Uninstall Programs Problems

Thanks.

None of these programs have an option to turn off upgrade reminders or their own uninstall option.

in running msconfig, it cannot be determined what, if any, of the entries listed have anything to do with these programs(ie. the program name Corel Photo Album or Musicmatch are not evident).

I guess my only option is to use the Add/Remove feature nd cross my fingers.

Thanks anyway.

It's always best to use an application's own Uninstall feature, if it has one. If not, then you have to use Windows Add/Remove. Some times an uninstall may remove a shared file that Windows or other software needs, or it may not remove everything from the Registry and that can cause problems.

If all you want to do is turn off those pesky update reminders, most applications will allow you to do that without removing the entire program. Look on the application's toolbar, usually under tools>options (or similar) for these settings. Or, run msconfig and uncheck every box on the Startup tab related to these applications (eg, uncheck sgtray.exe for Sonic's annoying updater).

Ron

Look on the Command Line for each entry on Startup tab in msconfig to figure out what things are. On my system, Musicmatch is listed as mmtask, and I believe that's the updater. I gave ut unchecked and haven't been bothered by requests to update.

If I open Musicmatch Jukebox and click Options>Settings, on the General tab there's a line that says "Permission to communicate with Musicmatch server". I've got both boxes below that unchecked, one of which is "periodically check for updated versions of Musicmatch". So that's how to turn off the MM updater from within.

Don't use Corel Photo Album so can't help you with that one, but you should probably find some Optons>Settings page with similar options to those in Musicmatch to turn off the updater.

Ron

Thanks. I'll check it out.

You most definatly should remove unwanted programs. It's the uninstallers not working properly that is causing problems for people - generally registry problems. Sonic seems to be linked to Corel somehow in Dells installations (in fact, I found Sonic programs under the Corel application folder in my new Dell system.) AOL is a nightmare in itself. The add/remove programs will only delete half of it too. So use another program to get rid off it. I listed a bunch of possible ones in another thread about Sonic. You could do it by hand, but I figure if you are technical enough to do that, you wouldn't be asking questions here.

And always back up your registry before making registry changes.

A lot of unwanted programs can slow down your system, as well as taking up space and offending your asthetic sensabilities.

Message Edited by jxlewis on 03-23-2006 06:38 PM

Well, I hope somebody can help me.  I have tried to uninstall Corel Photo Album 6, and obviously deleted portions thereof.  However, I cannot remove it from my Add/Remove programs feature as it is constantly asking for the original source or disk.  As well, when my startup begins, the windows installer feature keeps looking for it and I cannot get out of it unless I use Ctrl/Alt/Delete

Other problem pertains to McAfee.  And again, have removed from registry, but keeps coming back???    When I go into Outlook I get three error messages.  I click on OK and it lets me through to Outlook with no problems, but it says to use Detect and Repair, which I did and found 4 setup problems, but can't repair them.

I agree that some of this content is spyware as McAfee installed a Trojan Downloader when I originally uninstalled it

Thanks.

 

I can't reccomend this enough for removing unwanted programs on new Dell computers:
SmartyUninstaller 2006 Pro
http://www.winnertweak.com/uninstaller/index.html
It's shareware which in this case means a 15 day free trial. More than enough time to get rid of all the bloatware on your new computer.
Use the "Force uninstall option to get rid of programs whos own uninstallers are not working, Then, when your trial period runs out, just remove the uninstaller program.

Some times the only way to fix this is to reinstall the app and then use its own uninstaller to reove it completely. The Windows Installer Cleanup Utility might be helpful too:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301

I seriously doubt McAfee installed a "Trojan Downloader", as you called it. But if you think you have malware on your system, run Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware, both free.

Ron