How can I remove a third party service? Help please!

[Guest]

Hi, I just found out that there is a third party windows service left on my
system and I don't know how to get rid of it. I have already
removed/uninstall the software ( a third party ati video card driver) but the
uninstall program obviously didn't do a good job. I have already disabled the
service using the administrative tools, however, AFAIK I can only disable
the service but not remove or uninstall it! At least I am not aware of any
option there for me to remove the service. The only option I can find is to
set the service to Automatic/manual/disable. I have search the microsoft
knowlege base for a while, and it seems to me that WMI tools can help me to
remove that third party service from my system. However, when I run the WMI
tools, it does nothing but to start the XP administrative tools, again. This
problem has me running into circle, and I hope all you experts here can be
kind enough to help me out! Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad english.

 

[Rich Barry]

Michael, check here.
http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/misc/catalystutils.html
and here http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/

 

[Guest]

Rich Barry,
Thank you very much for your help. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I have
already tried several ATI driver cleaner before I post and all those programs
can only detect the ATI files but not "the" service.
Ok, let me be more specific on my problem. Several months ago I discovered a
web site on the internet teaching people how to convert their ATI Radeon card
to a ATI firegl card using the softmod driver. Out of curiosity I downloaded
the driver and "softmoded" my video card. Later I found out that I don't like
the softmod driver that much and I want to try the new driver from ATI, so I
uninstall the softmod driver using the uninstaller come with it (control
panel) and change it back to a regular one. A week ago, when I did a
periodic check on my system for spyware, I noticed that there is a service
named "FGLRYUtil" which started automatically but doesn't seems to do
anything but taking up space resources. I clicked on the properties button
and I found out that it is linked to the file "atiisrgl.exe" in my system32
folder. I googled it and I found out that it belongs to the firegl driver,
and my searched on my computer also confirmed that the file originally comes
from the softmod driver package that I downloaded from the internet. Now my
problem is : the uninstaller from the "softmod" driver obviously didn't work
and it can't remove the service by itself, otherwise I would not be having
this problem in the first place. However, I can't use the uninstaller from
ATI, since my card is not a FireGL card, and even if I want to do a
install/uninstall with the official driver, the installation program wouldn't
let me install since it will detect my card is not a FireGL card. The only
option that I can think of right now is directly remove the service through
XP instead, and I did a search on the microsoft website yesterday for my
problem and I came up with the answer that WMI is the tools for me. However,
I couldn't find any instructions on how to actually remove the service
besides those fancy describtion on the tools. Besides, I really want to know
how to do it anyway, so that I can remove any unwanted service myself in the
future. So, all you experts, please help me... All your help will be greatly
appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Rich Barry]

Michael, have you checked here. You can email him if the info is not
available. Did you try removing atiisrgl.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\atiisrgl.exe
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

 

[Guest]

Rich Barry,

Thank you so very much for your help and advice. It always make me feels
good to know that there are still people out there who are eager to help
other people out. Good job.
BTW, after I spent more time on the microsoft's knowledge base, I found out
that the WMI tools remove the service by deleting the registry's entries. So
even though I still don't know how to do it by WMI tools, I ran the regedit
program and remove them manually(of course I back up my registry first). Now
everything is back to normal now. Thank you again for all your valuable
advice and links.

 

[Sharon F]

Now my
problem is : the uninstaller from the "softmod" driver obviously didn't work
and it can't remove the service by itself, otherwise I would not be having
this problem in the first place.

Did you stop the service before running the uninstaller? Some lightweight
uninstall programs are not capable of stopping services. Result: the
service is left behind.

You can stop the service manually using Administrative Tools> Services.
Also can change the startup behavior by going into Properties of the
service.

You could try reinstalling. Stopping the service. Then running the
uninstaller. Unfortunately, there's no way to predict how efficient the
uninstall routine would be at removing the service using this method. You
may end up where you started or it will do a better job at removing the
service and its related files.

Another approach would be direct surgery without reinstalling the original
mod: Stop the service. Change the startup type to disabled. Delete the file
associated with the service. Not as clean as a good uninstall routine but
should be effective.

 

[Guest]

Thanks.

I think you are 100 percent right. I didn't disable the service when I
uninstall the driver the first time, for I didn't even know it exist! Maybe
that's the reason why the uninstaller counldn't remove the service, and I
was stuck with that service ever since. Next time I uninstall something, I
will definitely look into this before I do anything, and thank you very much
for providing me this information; it is definitely going to save me from a
lot of trouble in the future. Anyway, I did solve my problem thru deleting
the entries in the registry(pretty dangerous if you ask me), and hopefullly I
didn't mess up my XP. Thank you very much for your help .
^_^