Every year or so, since 2010, I have been trying to uninstall Dell DataSafe Local Backup from my Dell XPS. It never uninstalls. I disabled it using some help I found here 7 years ago... so this time I ...

In windows 10, I go to add and remove programs, and when I click UNINSTALL for Dell DataSafe Local Backup it says "There was a problem starting C:\Program"

I finally have a solution:

backup your registry

use regedit

starting at 
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

search for "DataSafe". In my case it found this, but your's will probably be different.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{0ED7EE95-6A97-47AA-AD73-152C08A15B04}

Next, find the UninstallString

It will probably look something like this:

RunDll32 C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime\10\01\Intel32\ctor.dll,LaunchSetup "C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield Installation Information\{A9668246-FB70-4103-A1E3-66C9BC2EFB49}\setup.exe" -l0x9 -removeonly

WELL THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM ... it is trying to run RunDll32 C:\Program  with the parameters Files (x86)\Common Files etc...

 

The fix is to put quotes around the program name thus:

RunDll32 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime\10\01\Intel32\ctor.dll",LaunchSetup "C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield Installation Information\{A9668246-FB70-4103-A1E3-66C9BC2EFB49}\setup.exe" -l0x9 -removeonly

That is, quotes before the C:\Program and after the ctor.dll

There were two malformed uninstall strings, for  Dell DataSafe Local Backup  and  Dell DataSafe Local Backup Support that I had to fix.

Now, close add and remove programs ... open add and remove programs ... hit the uninstall button, and uninstall normally.

It worked for me(tm)