute on a possibly outdated version. Error {0}", ex.ToString)
    End Try

    ' Always return false unless the update has been applied (even if the update throws an error)
    Return False
End Function