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General discussion

Help...trying to uninstall programs

by soc_wrkr Jun 4, 2005 3:50PM PDT

I tried to uninstall windows media player and outlook express. According to Win add/remove programs I did. Also, according the the add/remove windows setup components I did. However I still have these programs on my PC. I don't use them and I don't want them eating up valuable HD real estate that can be used for programs that I actaually use or for digital music.... I would just delete their folders from the "programs" folder on drive C but I've had enough experiences of fixing my PC more than using it... Is there a safe way of getting rid of these useless programs without making Win XP have a break down?

I run Win XP SP2 on a P3 notebook. If any other info needed let me know.

Thank you for you help!
Tommy

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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I think you're very wise
by MarkFlax Former Forum moderator Jun 4, 2005 8:50PM PDT

not to delete the program folders.

Outlook Express is integrated into IE and Windows Explorer, (in effect Windows itself), and deleting any files may make your system unstable.

Similarly with WMP. Although not integrated, Microsoft is keen that you retain and use their products on their Windows OS, and so they don't make it easy to remove it completely.

How do you know you still have these programs available? By using the Add/Remove programs and components dialogue in Control Panel that should have removed the "access" to them, but not necessarily the programs themselves.

I'm sure there are ways to remove these completely, but in the end, you may have to settle for just clearing the icons off your desktop and Start menu, and accepting that some Windows files and components are going to remain on your hard disk.

Mark

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Not to mention the programs are not that big
by glb613 Jun 5, 2005 12:03AM PDT

or take up much hard drive space. If you are short on space, you need to look at what you have stored on your hard drive. You should have backup copies of everything important. With that in mind, some of the data you currently store on the hard drive can be removed to free up space.

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Sharing...
by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Jun 5, 2005 12:13AM PDT

For about 69 bucks I popped a 40G 5400 RPM hard disk into my P3-600 laptop over a year ago. This replaced a sluggish 11GB 4200 RPM drive and boot times dropped from over 4 minutes to under 2.

It also allowed me to use the machine rather than the machine demanding I free up space.

Your choice on that.

-> Here's a note about editing SYSOC.INF to be able to uninstall a few more items: http://www.mvps.org/ecvogel/kb/XP_remove_progs.htm

Bob

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RE: new HD
by soc_wrkr Jun 5, 2005 6:41AM PDT

How big of a HD could I get? I've put some ram in a Tower PC and installed a new modem(successfully and without the help of my companies IT dept...). On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate putting in a new HD. What brands do you suggest that are reliable within around the $69? What is the best way to transfer all my data on this current HD to the new one?

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Thank you for the replies and suggestions.
by soc_wrkr Jun 5, 2005 6:31AM PDT

I've pretty much removed icons off the start menu and desktop for both programs. I guess I'll deal with them on my PC. I would upgrade my HD but I'm thinking of switching to MAC. I don't want to invest too much money into this PC at this point...

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