Windows? God, I swear never again...!

[Stephen Riley]

So, after much blood, sweat and tears, I discover that the only way to
properly uninstall the pernicious Messenger 4 for XP is to use the command
line "RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection
%windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is Microsoft going for the most unfriendly operating system ever award or
something?

Now: would somebody please tell me which laughably obscure combination of
heiroglyphs will uninstall the bloody PINBALL programme???????!!!!!!! Cheez!
All I want to do is delete the standard games that come with Windows. First
it screams a dialogue box saying "You sure?? You really sure??? Are you????
Really, really?????" Then it
tells me it CAN'T delete pinball (I repeat: PINBALL...) because Windows (can
you believe?) is
*using* it!!!

I mean - *please*... Is this the truth? Is Windows XP really founded upon a
pinball game? It would explain a lot, let's face it. For instance why using
XP effectively halves your usable memory.

No, sorry... this operating system stinks. How do I downgrade?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Open Control Panel, open Add/Remove Programs, click Add/Remove Windows
Components, select Accessories and Utilities, click Details, select games.
If you wish to remove all the games, remove the check next to games and
click ok, if you wish to individually select the games you wish to remove,
click Details, remove the check next to the game you wish to remove and
click ok.

Messenger is an integrated part of the operating system which is why you had
to jump through hoops to remove it. Games are not.

 

[Widow Twankey]

I got rid of Windows messenger because I couldn't use MSN Messenger properly
while it was installed. It was a real pain. I hated the way it added anybody
I merely chatted to into my address book.

--
Yours

Widow Twankey

Now 10% Twankier than ever

 

[Stephen Riley]

Well yes, this was one of the first things I tried... But lo and behold
pinball is not listed as part of the games, and so it wasn't deleted!

But can you help me? Why - Why - is Windows using pinball please?

 

[Stickems]

You have a virus.

Well yes, this was one of the first things I tried... But lo and behold
pinball is not listed as part of the games, and so it wasn't deleted!

But can you help me? Why - Why - is Windows using pinball please?

 

[Stephen Riley]

How is that possible???

I have a brand new computer. I haven't downloaded anything onto it. I also
have Norton anti-virus and a firewall...


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stickems" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: Windows? God, I swear never again...!

 

[Stickems]

Post back here when you have the answer.

How is that possible???

I have a brand new computer. I haven't downloaded anything onto it. I also
have Norton anti-virus and a firewall...


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stickems" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: Windows? God, I swear never again...!

way

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

It isn't using it to my knowledge but as you found it, it isn't listed, I
have no idea why not. Guess you have a legitimate gripe. You might try a
Google search to see what comes up using uninstall pinball or XP uninstall
pinball as your search criteria.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

While I don't think this is the result of a virus, to answer your question,
first, you might have installed something that contained a virus. Second,
with regard to Norton, it only catches what it recognizes. You need to scan
regularly, perhaps each time you update your antivirus to make sure you
weren't infected at a time prior to an update for your antivirus.

Have you downloaded any e-mail, opened any attachments. If yes, then it's
possible a virus could get by antivirus software that doesn't yet have an
update for that specific virus and because your e-mail is an open door
through which you allow things to pass out of the necessity of downloading
e-mail, it could get past your firewall as well.

 

[Stephen Riley]

Thanks for your help. I've downloaded email, of course. But I never open
attachments unless I know the source. I haven't opened any since I acquired
this computer. I transferred files from my old computer, so I guess I could
have inherited a virus that way - but I never had any problems like this
with the old computer.

I've done a full scan with an updated NAV and it found nothing.

So far I've managed to delete everything but the pinball folder, so it's
merely an irritation that I can't delete the empty folder. Another thing
that makes me wonder about this programme is the fact that MS saw fit to
hide it from uninstall in the first place. Why would they, if there's
nothing complicated about it? And manifestly, there is something complicated
about it.

 

[JD]

Uninstall Hidden WinXP Programs

Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf

Open the sysoc.inf file in Notepad or another plain text editor. If you
can't find the inf directory, it's probably hidden. Unhide it.

Click Tools and choose Folder Options. Under View, enable Show Hidden Files
& Folders.

In sysoc.inf, look for the section called "components" in XP or "old base
components" in 2000. What looks like a bunch of gibberish is actually pretty
easy to read. You'll see a component name, followed by an equals sign,
followed by a list of parameters separated by commas.

For example: Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,HIDE,7

The deal: the "HIDE" between the two last commas indicates a hidden
component. Remove "HIDE" to unhide the component.

For example: Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7

Unhide any component you want. Save the file. Reopen the Windows Component
Wizard to see your new Add/Remove options!

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

I'm sorry, I don't know the reasons why it was done this way.

Someone else in this thread has posted a "hack," just be sure to be well
backed up before any such procedure.