Add or Remove Programs corrupted--How to Reset/Rescan/whatever?

[Scott Glasgow]

I have the problem described here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2005/05/26/422076.aspx

My Add or Remove Programs dialog appears normal (except for the miniscule
scrollbar thumb caused by this issue) until I scroll down the list as far as
Kinyonsoft's Win Tools XP, after which the list display is blank white for a
while, then vertical black bars for a while, then white again, and finally
the list takes back up with Lenovo Battery Program.

Then the list runs on normally until WinMerge Pro 2.2.2.0, at which point I
get the funky blank, then black bars, then blank again, before the list
finally picks back up with WordPerfect Lightning and runs normally to Zinio
Reader at the end.

I have opened the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall path
and looked for DisplayIcon values of -1. Nada. Unfortunately, there is no
way to tell just by looking whether a non-numeric DisplayIcon value (e.g. a
program or DLL name) is valid or not.

Is there any way to force the system to reset/reread these values and
resolve this issue? Any other fixes anyone has come across? Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[Claymore]

I have the problem described here:http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2005/05/26/422076.aspx

My Add or Remove Programs dialog appears normal (except for the miniscule
scrollbar thumb caused by this issue) until I scroll down the list as far as
Kinyonsoft's Win Tools XP, after which the list display is blank white for a
while, then vertical black bars for a while, then white again, and finally
the list takes back up with Lenovo Battery Program.

Then the list runs on normally until WinMerge Pro 2.2.2.0, at which point I
get the funky blank, then black bars, then blank again, before the list
finally picks back up with WordPerfect Lightning and runs normally to Zinio
Reader at the end.

I have opened the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall path
and looked for DisplayIcon values of -1. Nada. Unfortunately, there is no
way to tell just by looking whether a non-numeric DisplayIcon value (e.g. a
program or DLL name) is valid or not.

Is there any way to force the system to reset/reread these values and
resolve this issue? Any other fixes anyone has come across? Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott

Hello Scott,

Try this:

In Add/Remove Programs, note down the items before and after the white
space.
Open the Registry Editor and go to the key you went to before:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Uninstall
Backup this key for safety (File => Export - Selected Branch)
Look under the key for a program listed in between the two programs
you noted down earlier.
If such a program exists, delete its key.

If more than one is listed, try each in turn to isolate the problem
program. You may have to restore the backed-up key to re-instate a
good key you deleted. Then delete the offending one again.
Of course, this will remove the item from the Add/Remove Programs
list, so hopefully there is an unistall file in the program's folder
that you can use if you ever want to uninstall it.

 

[Jean Rosenfeld]

It is not necessarily -1, any negative number may cause it.
No need to delete the whole key, just edit out the negative number.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm

Scroll down to Add or Remove - White Space

This is generally due to the DisplayIcon having a negative number. From here
you can either remove the negative number or remove the last application
listed: Start/Run/Regedit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{}