I spent a lot of time and effort completely removing Windows Media Player from XP Home, which involved editing the registry and changing various file names, but eventually it seemed to have been completely removed

Now I have changed from XP Home to XP Professional, and not only has WMP reared it's ugly head in my life again, but I seem to have a similar sort of problem now with Outlook Express

I found some advice on how to completely remove Outlook Express here, and it says to rename a range of files including Oeimport.dll, Oemiglib.dll, and Oemig50.exe

The challenge I have is that if I try to delete the folder C:\Program Files\Outlook Express it won't let me as it says it's in use. If I go into that folder and delete any of those files, or rename them, another file of the old name will magically spawn a few seconds later

What I am trying to discover is what the name is of the program that is mysteriously recreating these files whenever I delete or rename them (and that's why I was so concerned when CTRL ALT DEL stopped working, but that's another story)

What I want in an ideal world is that if I click on a link to email somebody then Firefox will open, load either Hotmail or Gmail, and put their email addy in for me. What I currently have, and don't want, is when I click on a link to email somebody it opens Outlook Express (even though Add/Remove Windows Components suggests Outlook Express isn't even installed on my PC)

I am fairly hopeful of being able to remove WMP from my system again, but can anybody offer constructive advice on how to kill Outlook Express, please?

If it helps I can list all programs shown as running in Task Manager (thanks for the help in making that work again btw), and apologies if this question has already been asked before

Hey, I am not 100% sure if this will work. It worked on one of 3 computers I tryed it on. First I went to add/remove programs, then add/remove windows components, then uncheck outlook express then next. After that there will still be locked files. Navagate to the folder(s) and use this tool to unlock them. If i remember correctly it deltes right after unlock so be carfull. Let me know if it works. Sorry thats all i know http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Download the appropriate Firefox extension for Gmail and install that on your PC if it is not done yet.
Rightclick IE on the desktop, select the tab 'Advanced', change the default email program to FF-extension.
Also click on Start and click on the Set Program Access and Defaults, and do the same.
Install Thunderbird instead of OE, if you want a mailer on the PC.
Don't bother with that spam-king Hotmail.

It's XP's built-in security that re-installs those deleted (by you) system-files. It's too complicated to explain, so leave it.

If you dont want to use or like WMP or OE just dont use them, I mean whats the point in your post as I cant see any benefit at all.

If you dont want OE then dont use it as you do know that you can set a default email client, or just carry on screwing up the registry.

Taylub, thanks very much for that link and your constructive advice, that program allowed me to delete the Outlook Express folder. I then created a new folder in C:\Program Files called "I Hate Microsoft", which I made read only and then renamed to "Outlook Express". This has stopped those files from being automatically recreated

RealBlackStuff I really appreciate your constructive advice, but these are the challenges I have encountered whilst trying to follow your advice:

1) When I search for Gmail in the Firefox extensions section it brings up 67 matches, so it's not overly clear which extension is most appropriate

2) I don't have an IE link on the desktop as I never use IE, I found the IE exe file and sent it to the desktop as a shortcut, but when I right click on the shortcut it doesn't offer Advanced as an option (only General, Shortcut or Compatibility)

3) When I click on Start I don't have Set Program Access and Defaults as an option, only My Recent Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, Control Panel, Help, Search or Run. The MS help pages suggest it should be under All Programs, but it isn't there either

dazzer9535 I came here looking for constructive advice and that's not what you're offering, if you can't say something useful I suggest you don't say anything at all. If I could simply not use WMP or Outlook Express, as you suggest, then life would be fantastic. Unfortunately MS keep sticking these products in my face despite all my efforts to remove them from my life completely. I have Winamp set as my default music player, but at some point during my change of OS from XP Home to XP Pro my PC has clearly been instructed that when I put a music CD in WMP will pop up and start playing the CD, contrary to my instructions that it should use Winamp. Similarly when I want to email someone I now have an unwanted Outlook Express popping up, when I had previously disabled it. Personally I resent the way that MS keep trying to force their shoddy bloated second-rate products on people that don't want them, and employ whatever sneaky tricks they can to stop people using products from their competitors. If you don't understand my frustration that probably tells us more about you than it does about me

Anyway many thanks to the first two guys that replied, your help is very much appreciated, and I'm now part way to a solution

I was being constructive but as seen as you dont know what you are doing I merely stated in no uncertain terms leave the PC alone and get some proper help, and why did you get microsoft products anyway?

No one is shoving anything down your throat its just that your too gullible to try anything else like linux which sounds what your after, and to send an email and OE pops up says it all really if you cant stop that I think you are in way to deep.

Mind that registry now

Drat, I was hoping it was somebody helpful that had posted a reply

Why dont you just install any email client you wish and then set that as the default email client, Open Internet Explorer if used and select Tools, Internet Options, Programs Tab and select the email client of your choice from the drop down list if their.

And for media player open it then Tools, Options and then go to the File Types tab and remove all the ticks if you dont want it openig for anything.

Or you could open add/remove programs and click on the add/remove windows components tab on the left scroll down untick media player then next and it should be removed.

RogerRampant. Dazzer9535 has been banned so you will not be bothered by him anymore!! His behaviour was appalling and i hope you wont think TS is always like that!!

He seemed singularly unable to grasp the fact that everyone else isn't like him!!

I hope it hasn't put you off using TS, there are plenty of good people on here that are willing to help still!!!!

I have to say that I have found the people on this board to be fantastic so far, extremely helpful and knowledgeable, also very quick to provide useful answers, and I'm very grateful for all the help I have received to date

My PC is also hopefully now far more secure, having followed some of the advice on this site. It may be obvious to you guys that the guest account is still available to hackers even though you have disabled the guest account, for example, but it wasn't something that I was aware of until I came here and started reading

The reason I am so grumpy about Microsoft is that after upgrading from XP Home to XP Pro it still shows Firefox as the default browser, still shows in Add/Remove Windows Components that WMP and Outlook Express are not even installed on the PC, yet they still kept popping up. That's why I wanted to completely delete them from my PC, that's why I was confused and came here to ask for help

Incidentally I have already managed to sort out Winamp as the default mp3 and audio CD player, but thanks for the advice anyway

You may want to look at nLite to 'ban' those M$-parts you don't like!
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/nLite.shtml

I see your original post occurred last week but just in case you hadn't yet worked through the annoying/magical auto-reappearance of those renamed OE files: elsehere in the website you've referred to for the registry hack instructions they did also provide a link to a MS knowledgebase article on this topic. That MS webpage mentioned that after you perform the registry hacks you must then reboot into safe mode before attempting to rename the various files. I found that by doing this the files do not auto-reappear immediately. Also noteworthy = the MS article advises against renaming the first of the files (Inetcomm.dll I think) the source you're referencing to instructs to rename. I opted to follow MS's advice and left that file intact. Too early to tell whether this reg hack will work but so far so good...we'll see. Good luck with your attempt.

Thanks

I've downloaded nLite, so at some stage when I have some free time (hahaha) I will try to work out how to use it without re-installing Windows, which seems to be it's main purpose

I've managed to stop WMP and Outlook Express from popping up when I don't want them to, which was my main concern, thanks to various people posting suggestions here

Thanks again, peeps

just use whatever client you want and set it as the default email client. I use thunderbird. You can add/remove windows components in the add/remove programs portion of the control panel.

You're the second person to say that, and maybe I'm being a bit slow here but I don't use an "email client" as far as I'm aware, and don't particularly want to

I use web-based email (hotmail and gmail) and don't really see the point of programs like Thunderbird or Outlook Express, all I want when I click on an email link is for Firefox to open up a new message in Gmail or Hotmail with the correct email addy inserted for me. I have stated that previously - but please feel free to educate me if I am talking from my anus, or have completely misunderstood what you're getting at

I have also already stated (at least twice) that in Add/Remove Windows Components it states that these two programs are NOT installed