Remove Programs…GONE (Pro SP2)

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Gang…

One of our office staff left the company; & the replacement employee cannot log on to that PC for getting bombarded w/ prompts to insert a program install CD from Broderbund’s ‘ClikArt 400,000’. I went to remove this program the old fashioned way (Add / Remove Programs)…only to find that this prior employee had actually removed the ‘Removal’ functionality of that Windows utility.

So…my questions are:

1) Can I simply insert the OS’s install CD…repair XP…& get that complete functionality back (w/o killing subsequent OS upgrades)? [or…should I tackle this problem another way?]

2) I know this question is not related to XP…but I killed all things Broderbund in the Registry; & the machine still prompts for the install CD. Should I just download Registry Mechanic from PC Tools & fix it (the Registry) correctly? or…what can I do to completely kill this program? (the new employee doesn’t need it or want it).

Thanks,

mark4man

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1. You should be able to repair Windows (don’t do a complete reinstall from the CD, that would remove all updates).

2. Try Revo Uninstaller (free).

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I’ve never gone looking for one of these, so I too don’t know where it “hides” in the registry. It must not contain the company or product name, since you looked for those already.

Anyhoo, you might try browsing through the many tabs of Windows Sysinternals: Documentation, downloads and additional resources Autoruns to see if you spot anything. There is a tab called Boot Execute and I don’t know what all gets in there under circumstances other than mine.

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Hans & Doc…

Thanks.

Revo worked…the XP Install CD didn’t (there seemed to no ‘Repair’ option…maybe if I select ‘Install’ it will detect an OS on the machine & then give me the repair option…I don’t know…)…

…but…

as we go forward w/ setting up this workstation, we are finding more & more problems associated w/ the old user restricting any future users on this machine (as this individual left our office under not the best of circumstances). The most pressing example is the fact that we cannot add the new employee as a user under a new account (so as to then delete the old user’s account).

When I open User Accounts, it shows the following:

Administrator………SAM…………………………Administrators
ASPNET………………SAM…………………………Users
sam…………………….OFFICE-DOMAIN…….Administrators

(this is also how everyone else’s User Account appears, on the other PC’s in our office).

I attempted to create a new account for the new employee by entering Administrator as the ‘User Name’…BILL (new employee)…as the ‘Domain’…& Administrators as the ‘Group’ (to match the first line in the Users window listing…but I keep getting an error message that reads:

The user could not be added due to the following error: the trust relationship between this workstation & the primary domain failed.

Now…our office manager tells me the new employee was added to our office domain as BILL; & that it was successful…so…I’m not sure where we are going wrong.

Could use some help…I want to try & fix the problem prior to calling in an IT guy.

Thanks,

mark4man

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Under what account are you logged into the PC? To what groups does that account belong?

Joe

--Joe

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Joe…

The new employee logs in under the old employee’s account…SAM. I would imagine the groups are Administrators & Users (as they are the only two listings under Groups in User Accounts). Thanks.

MF

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(Edited by joeperez on 03-Oct-08 16:07. second thought about what to do.)

I think what you want to do is add Bill as the user name and office-domain as the domain name. Then assign Bill to whatever group you need.

Scratch the above. You need to right click My Computer and select Manage. Then expand the Local Users and Groups. Select “Groups”. Double click the Administrators group to open it. Click on Add. Click Advanced. Click on Find Now. Find Bill in the account list, Click to select. OK your way out.

Joe

--Joe

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Joe…

There is no BILL in that list…only vaiations of SAM (the old user) & other stuff.

MF

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If your domain is not listed in “From this location” when you click Add, then change the location to your domain.

Joe

--Joe

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There is no other location, Joe…once into ‘Admin Prop’ > ‘Select Users’ / ‘Advanced’ > ‘Find Now’…even ‘Locations’…there is only one folder listed: SAM…that’s it.

MF

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See the attachment. I mean “From this location” in the window before you ‘press’ Advanced. If you can’t change the location or SAM is the only one there then you are not connected to a Windows domain or you don’t have permissions to access domain information.

Joe

--Joe

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