richardb357 Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 I am still experiencing problems with items left in the registry. I have followed the removal instructions on the knowledge base, but still, thousands of items remain in the registry. When I click on certain icons on the desktop, windows installer pops up and attempts to install. Which can not be done because I do not want to install it. I have to close 12 windows to make it stop When I open control panel and add/remove hardware, there is an entry in the list that shows this item is rarely used and does not allow me to remove the entry or program. What must I do to completely remove the registry items? Reinstall windows? I can not find the original CD so reinstalling the program is not possible. Please help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Hello Richard, You should use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility from Microsoft (here) to clean that up. Read the Microsoft page carefully, and then attack the troublesome entries. That should clear your problem. Regards, Brendon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardb357 Posted July 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Thank you sir that did the trick tootsweet. As far as the desktop problem goes. The registry still shows a minimum of 100 entries that have no business being there. As you should be aware of, a sloppy registry only slows the machine down. As any good programmer should do, if it was put on MY machine with the software, the software should remove these items. I trust that in later editions this problem has been resolved. If not, you should pass this on to the programming team. Thanks for the quick assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 I agree with you 100% about an uninstaller uninstalling everything it put into the registry. Alas, I've never seen one which is perfect, and lots fall well short of the mark. Patatrox (who was not on the programming team) did write a brute force uninstaller for versions 5 and 6. It's called Roxizap, and you can find it here. Anything still hanging around after that is best dealt with by one of the better free registry cleaners such as Regseeker (which I use all the time). Best regards, Brendon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REDWAGON Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 Just to add a little more insight to what most programs don't include a program feature to remove every part of their code is that in a lot of cases programmers use the same DLL files that other programs are using for their programs and also possibly other necessary files as well that are being used by other programs. So, if one removes every file that was coded for the program, it would leave other programs using some of the same files not being able to run properly. BTW, I learned that the hard way. I have a program that lists every single DLL file that is on my computer and what programs are using that particular file. You wouldn't believe how many programs I have on my computer that are using that same identical DLL file. And there are some DLL files that have been updated by the installation of a new program, and that can screw up another program that used the old DLL file. Frank... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 A good uninstaller will tell you if a DLL is being used by some other program, Frank, and ask if you want to leave it alone. However that's only libraries - it doesn't account for all the other pop bottles, beer cans, gum wrappers, donut boxes and and fried chicken scraps that these programs leave behind when you uninstall them. It's just like real life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REDWAGON Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 So far Brendon I have not seen an uninstaller program that would tell me if a DLL file was being used by another programn and asks if I still want to delete it. If you have a preference for one of those types of programs that does that, let me know I would like to try it. Frank... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_deweywright Posted July 25, 2007 Report Share Posted July 25, 2007 So far Brendon I have not seen an uninstaller program that would tell me if a DLL file was being used by another programn and asks if I still want to delete it. If you have a preference for one of those types of programs that does that, let me know I would like to try it. Frank... Frank, I can't say just what applications I've uninstalled, but it was the uninstaller for those specific applications that warned me that some other program may be using "this".DLL file, and gave me the option of "Do you still want to uninstall it?" So, I think Brendon was speaking in those terms, the uninstaller included with the application warning of other programs using the same thing it was thinking of uninstalling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REDWAGON Posted July 25, 2007 Report Share Posted July 25, 2007 Thanks Dave for that suggestion. I was thinking that the roxizap or windows uninstaller was somehow the ones that Brendon was speaking of. I have seen am aware of a particular program that has it's own uninstall program have that ability. And I sure agree with Brendon that there are hundreds of other files that are left behind even with those types of installers as well as others. Frank... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon Posted July 26, 2007 Report Share Posted July 26, 2007 Sorry for the confusion Frank. I was speaking of the built-in uninstallers other programs have. Since I am a monkey and experiment a lot, I have seen a number of them which prepare to delete everything they install, but give you the option to keep DLLs which another program might also use. I thought it was sad that Sonic/Roxio couldn't use a similar scheme instead of leaving detritus all over the system when you uninstall. Regards, Brendon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REDWAGON Posted July 26, 2007 Report Share Posted July 26, 2007 That was my problem Brendon, not yours. For some reason I had in my mind that the microsoft uninstaller that is talked about on the forum and also the roxizap was giving you the choice. Yeah, I have uninstalled many programs that have their own uninstaller for just that particular program and know what you were referring to now. My bad Brendon. I used to use a program quite often that kept track of each and every file that was placed in the registry for any program you installed. Then later you could decide what files you wanted to remove if the program did not have it's own uninstaller. That program was "INCTRL5" as I remember. Frank... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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