You make me install it… you tell me how to remove it

Having installed some invasive ‘online proctoring’ software, I tried to ask the company how to uninstall it.

I was, finally, getting around to doing AWS certifications, and one of the way you can do that is via the Pearson OnVue proctoring system. You run software that limits what you can use your machine for, stops you using multiple windows to look up answer. It asks for a fair bit of access when you run, unsurprisingly.

I installed it, I ran the test to see if it worked, and shortly afterwards was having problems with my computer and the clipboard – and wondered if that was a ‘feature’ of this software.

I have since resolved these separately, but I wanted to uninstall OnVue, but there is NO detail of how to do this on the website.

I have asked all their contact channels, “how do I uninstall it” – I get back a variety of canned responses:

  • “you can’t cancel an exam via email”
  • “if you run a test exam you can see if the software works on your system”

Now given it doesn’t look like it was an “installed” app and just an application that ran from a zip file, uninstalling it could be as simple as not running it ever again, and deleting the download.

But I don’t know if it hasn’t installed a few system extensions or similar, I’ve had a quick look and I don’t think it has but is it too much to expect a webpage owned by Pearson that says that – right now the search results for “remove onvue macintosh” are swamped by advertising pages for Mac removal software.

A document that states what to do online, an answer in the knowledge base so agents respond – is really the bare minimum.

If you make me run/install it, give me a clear way to remove it.