missing uninstall logs

I need some help!
I am getting the error message in Add-remove, "cannot find the uninstall.log" for several small programs that have not been uninstalled, which I am wanted to uininstall. What could cause this corruption?

Milt

 

There are many "cleaning" programs that mistakenly remove LOG files.

If you have run one, this is what has caused the "corruption ".

Your choices are to reinstall, and then uninstall using Add/Remove.
Or, the quick&dirty, just delete the folder it is installed in. (potentially, this will leave behind extraneous registry entries and files)

 

I have not run any cleaning programs. Essentially, I have been making some changes to an old win98 machine for my daughter. I save everything to disc images after making changes, ounce it seems everything is clean. I had made several images when I discovered this, so, I went back to the image that I had started with and checked. The four programs all had uninstall logs (would uninstall). The really odd thing is, I made the changes for that stage again, and checked these programs again before making the image, and they seemed fine. Today, I ran into an unlrelated problem, so I formatted and restored that image again, and checked add-remove, and the the problem was there. I actually was able to copy uninstall logs over from another machine that had the same programs, which fixes things, but I am still concerned why these would suddenly be deleted.

 

It is entirely possible the software you used to create the images omitted the log files.

 

Heres a few other reasons you may get that message. Programs that put thier uninstall log file in a temp folder may lose it when that folder is emptied or cleaned out.

A few times i have seen this because the program has its uninstall log / routine on the CD that installed it, and thats why it cannot find the log file unless you put the disk in the drive before attempting an uninstall.

Some program require you to have the install disk in the CDROM before removal is possible.

A few programs require you to be connected to the internet to uninstal them, if they were programs/plugins that came from there to start with.

Other reasons are that the program is actually uninstalled already (maybe by an update that supercedes the program) and the reference is just left in Add/Remove programs. In this case you can use a program called Tweakui to remove the dead reference from this list. Tweakui also has many other useful tweaks and settings for Windows.

Find downloads for all Windows versions here

http://www.systemsmedic.com/TweakUI.htm