Uninstall Shield ?

The machines we love to hate

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John Hawkins
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Joined: 8 Apr 1999 12:01 am
Location: Onalaska, Tx. on Lake Livingston * R.I.P.

Uninstall Shield ?

Post by John Hawkins »

Mark ,
I have certain programs in my PC that I want to uninstall . When I go to the "ADD/REMOVE"
and find the program I want to remove and highlight it and click on remove, a box pops up that is titled "UNINSTALL SHIELD" . This shield will not let me uninstall that particular program . How do I get around this "shield" so the uninstall will continue ? I run Windows 98 .

Sorry to bother you ( or others who have a solution and answer) with a dumb question from a computer dummy !!!

Thanks ,
John
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Jim Smith
Posts: 7949
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Midlothian, TX, USA

Post by Jim Smith »

UninstallShield is not a "shield", keeping you from uninstalling. It is a companion to InstallShield, a standard program installation tool that's been around for a long time. Normally when InstallShield installs a program, it also installs the information UninstallShield can use to uninstall it.

You probably deleted that information somewhere along the line and will have to either uninstall it by hand or find a third party utility that can search and find what needs to be removed.
John Hawkins
Posts: 708
Joined: 8 Apr 1999 12:01 am
Location: Onalaska, Tx. on Lake Livingston * R.I.P.

Post by John Hawkins »

Jim ,

Thanks for your reply . I'm not sure I understand the "third party " term ! How would I go about uninstalling programs "by hand", as you put it ? If it will be necessary to go into the registry , I will not even get close to attempting to mess within that area .

It's just that some stuff I thought was out of the system , is still shown on the "add/remove list ( such as a particular game the kids installed a long time ago that I never use ) or "Real Player" that I thought I had uninstalled some time ago . I cannot make Real Player active alright or the game , but they both are still showing up on the add/remove list .I'm trying to take them and others off that list in hopes to free up space they may be taking up .

Maybe I should just forget cleaning up unwanted things and live with seeing them on the list from now on ? I wish I knew as much about these monsters ( PC )as you and some others on the forum know .I did learn to program ( with Gerry's help ) the Digitech Quad Four effects unit I got when I bought Gerry's Stereo Steel System some years ago . Still love'n that entire system --it's GREAT !!!!

Thanks again for your help .

John
Rich Paton
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Joined: 3 Dec 1999 1:01 am
Location: Santa Maria, CA.,

Post by Rich Paton »

"Install Shield" ("IS") is software licensed to other software makers for the pupose of saving their customers unnecessary grief.
God willing, & when the planets are right), "IS" records critical data on ypur machine's software configuration before and after an application is installed. This provides to the user a typically painless process in uninstalling apps.
...Returning to the realm of the Real World, there are errors, and there is baggage.
Errors produced during install/uninstall can be the most difficult types to resolve.
Baggage is anything left over after a program is uninstalled, but which does not interfere with the running of other software. The "Catch 22" of baggage is that susequent manual removal of same may or may not cause new problems.
Yes, you are most likely talking "Manual Cleanup" = Manual Registry Cleanup".

OR...try Painless Registry Cleaning on Steroids.

I would recommend getting ahold of a copy of Norton System Works, version 2002 or newer, and use the "WINDOCTOR" (NOT System Doctor) utility to find pesky baggage/errors and nuke them out. I state NSW2002 or newer, because the utilities on it can be run from the CD with no changes to your system. There are plenty of similar apps out there, but this works for me.

Best Regards, & Good Luck, Sir!
John Hawkins
Posts: 708
Joined: 8 Apr 1999 12:01 am
Location: Onalaska, Tx. on Lake Livingston * R.I.P.

Post by John Hawkins »

Rich ,

Many thanks for your clear explanation of the
problem I encountered . I do run Norton 2002 but I think I only have the anti virus program and cannot get into any alternate options on the existing program . As I stated , I just barely know how to turn one of these computers on so I may have the option you refer to .

I have concluded ,after reading your very good reply , that I will not attempt anything further as it sounds like I will get into something I cannot handle and make things worse . I guess the saying "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It " applies here .My system runs good so having certain unwanted items on a list does not hurt it's operation too much if any, I suppose .

Thanks to you and to all who have replied and given help .

John
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Jim Smith
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Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Midlothian, TX, USA

Post by Jim Smith »

If you have already uninstalled the programs but they still show up in the Add/Remove list, a Microsoft utility called TweakUI will remove them from the list.

You can download the 98 version from this web page: http://www.systemsmedic.com/TweakUI.htm It has instructions for installing it as well. TweakUI has many nice features and will be worth the installation. Image
John Hawkins
Posts: 708
Joined: 8 Apr 1999 12:01 am
Location: Onalaska, Tx. on Lake Livingston * R.I.P.

Post by John Hawkins »

Jim ,

Many thanks ! I'll try it !

Kind Regards,

John