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Registry problems???

Discussion in 'Computers & Technology Forum' started by John Owen, Feb 10, 2004.

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  1. John Owen

    John Owen New Member

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    Awhile back I was installing some program or other, and for some reason along with this program, Symnatec Corporate edition (which I had previously uninstalled) reinstalled itself. It shows up in my Add/Remove Program list, but when I attempt to uninstall it, I get a box that pops up saying that it cannot uninstall because there is a missing .msi file, it defaults to look in:

    C:\DOCUME~1\Dad\LOCALS~1\Temp\~SMI5B8B\SYMANT~1.MSI\

    .... there is a choice to browse because it cannot find the file, so I did a search with Explorer to see if I could find it and direct the uninstall program to that location, but to no avail. I have also tried to reinstall the prog, and it won't let me do that either, the error message is "An error occured that prevents this installation from completing." I would like to install a free Antivirus program that comes with a year of free updates (E-Trust at http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/ ) but it will not install because it says I already have an antivirus prog installed. Is there a way to clean up this mess? I am not familiar with messing with the registry, but is this where the problem might lay? that there are some remnants in there? Any help/advice (as long as it is good advice! LOL!) would be appreciated.....
     
    #1 John Owen, Feb 10, 2004
  2. BrianT

    BrianT New Member

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    Two things that may work:

    1. Reinstall Symnatec Corporate edition, then immediately uninstall it.

    2. In your main Windows folder (usually C:\Windows or C:\Winnt) there is a subfolder called "Installer" that contains all the .msi files (with non-descriptive names) of installed programs. So when it asks you to browse to the .msi file, try browsing to c:\windows\installer . Alternatively, you can also open File Explorer manually, go to the c:\windows\installer folder, and run the uninstaller manually. To do this, you have to figure out which .msi file is the right one (usually hovering the mouse over each one for a second will provide a description containing company and product name, or right-click each one and choose "Properties" from the popup menu and then look at the Summary tab). Once you've identified the right one, you can right-click it an choose "Uninstall" from the popup menu. These instructions work on XP, but they may not be exact on other operating systems, I can't remember. A few times uninstalling something from the control panel failed on me, and doing it this way fixed the problem.

    If neither of those help, there is another process that will work, but it requires installing some free tweaking software and I forget the name of it right now - I'll look it up and post it tomorrow if you're still fighting this.

    Brian
     
    #2 BrianT, Feb 10, 2004
  3. David Mark

    David Mark New Member

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    In addition,

    If you are running XP or 2000 you can disable any Symantec services if they exist. To disable a service try this.

    Right click on the My Computer icon.
    Click on Manage.
    Expand "Services and Applications".
    Click on Services.
    In the list of services locate any Symantec or Norton antivirus services. Right click on the service and choose properties.
    Set the service to "disable". Make sure it stops too.
    Then try to install the other program.

    If the service doesn't exist let us know.

    I know how to get it out of the registry. I can give you precise instructions on how to get rid of the Symantec stuff in the registry. But it would be the last resort.

    Dave. [​IMG]
     
    #3 David Mark, Feb 11, 2004
  4. John Owen

    John Owen New Member

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    Hey guys... thanks for the great help.... in the end, I had to reformat... and now I am having a different problem.... I think I have heard that there is a virus or a worm that is disguised in a Microsoft update.... I have reformatted and reinstalled XP 5 times in the last 3 days.... I ran MacAfee and nothing showed up, I unistalled it and installed AVAST! to see if it might find anything, its scanning right now.... something that is happening now is that Windows Media Player won't launch. The computer makes a sound as if the application is starting, but it never does, I did ctrl alt delete to check processes and it is definitely not running in the background... I guess I can live with this and use winamp if this ends up being the only problem I am having because frankly, I am sick and tired or reformatting and reinstlling all the drivers etc.

    Any thoughts?

    Punt?
     
    #4 John Owen, Feb 14, 2004
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