Windows Uninstall won't work

I'm new to this but I hope someone here can help me. I'm tyring to uninstall some programs on my computer that the kids put on it. To make a long story short, I can't get these programs off. What do I need to do? Any help or advice is appreciated. If someone on here needs more information I'll gladly supply it. I'm pulling my hair out and that's a bad thing since I'm allmost bald! Thank you for any help you can provide.

Hi and welcome to What The Tech!

To make a long story short, I can't get these programs off.

What did you already do in your attempt to get it off?

If someone on here needs more information I'll gladly supply it.

What program is it and is this on the Vista computer?

Have you already tried this. For XP:

• Click Start
• Go to Control Panel
• Go to Add/Remove Programs
• Find and click Remove for the program

For Vista:

• Click Start
• Go to Control Panel
• Go to Programs and Features
• Find, right click and choose Uninstall for the program

Please let us know.

Regards,
John.

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes this is the Vista computer. Most of these programs are games that the kids installed. I cant say if they've been patched or modded. 3 of these games are made by Microsoft. A flight simulator, a golf game, and something called Metal Gear Solid. I used the procedure you listed and all that happens is the system says preparing to uninstall. After about 10 minutes I get a message that uninstall failed and it asks me to retry. Any idea what caused this?

Hi, That is not really normal. Do you have full permission and rights on that account? You would if you could uninstall other programs that way. I do not know much about Vista, so my guess is that it is the irritating administrator thing on Vista. Regards, John.

I am the system administrator so that couldn't be the problem. A little searching around the site this weekend showed me how to finally fix this issue, so bravo to you ladies and gentlemen for a well designed site. Now a new issue has arisen… This seems to be the theme with Vista. Fix one problem; create another! Let me tell you about this one. After finally getting the uninstall to work and getting rid of all that junk my kids put on here, my screen keeps flashing on and off. It only happens for fractions of a second, but it does this continuously. It's especially bad at startup. The screen blinks off and on at random for no discernable reason. If I open a new program the screen blinks out for a second or two then comes back on. Same thing happens when I close programs. Did I do something wrong when I uninstalled all that stuff? The computer never did this prior to me uninstalling all those unwanted games and such. Any idea what caused this? Any help is appreciated. Reguards, Truckerjason

Truckerjason,

Thanks for the compliment to our Forum website.
If you don't mind, what did you actually find that helped you with the uninstall.
For instance, I imagine that you may have read one of the Tech Tips, or possibly searched for similar problem topics?

As to your "new" monitor flickering problem….
My first thought is that uninstalling various of those game softwares, may have removed all or parts of your updated Graphics Adapter Driver (video card or onboard video)

It is also the case, that "way back" Vista presented this or similar problems typified also by loss of access to Control Panel and use of Window Media Player. Early on it was a matter of Services getting turned off.
give this a read: http://forums.microsoft.com/communities/sh…25&siteid=6

As long as you have your current MS updates, the above "should" have been patched.

I'm more suspicious of Video graphic adapter Drivers.
Have a look in Device Manager for any error or warning messages:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsvista/f/opendmvista.htm
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/f/finddevmngr.htm

Consider Re-Installing your graphics Drivers (or if your machine has onboard graphics re-install the Chipset Drivers for your Motherboard (from the manufacturer).

Keep us posted.

And just to check…. Boot your machine into SAFE Mode. I suspect you will not get the "flickering", because your machine will default back to its most basic Driver. Resolution will change to less detail and bigger icons and fonts, but is it still "flickering" when in SAFE Mode?

Best Regards

I dont remember exactly where in the forums, but it led me to a little free program called CCleaner. I downloaded the file run it and made the necessary changes it recommended. After restarting I was able to do a full uninstall. As for the flicker; I tried the steps you recommended and used safe mode. I emailed support @ Nvidia who makes the on-board graphics chip in my system, (it's a DELL by the way) and they suspect something in the registry is causing problems. I have the most current graphics driver from Nvidia and all the recent updates from MS. Do you think maybe the registry has some whodo's floating around in there? If so, what do I do about that?

For the video problem, give this a try:

• Reboot your computer. When you see the Dell logo, press F8 to get to the Windows Advanced Options
• Select Enable VGA Mode: This option starts Windows in 640 x 480 mode by using the current video driver. Screen will be ugly as everything is very large.
• Reinstall the latest nVidia driver

See if that makes a difference.

I did as you said using the latest driver from Nvidia. It worked the first time I rebooted the system. I was about to declare victory until I turned the system on this am and "BLAMO", the flicker is back. Nvidia swears it's the registry or a keystroke logger? What's a keystroke logger? Remember I'm new to this stuff. Still frustrated, Truckerjason

I did as you said using the latest driver from Nvidia. It worked the first time I rebooted the system. I was about to declare victory until I turned the system on this am and "BLAMO", the flicker is back. Nvidia swears it's the registry or a keystroke logger? What's a keystroke logger? Remember I'm new to this stuff.

Still frustrated,
Truckerjason

Hi Truckerjason

A keystroke logger aka a keylogger is a piece of software which can be used for parental control or malicious use, since it hides itself and logs every single letter/key you press and lets the owner of the software see what has been typed unbeknownst to the users of the computer.

I cannot see any reason why a keylogger would create the 'flicker' problem you're having. Even a registry problem seems a little unexpected.

This may sound silly, but check connections on the back of the computer. The VGA cable which runs from your graphics card on your PC to your Monitor may be loose and causing the issue. If so, tighten it just a little and see if it helps a little. The VGA cable should be on securely, but not so tight you cannot get it off.

'Bob

P.S

You used CCleaner, which is a great product but you need to be careful when making changes to the registry. Did you by any chance use the registry cleaner in CCleaner? If so, did you save a *.reg (* stands for file name) file?

Let's go ahead and rule-out "keystroke logger" which would be a dangerous infection.

Please read here and post your HJT Log as a new Topic here

Once the Malware Removal specialists have assured that your machine is not infected, or clean up any existing infection, we can resume trying to track down any additional system, hardware and driver problems that may remain.

It would not be a good idea to do any system, hardware or driver work if your machine is infected.
Let's get that part (possible infection) taken care of first.

Best Regards,
Doug