[Unable to uninstall programs - Open Office, iTunes, etc]

I have XP OS on my desktop. I bought this on EBay a few years ago and it came without any disks of the programs installed. I have a small HD [37 gigs]
and want to clear up some space on it by deleting programs. Open Office and a few others (iTunes) wont erase as I get the message that I need to insert the disk in order to go forward!
Is there any way to erase these files? I've tried a program on the web that claimed it could force erase programs but to no avail.
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks, john24rob

 

How are you removing the programs ? Add/Remove programs or by other means ?

Also update/change your query title. john24rob doesn't tell anybody anything.

 

Hello John24rob,

Regarding Open Office, there's got to be a good, clean and thorough way offered here among a goggle search and resulting hit list:
uninstall open office

May I suggest you also try a google search using the possible filtered topic of "uninstall "[insert name of program here] " for itunes and others. You may luck out and many of these programs may have a tool to aid removal or a walk through of a manual removal.

 

I am using windows add/remove tool. I get the following message:" The feature you are trying to use in on a CD-Rom or other removalbe disk that is not available. Insert the OpenOffice.org2.2 disk and click OK

 

The quickest & the best way would be to download the programs, install them & then uninstall them. Brute force uninstall may work, but would leave lots of files & registry clutter behind which could cause problems in future.

 

Read the first few hits on the link I shared. Solutions are there. Others have had this same problem and have shared the experience.

 

Just a suggestion which could save some time.

Is there any software on the computer that you want to keep but don't have copies of?
If 'No' then why not do a clean install of the OS as that will free up the maximum amount of space.

As long as you have the key for your OS you can do a re-install using somebody elses copy of windows but it must be the same version as described on the key sticker.

 

I have a few programs without copies so a clean re-install is out of the question. I have tried the re-install with OpenOffice but it didn't work! Am I stuck with these programs or not? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

This site has a guide for uninstalling open office and when you go to the page there is a list down the right hand side which includes a guide to uninstall a lot of programs including iTunes.


http://www.uninstalltips.com/category/uninstall-openofficeorg-22/

As you have no OS disc you may find this guide useful.

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml

As long as you have a genuine product key for windows you could borrow the same version to do a re-install if need be.

Try to find the product keys for the software that you wish to keep and see is you can download the same versions and burn them onto disc.

At the very least I would try to make a back up of your hard drive just incase anything goes wrong.

 

John24Rob, I am sure you will soon see that the last post is dealing with software that you need to buy. The link I have offered is for free programs that are dedicated to removing specific software and as such will probably do a much thorough job.