SP2 and Control Panel problems - delete programs function

[Guest]

With SP2 installed (XP Pro) - the control panel Function - Delete Programs -
has become mostly unusable ....

Symptoms: - the normal alphabetic and complete listing of the installed
programs now lists the programs

a) very partially - after the 'A"'s such as Adobe -- there is a long BLANK
scroll down before getting to the "F's" - with nothing (it's blank)
in-between showing
b) it's not a load timing function trime - i've been very patient
c) using display by other criteria show shows the same effect - however with
different programs (ie sort by size, dateg usage, etc).

What has happened here --- what has SP2 done - and how to correct it please.

The installation went smoothly - I've had no other problems - and indeed the
system seems to load and run faster.


Thanks in advance - Tiom

 

[Rich]

That's not a function of SP2.
I've seen that happen on a SP1 machine.
Granted, it had a boat load of apps installed, and it did the same thing.
Sort the list by any other means and you got a complete list.

I never figured out a fix for it.
It was wiped clean and a complete XP SP2 install done.
Now with the same 'boat load' of apps installed, they all show up in
Add/Remove correctly.

 

[WinGuy]

"apms43@DELETE_CAPS_yahoo.com"

With SP2 installed (XP Pro) - the control panel Function - Delete Programs -
has become mostly unusable ....

Symptoms: - the normal alphabetic and complete listing of the installed
programs now lists the programs

a) very partially - after the 'A"'s such as Adobe -- there is a long BLANK
scroll down before getting to the "F's" - with nothing (it's blank)
in-between showing
b) it's not a load timing function trime - i've been very patient
c) using display by other criteria show shows the same effect - however with
different programs (ie sort by size, dateg usage, etc).

What has happened here --- what has SP2 done - and how to correct it please.

The installation went smoothly - I've had no other problems - and indeed the
system seems to load and run faster.


Thanks in advance - Tiom

This sort of sounds like a weird problem I've seen a few times when a CD
drive begins to fail. SP2 might be making such a failure more noticable.
Check the Event Viewer for any errors, report back to this newsgroup any
that you find having yellow or red icon associated entries. If using Pro,
turn on event log for all failures (Control Panel, Administrative Tools,
Local Security Policy, Local Policy, Audit Policy) -- this is (very, very
stupidly) not available in XP Home version. If you see any IDE or CD
problems in Event Viewer then unplug the power cord and remove the CD drive
flat data ribbon cable (note the orientation of the side havig a red stripe
on the cable) of the CD drive and try again. I've seen a CD drive fail so
miserably that the HDD itself gets messed up (apparently affects the
electronics of the controller chip) and unplugging the ribbon cable has
stopped such problems (in which case the CD drive must be replaced). Just a
hunch, let us know if this suggestion was on target or not.

 

[LVTravel]

This apparently is a glitch in Windows XP. You also mentioned the magic
name "Adobe". I have Adobe PageMaker installed on two machines, one home
and one at work that produce exactly the same results. Two other XP
machines do not have the problem. I have never found the answer to it but
it doesn't apparently cause any problems using the ADD/Delete function of
Control Panel as I have been able to delete different programs from both
machines without a problem. A long time ago (1 or more years ago) I saw a
similar post in either this or another MS newsgroup with the same comments.
There was no fix listed at that time either.


"apms43@DELETE_CAPS_yahoo.com"

 

[WinGuy]

Ok, it was a long shot anyhow and I assume the problem persists if you boot
without that external drive connected. Might check the registry entries at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
and look at the key entries for visible signs of registry corruption. What
happens, say, if you uninstall and then reinstall something displaying the
problem like Adobe (or the next registry section entry, mentioned above,
that follows one that DOES display properly)? If that corrects things partly
then registry corruption is a possibility. If you find corruption then
there's a shareware util available at
http://www.easydesksoftware.com/moresoft.htm
called Registry Drill that might be of help. It's kinda complicated to use,
though, and be sure to have a restore point to go back to (or bettery yet,
an image backup of the boot drive!)

Cleaning up that area of the registry might restore most, if not all of the
Add/Remove listing problem. Probably best to export the branch first, of
course!

Yesterday I suffered Ad-awareSE and/or Spybot hurting the Registry on a ME
machine (which scanned ok before the cleaning of near 300 found problems
remaining after AVG healed the singular downloader virus that was found).
I've seen before what looks like registry damage being caused by one or both
of those utils when they are asked to remove more than something around 100
problems or more per session run. Using the ME registry scanner appeared to
fix things up, though, in this case (it ran automatically at boot and
reported that the repair was being made). Did suffer a one time blue screen
before the scan, though, and none since. The point is that sometimes the
malware utils either seem to cause minor registry damage themselves during
extensive cleaning operations, or maybe the malware did (in this case
removal of malware resulted next boot in Spybot Resident being linked, via a
registy entry, to a malware DLL that had been deleted, probably by
Ad-aware!) So maybe you've got some minor registry damage, too.

"apms43@DELETE_CAPS_yahoo.com"

 

[Guest]

G'Day,

I have got EXACTLY the same problem since installing SP2.
Add/Remove programs does not give a full list of programs.

SORT BY NAME gives only the "A"s
SORT BY SIZE gives a few more
SORT BY LAST USED FREQUECY and LAST USED give better lists, but NO FULL
ALPHABETICAL LIST like on SP1.

Interestingly a third party uninstaller that I have, still has a full
alphabetical list of ALL programs on my system (even SP2..which is not on
Add/Remove Programs).

I'm at a loss.

MSOFT fobbed me off when I contacted product support.

I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Buck.

 

[Guest]

G'day

Since a resolution seems unlikely - could you share the name of the 3rd
party uninstaller..

Thks, Tom

 

[Guest]

Cheers Tom,

It's not really an uninstaller as such..
It's a registry cleaner etc. with quite a few different functions..
Including a really good uninstaller listing all your programs.
It's Toni Arts - Easy Cleaner
I tried a google searc for a free download link but couldn't seem to find it.
I got it as a free download,you mght have to pay now?

Buck

 

[Guest]

Buck

Thks - will try it -- /Tom