The program that won't go away

[Tom Barclay]

I installed a trial version of WallMaster Pro wallpaper management program.
When the trial expired, I decided it wasn't something that I really wanted,
and uninstalled it using the program's own uninstall. It has since become
the program from hell that won't go away. Upon reboot, my system still tries
to load WallMaster's wallpaper, which results in a blank screen since the
program no longer exists. I have tried manually deleting all remnants of the
program that I can find from my drive, searching all files containing
"wallmast" and "wallmaster" including hidden and system directories. I also
did a search of the registry using regedit and deleted all references to the
program. Doing all of the above removes the wallmaster menu entry from the
desktop Display Properties/Desktop menu. However, when I reboot the system,
the menu entry is back, the desktop defaults to the missing wallpaper, and
all of the registry entries have been restored. I tried looking in
msconfig's .INI files, but there's no reference to the program there. I'm
assuming XP stores the information causing this in some other place that I'm
missing. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[nut]

I installed a trial version of WallMaster Pro wallpaper management program.
When the trial expired, I decided it wasn't something that I really wanted,
and uninstalled it using the program's own uninstall. It has since become
the program from hell that won't go away. Upon reboot, my system still tries
to load WallMaster's wallpaper, which results in a blank screen since the
program no longer exists. I have tried manually deleting all remnants of the
program that I can find from my drive, searching all files containing
"wallmast" and "wallmaster" including hidden and system directories. I also
did a search of the registry using regedit and deleted all references to the
program. Doing all of the above removes the wallmaster menu entry from the
desktop Display Properties/Desktop menu. However, when I reboot the system,
the menu entry is back, the desktop defaults to the missing wallpaper, and
all of the registry entries have been restored. I tried looking in
msconfig's .INI files, but there's no reference to the program there. I'm
assuming XP stores the information causing this in some other place that I'm
missing. Any help would be appreciated.

It's probably reinstalling cos it's in the registry, set to run on
startup...

HKLM -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Run

If it's in there, delete it and it'll go away.

 

[Lorne Smith]

Have you tried contact the software publishers and seeing if they have any
idea how to get rid of the program?

Lorne

 

[Tom Barclay]

It's probably reinstalling cos it's in the registry, set to run on
startup...

HKLM -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Current Version -> Run

If it's in there, delete it and it'll go away.

Thanks, but that's one of the first places I looked. I booted into safe mode
and found a couple of things that didn't show up before. After deleting them
the problem went away.

 

[Tom Barclay]

Yes, but they were less than helpful. After describing the problem in detail
and the steps I had taken to try to remove whatever was left, they told me
to uninstall the program and delete any leftover files or directories...
DUH!!! I sometimes wonder if software vendor tech support people even read
their emails before replying to them. I managed to find a solution on my
own.

 

[Lorne Smith]

Well glad you sorted it out, that kind of attitude is becoming more & more
prevalent in software houses these days unfortunately...

Lorne

 

[jeff]

I once had an HP customer service rep that I called with a problem
(computer was locking up on boot with no mouse and no keyboard which
sort of limits your options!) tell me that first I should turn off the
computer and hold down the power button for two minutes to allow the
power to drain out. After that, suprisingly, did not work, her next
suggestion was to start to tell me how to format my hard drive and
reinstall windows.

 

[Tom Barclay]

Well glad you sorted it out, that kind of attitude is becoming more & more
prevalent in software houses these days unfortunately...

[/QUOTE]

I once had an HP customer service rep that I called with a problem
(computer was locking up on boot with no mouse and no keyboard which
sort of limits your options!) tell me that first I should turn off the
computer and hold down the power button for two minutes to allow the
power to drain out. After that, suprisingly, did not work, her next
suggestion was to start to tell me how to format my hard drive and
reinstall windows.

Oh, I can beat that easily. When I first got my present Dell P4 system,
there was a yellow question mark next to one of the USB settings in Device
Manager. It took several days of sitting in front of my screen, talking to
one of a long list of support technicians for an average of 4 hours per day
before they finally decided to let a supervisor handle the problem. That's
when the real trouble started. The supervisor told me to go ahead and remove
(delete) all USB entries, and several other device drivers in Device
Manager. I'm no computer genius, but even I knew that this was going to
cause trouble. I asked him if he was sure about this several times before I
actually did the deed, and each time he assured me not to worry, that there
would be no problems. Well, there were problems. I could get the system to
reboot, and I had access to Windows safe mode, but anything else gave
multiple errors and blue screens. He still had no idea what was causing the
original problem, but that was way in the past... there were bigger problems
now. I was on vacation from work at the time, which was a good thing,
because my time on the phone with this clown rose to an average of 8 hours a
day for over a week. With my system still basically a large paperweight, he
decided that he couldn't figure it out, and started passing me around a
multitude of other technicians. I spoke to several Americans, 2 Indians, and
someone with a far eastern accent (maybe Pilipino) before speaking to what
sounded like an Iranian guy who seemed to know exactly what caused the
original problem (the Internet button on front of the computer case), and he
finally got my system almost running (10 days had elapsed at this point),
but I couldn't use my USB mouse or keyboard, and there were a few other
little annoyances which still weren't cleared up. I decided to work on the
system myself after the horror show I had endured from Dell, and had the
system running perfectly after another couple of days. Even though I had
purchased the best 3 year warranty they had, I never called their tech
support again.