Complete Uninstall of Office 2003

[Hughes]

I have a number of clients that over time have somehow created multiple
contacts folders and Outlook 2003 starts having problems. Manual deletion of
the contacts causes more difficulties.

Uninstall of Office/Outlook doesn't completely remove every marker,
especially in the Registry, and previous problem creep is common.

Is there a knowledgebase document or any step-by-step for doing a 100%
removal of Office/Outlook so that you can get a fresh start rather than try
to fix/troubleshoot the existing install? Keyword here is 100%, I want XP to
behave like it has never, ever, seen Office.

 

[DL]

The Outlook profile is not removed during an uninstall
When reinstalling did you create a new Outlook Profile?

 

[Hughes]

Various clients, various problems, various attempts to fix. Appreciate your
questioning to help me, but not looking for help with a particular problem to
solve, just want a bullet proof way to remove All aspects of Office/Outlook
so I can use it when I decide to go nuclear.

 

[DL]

The only nuclear option that is guaranteed to work is format/install
The Add/remove dialogue usually uninstalls Office / Outlook completely other
than as stated, the Profile & Account settings which are stored in the win
registry. A reinstallation of OL will use the origonal profile unless you
select a new one, in which case you have to re enter the account settings.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Is there a knowledgebase document or any step-by-step for doing a 100%
removal of Office/Outlook so that you can get a fresh start rather
than try to fix/troubleshoot the existing install? Keyword here is
100%, I want XP to behave like it has never, ever, seen Office.

The Windows Installer Cleanup utility might help:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/en-us

 

[Hughes]

Very interesting and you have confirmed my suspicions.

Sounds like the path of least resistance is to create a new profile and
bring in the old data.

I noticed in another post it was suggested Not to Import the data, but I
find this works quite nicely. I find that if you replace the newly created
and anointed outlook.pst file with the old one, you get strange behavior.

Do you suggest allowing Outlook to create a new .pst, use Data File
Management to point to the old one and the remove the new .pst?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I noticed in another post it was suggested Not to Import the data,
but I find this works quite nicely. I find that if you replace the
newly created and anointed outlook.pst file with the old one, you get
strange behavior.

You lose some of the data when you import. It may be data you don't need
(like the links between contacts and other Outlook items), but it's not a
faithful copy.

 

[Hughes]

Great info, thanks.

Still curious about New Profile:Auto-generate outlook.pst, select Old
outlook.pst in Data File Management: deselect New Outlook.pst, begin using
Old Outlook.pst as the Primary. Does this cause any problems? I seem to run
into the problem I was trying to avoid, which is double Contact folders.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Still curious about New Profile:Auto-generate outlook.pst, select Old
outlook.pst in Data File Management: deselect New Outlook.pst, begin
using Old Outlook.pst as the Primary. Does this cause any problems? I
seem to run into the problem I was trying to avoid, which is double
Contact folders.

Removing the new PST and changing the profile to make old PST the delivery
location should work. Did you do this from the Mail applet in Control
Panel?