In most of my programs, the change/remove in the Add/Remove programs in control panel is not there. Can someone help me get it back.

Same thing happened to me.It seemed like after i installed IEX 7.
They have started to show again.I can't find any options or help on this.
If you need to uninstall see if the Program has it's own.Thats best anyway.
Or run the cd and get a repair,install or uninstall option.

this seems to be a problem as I have the ability to remove some programs on my computer too, and commented on another thread a few days ago and got no answers there either.

I am having the same issue.
It just started a week ago.
New installed programs show up fine, but any older programs do not have any Change/Remove buttons.
I have been scanning every tech forum possible, and I can't find any good information or a fix. There are many registry edits, but some are saying that those are not working for them.
So far I understand that it is a registry issue, in which it has become corrupt and has lost the old uninstall information for the old programs. Anything new will show up fine.

I am looking hard, and I will post again if I find a cure.
Please do the same.

Thanks

JC

To all with this problem,
Is there a reason for uninstalling some of your programs.
Is it a matter of needing more space ?

If it's a cd install try running it.Some will have an uninstall or repair option since it detects it's already installed.

This might help.

Regards

BTW, welcome to TechSpot, can2bury!

I hope SO !

Thanks for the warm welcome.

It is not exactly the need to remove programs immediately, it is that fact the there is something wrong with my computer. It bugs me immensly that I cannot fix it, yet.

WinXPtutor's page is fine if you need to remove one program. I just want to get my entire Add/Remove programs list back to normal. I only have 4 programs of 20 that have the Change/Remove button available.

I discovered the same problem recently with Add/Remove when looking at an unrelated issue a friend said he was having with his computer.. Luckily for me however, it occured on the computer i use for testing vs. the one i use for my own stuff.

But since it was on my test machine, i had a test platform to play with to look at what was going on. I can report:
1. I was highly suspect of Yahoo Messenger and its other products when i saw this had occurred (will spare the details)

2. I been looking at the problem on my test system, restoring the state to a time not long before the problem occurs and, at least in my case, i can cause this problem to re-occur each time i try uninstalling Yahoo Extras (also called Browser Services)

3. Once the problem occurs, i find the Uninstall information in the Registry is trashed. So as you add new programs their info can be added to the Registry and they will appear in Add/Remove correctly but all the old stuff is gone.

4) Suggest you try
a) Using System Restore to go back to a point when Add/Remove programs is all fine. You shouldn't wait too long if you want to use this option as your system only maintains a limited number of restore point entries. Wait too long and the one you want might be lost from System Restore too!

b) Try reinstalling each product. In some cases, Setup might ask if you want to Repair or Remove. In any case, try repairing first if that's an option for you.

c) If you don't do your own backups before now, you've learned a good reason to start!

Many of mine where Windows updates.They where not available or couldn't be restored.But showed as installed at Windows update.(view history)
I have yahoo.ca and don't see that a reason.But not yahoo Messenger.
But i shut down MSoft Messenger.
The missing applications where still useable and some had their own uninstall file.
(This is the best way to uninstall software if you can)
Another way is using the cd.Some have 3 options.
Install,uninstall or repair.
=====================================================
Microsoft now has an Installer Cleanup to install.
Not sure what it does,but it should be explained.
It might be a fix for this problem
========================================

http://www.winxptutor.com/arpbuttons.htm


edit kitty500cat already posted this in her kitty500cat sneaky way - oh well

Except the registry edit you mention is not possible to fix this problem (at least in the case I've found) because the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
and all of its program name entries are no longer in the registry!

btw... for a simple tool to see much of the uninstall info kept in the registry that Add/Remove applet doesn't make available, check out a freeware tool MyUninstaller http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/myuninst.html

'Except the registry edit you mention is not possible to fix this problem (at least in the case I've found) because the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and all of its program name entries are no longer in the registry!'


Yes, but, you see, this isn't your problem thread and information is provided as posters find it OR know it to try and help.

Did your post help?

I didn't mean to offend... but did my post help? Was it appropriate? Well....

1. No, it's not my problem thread but i did just have the exact same problem as the thread owner described.
2. Others posting in the thread have indicated they too have recently had the same problem. And wondering what the heck is going on
3. Can2bury indicated he understood it to be a registry corruption problem
4. I've not just had the same problem but have been able to isolate it down to being repeatable. And the direct result of uninstalling Yahoo Browser Services each time. Each time I uninstall it i find the registry Uninstall key has been deleted from the registry (along with all its Uninstall program entries).
5. Is it the same reason everyone else has this problem? I don't know. As i said in my post, this is certainly true for my case. I'll guess is related to some others as well. I was conveying the specific and tested information

So, yea, i think the post did help. I didn't mean to offend (if that's how it was taken) and am sorry if it did.

So... we're still buddies?!

I found this thread in my Google Search. Your post was sooo helpful. Thank you!!! This is EXACTLY my problem. Add/remove programs worked perfectly yesterday, I uninstalled Yahoo Browser Services and now the remove buttons are all gone. Uggh! Thank you very much for posting this, it narrowed my search for the source of the problem down in a matter of minutes. I have Norton Unerase Wizard, which I am trying to use to find the deleted keys. I have searched for "registry entries", but it didn't find them the lost uninstall keys. What type of file should I be looking for?

I'm a bit chagrined here, because I did it to my roommate's computer. She did give me permissioon to uninstall Yahoo, but I feel bad because she wouldn't have done it if I hadn't suggested it.

Thanks for any help,

Coyote

Cats are sneaky...however, I'm a guy.

1. If you want to be certain to CYA before you attempt recovery (always a good idea) I'd advise you back up/clone the drive first. I use Acronis True Image v10. There is 15day download free trial but if you do the download you need to build a recovery CD first (so even if it all goes south you can always boot and recover from CD) or buy the CDs from a box retailer which will include the recovery CD in addition to installation CD
2. I know the key name in the registry but not the file names affected to try and use Norton Unerase. (Nor if that's sufficient to allow you to recover. Sorry) And remember the registry is quite tricky. Even if there was an Unerase file to restore, it will change many registry values back to that point in time including those that SHOULDN'T be changed back and leave you in worse shape then you are now).
3. I did find, in my case, i could recover by using System Recovery to try to restore to a point BEFORE you did the uninstall. Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore. You can check Restore my Comptuer to Earlier Time and then click Next to see a calendar of save restore points and how far back they go. The catch
   • Remember, as the system builds a new restore point it will overwrite older ones if it needs the space. So you have limited time to try this option and try the restore points you have before being eventually overwritten
   • This worked in my case but there's no guarantee it will get it restored (a restore can fail. Look for the success for fail messsage from Windows when done). Remember, restore points aren't a system backup but a save of critical system areas to give it a good attempt to restore if need be)

Good luck! (and see suggestions at end of first post 7/12 in this thread if you haven't yet)

Thank you very much for this reply. I managed to get it sorted out with System Restore. Thank God it works on my roommate's computer, because it has never once worked on mine, even when I make a specific set point. I really appreciate the link to that drive cloning program. I've been looking for an alternative to GoBack, and this looks very good. Thank you!!

Do you have any suggestions on how to remove Yahoo Browser Services without wreaking havoc?

Hey, glad it helped![list=1][*]And thanks for posting yourself. That helped me! Just that i knew 100% Yahoo Browser Services Uninstall was my problem after lotsa testing (for the case that occured on my computercase). So I post on a few different boards, followed by posts from others who tell me that won't work (huh? i just told them it workded) who argue how it didn't work for them (of course later discovering that's not really the same problem/environment/etc/[*]Glad you like the Acronis. In general i like finding/owning good freeware tools that i managed to find and add to my toolbox but a really handy tooll like the Acronis (and really needed) tool like that works well by me as well. Is def worth the $50 in my opion. U should also check out DriveImage XML for backup/restore functions. Especially since it's freeware. Is not a robust or offer all the features of Acronis but still, as is freeware, if someone really needs backup/restore and don't have the $$. Also since is all done in XML and nothing is compressed, the backup it produces can be restored on almost anything. It has little by way of platform requirements to work. [*]I was lucky where the problem occurred on a test comuter of mine so, so far, i've just left that YB services directorty sit but in know if it were my production machine,,,,, if only on principal, would be driving me crazy too to remove it. Just guessing some options

• Rename the direcotory to something like Yahoo BrowService DO NOT CHANGE to make sure some well meaning person doesnt see it, and try same as you did, to be helpful
• I am guessing (of course, denying any liability should you choose) but sounds "relatively safe if" (and do all the backups first!)
  • Use regedit to open the registry, find then select
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
    then File -> Export -> Save to export and save the UnInstall subkey and all the subkeys (one for each program(

Hey, glad it helped!

1. And thanks for posting yourself. That helped me! Just that i knew 100% Yahoo Browser Services Uninstall was my problem after lotsa testing . So I post on a few different boards, followed by posts from others who tell me that won't work (huh? i just told them it workded). And for the 3 or 4 times they showed me a close look of their problem, wasn't the same environmnet /events to begn with)
2. Glad you like the Acronis. In general i like finding/owning good freeware tools that i managed to find and add to my toolbox but a really handy tooll like the Acronis (and really needed) tool like that works well by me as well. Is def worth the $50 in my opion. U should also check out DriveImage XML for backup/restore functions. Especially since it's freeware. Is not as robust or offer all the features of Acronis but still, as is freeware, if someone really needs backup/restore and don't have the $$. Also since is all done in XML and nothing is compressed, the backup it produces can be restored on almost anything. It needs little by way of platform requirements to work.
3. I was lucky that the Add/Remove buttons problem occurred on a test computer of mine. So far, i've just left that YB services directory sit on its own taking up space,,,,, But if only on principal, it would be driving me crazy to remove it if on my production laptop. Just guessing some options
   • First, while it is there stickin around, rename the directory to something like Yahoo BrowService DO NOT CHANGE to make sure some well meaning person doesnt see it, and try same as you did, to be helpful
   • From here, it's all untested guesswork but sounds to me should probably work, who knows. Do all the backups first!
   • Use regedit to open the registry, find then select
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
     then File -> Export -> Save as to export just the UnInstall subkey and all of its subkeys . Save As a .reg file.
   • Uninstall yahoo browser services, let it delte the key out of the registry. Now just run they export to put back in. (In this case, we know is just replaceing the deleted keys and other registry stuff s/b ok