Add/Remove white space - but no negative DisplayIcon numbers

[Mickey Ferguson]

I'm running XP Pro SP2. When I start up the Add/Remove Programs applet, it
shows a number of programs, then has a huge amount of empty space between
two entries (we're talking dozens of page down keystrokes to find the next
one), then some more entries, and another huge gap. I have no idea how to
clean up this problem. I'm reasonably familiar with the Uninstall registry
key, and I don't see anything that looks out of the ordinary. I've also run
RegClean.exe, though that really only deals with missing/removed COM
components.

Short of blowing my system away and starting from scratch (really not much
of an option, since I've got so many programs installed), what can I do to
fix this problem and clean my system? Is there something to look at in the
registry to find and fix this? I'm perfectly comfortable with going into
the registry and making changes if needed.

Yes, I've already read the "line 226 right-hand side" fix, no, I don't have
AutoCad or the other app installed, and no that didn't fix my problem. I
have no remaining items with a DisplayIcon set to a negative number. Any
other ideas?

 

[Mickey Ferguson]

Just to test, I went through the Uninstall key in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall),
and for every subkey, if there was an entry named "DisplayIcon", I renamed
it to XDisplayIcon (so that I could find it and restore it if desired). I
then rebooted my system. It still displays the huge white space and junk
graphics at several places between items.