How to uninstall Yandex Browser on Windows
This guide covers the official Yandex Browser 26.10.0.1796 installer. The browser itself installs for the current user under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Yandex\YandexBrowser, but it also registers a machine-wide Yandex.Browser Update Service and an Update for Yandex Browser scheduled task. Sync or export bookmarks, passwords and sessions before uninstalling; this test did not sign in.
Quit and uninstall
Close Yandex Browser and check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for browser.exe under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Yandex. Its YandexBrowserAutoLaunch_<id> startup entry appears in Settings › Apps › Startup. Uninstall it from Settings › Apps › Installed apps. Because the update service is machine-wide, the uninstaller asks for administrator approval even for this per-user install; without it nothing is removed. Its own window then asks whether to Delete or Reinstall, and offers a box to delete settings, history and other data, unchecked by default.
Check the result
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Yandex\YandexBrowser\Application"
Get-Service YandexBrowserService -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Update for Yandex Browser" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Yandex"
A successful Test-Path returning False means that path is absent. No service or task output does not prove absence if the query suppressed an error. True for %LOCALAPPDATA%\Yandex means the browser data you chose to keep is still there. In this test the removal run with administrator rights took the program, service, task and registration away, and the unselected browser data stayed.
What Mole lists
The program folder %LOCALAPPDATA%\Yandex\YandexBrowser\Application, the Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts, the yabrowser link protocol and the Yandex file-type ProgIDs under HKCU\Software\Classes, the startup entry and usage records are selected by default. The browser data folders %LOCALAPPDATA%\Yandex, %APPDATA%\Yandex and %ProgramData%\Yandex are personal data, listed but not selected; HKCU\Software\Yandex is listed for review. File-extension keys such as .epub and .swf are shared with other apps and stay.
What this test covered
Tested on 11 October 2026 in a Windows 11 ARM64 VM with a source-built Mole, without signing in. Size, the icon, Status, Startup (the entry was switched off and restored), Updates and the uninstall review were observed. The user-scope uninstall asked for administrator approval; that run did not complete approval and removed nothing, and the removal was measured separately in a run with administrator rights. No older trusted installer was available, so no upgrade was tested. Browser data recovery, external uninstall detection and the downloadable Mole package were not tested.