can't remove programs

In add/remove programs in control panel several of the add remove icon buttons are non existent for various programs. The programs with this problem seem to be the programs that came bundled with my HP Pavillion. Is this normal?

 

zupsguy--I do not have an HP, so cannot say anything based on experience.
But every so often there are programs which do not put themselves into Add/Remove. Can you find a folder with a name for each of these programs--probably in C:\Program Files? If so, can you find an unwise.exe or uninstall file in each folder? Clicking them should start an uninstall process. Or in Start|All Programs, does the name of the program appear with an arrow to the right? If you slide the mouse over the arrow, are you offered an uninstall option?
What are some of these programs? If they are HP programs, HP probably does not want you to uninstall. You could try to contact HP
http://www.hp.com/country/us/en/contact_us.html
If they are not HP programs we may be able to tell you how to uninstall.
P.S. Sometimes in Add/Remove the program is not listed alphabetically by its own name, but under HP or some other umbrella name.

 

There's no rule that says all programs must be uninstalled a particular way. Many older programs can just be deleted from the disk, and I think many other programs that don't have an option to uninstall them can be too. The HPs I've seen have lots of unnecessary stuff and nothing bad happens if it's deleted.

 

still not there yet

Thanks but none of the hp preloaded programs listed in control panel have any of those features to uninstall. I stumbled on this while launching Sonic Record Now which came bundled with the HP installed software. RecordNow started to load/install when I clicked on the program in the Start menu...but the stopped as it was was looking for several msi extension files that were supposedly in a missing directory c: hp\tmp\sc_data_20\. I called HP and their only solution was to run the restore disk which is basically a reformat job. Don't think I am quite ready for that yet

 

since it stopped and was looking for missing files, i think that you are going to have to do a restore. if you had an original M$ xp cd, then all you would do is "repair" install. but since you have a store bought pc, your options are limited. as much as i do not like "tech support ", maybe this time tech support is right.

you might have too many corrupted files as well by any improperly done removal of some previous programs.

 

reinstall

Probably right about the reinstall..........afraid I will be right back in the same boat as I have the HP version of XP. THANKS

 

look carefully at the CDs that came with the computer. One may contain just the preinstalled software and if so it could solve the problem.

 

no luck

everything is on a hidden partition which I can't access. They do have a utility to burn everything to a dvd...I will burn one and see if I can access the mising directory or maybe separate xp from the rest of the recovery disk

 

zupsguy--You could also Start|Run|type msconfig|OK|Startup tab and uncheck|Apply|OK any items from starting at boot that you do not wish to have start.
Somewhat of a workaround, but at least you would not have to restore.
(When you restart after doing that, you will get a nuisance message from Windows. Just check the box at the bottom left and then OK. The message will go away and not come up again until you make other modifications to msconfig.)

 

Sonic Record Now is definitely something you want. Burn the CD and use it. HP's recovery stuff works well.

 

good ideas

MSCONFIG is a good idea....but I did successfully find the missing files on the HP restore CD I created from their hidden partition and was successful in fully launching/installing the program. Also when I go to add remove programs in control panel this program now has an REMOVE icon.

In defense of HP they do launch paqs and fixes for their mistakes that work....the trouble is getting someone to notice that there is a problem in the first place.

THANKS TO ALL IN THE BBS FOR YOUR GREAT IDEAS AND INSPIRATION