[men8ifr]

I would like to uninstall a number of programs which I think may be running on start up - the problem is there is no uninstall option when I click on the program in the control panel there is no uninstall option in the program group. Some programs have this option - some dont.

The programs include Yahoo Messenger, McAfee Anti Virus, Norton Internet Security and a few more.

[techychick]

Try running the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Also, have you checked in each programs folder for an uninstall option?

Some applications in Add/Remove Programs list are missing Change and Remove buttons ?
http://www.winxptutor.com/arpbuttons.htm

[men8ifr]

Thanks very much for the reply.

Sadly the first link to the windows cleaner says that it does not remove the program but does remove the installation information for that program - I wanted to uninstall the program.

I followed the instructions on the second link but there is only a small number of programs listed in there and none of the ones I wanted to remove.

I have checked the install directories and the program group in start - my programs but cannot find any obvious uninstall option for these programs.

I tried to delete the program folder for one of the programs but was told I couldn't for some reason though this is a messy way to uninstall things and if it's leaving stuff in the registry etc then maybe it won't help solve my slow start up problems.

[managed]

Try this :- http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Be careful, don't stop anything you're not sure about !

The Startup Monitor on the same website is a good utility too.

[jdl]

If a program you installed on your computer creates a registry key name longer than 60 characters, Add/Remove Programs only lists program names it locates up to the point it encounters this situation.

If that is the problem, MS has provided a possible solution here.

Please let me know if that solves your problem.

[hewee]

MyUninstaller is free and no install is need so unzip it to it's own folder.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/myuninst.html

Important Notice
When you uninstall a software, MyUninstaller utility is not directly responsible to the uninstall process. MyUninstaller simply run the uninstall module provided by the software that you want to uninstall. So, if from some reason the uninstall process fails, you should contact the author of the software that you want to uninstall, not to the author of MyUninstaller.

So even if you don't see the uninstaller in add/remove this should find it for you so you can uninstall things.
Also note it will show other things installed that were never in the add/remove so don't just go uninstall anything because it list all things that have a uninstall. Some could be part of another program and when you install or uninstall it then it runs other installs or uninstalls.

[jmwills]

Try looking in the folder the program is installed in.

[Rollin' Rog]

One way of dealing with such problems is to reinstall the program and then uninstall it.

But if you just want to remove the entry from Add/Remove programs, run regedit and navigate to this key >>

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Look under the "uninstall" key in the left pane for a reference to the program and delete it.

Note: this does NOT uninstall an installed program -- what it does is remove an orphaned entry for a program that has been uninstalled but remains visible in Add/Remove programs.

If you just want to stop the program from running -- if you know for a fact it is running -- run msconfig and look for it under the startup tab and uncheck it. You may need to do this under the services tab as well if there are entries for it there; or run services.msc and disable the service.

Again this doesn't uninstall anything -- it just disables it.

[men8ifr]

Yes done that - nothing

It seems as if it's older programs that have no uninstall option

[men8ifr]

My above post means I've looked in the programs own folder on the hard disk and in the start folder.

[men8ifr]

I tried that my uninstall and it doesn't list any of the programs mentioned

[Rollin' Rog]

Can you list the programs you are referring to and the exact reference you see in Add/Remove Programs for them?

Also, post a HijackThis scanlog.

HijackThis has an option to remove items from Add/Remove programs if it can see them.

Download and install HijackThis. Run it and select "do a system scan and save the log file". Then copy/paste the contents of the log to a reply

http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en...ols/hijackthis


With HijackThis, select Config > Misc Tools > Uninstall Manager. Do you see your programs there? You can uninstall or just delete the entry if it is an orphan.