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I face a rather peculiar problem. I have Win 98 SE on my system. I uninstalled the latest version of ZAPro (Zone Alarm Pro), a firewall, and tried to replace it with a lower version. Though I successfully uninstalled it, I saw the entry for ZAPro in the Add/Remove Program Properties applet in the Control Panel. So I removed this entry using `System Mechanic', a utility. After this, the installation process with the lower version was unsuccessful, hence I tried to revert to the latest version. While the software was installed, and functioning properly, the corresponding entry for ZAPro in the Add/Remove applet was missing. So, I tried to uninstall again, and reinstalled the software. To my horror, the entry for ZAPro became visible, but the entries for the rest of the 25 or so other programs that were already present were missing. I tried to uninstall and install ZAPro again, but to no avail. I did try installing a couple of new programs and however newly installed program entries are visible. When installing new programs, I could see all the entries in the installer wizard box, PC is functioning fine so far. However, I fear there could be problems when I uninstall certain programs that do not have an uninstall shortcut in the Start Menu-Programs folder. Please suggest a solution. -- Natarajan Sivasailam

The list that shows up in the Add/Remove program icon is stored in the registry at the following location: HKLM\Software\

Microsoft\Windows\CurrenVersion\Uninstall\

Here you will find the list of programs appearing in the Add/Remove icon in a folder-like structure. Each folder represents a program installation. Clicking on a program entry will have a minimum of two basic entries, "DisplayName" which is the program name and the "UninstallString" which contains the path to the uninstaller program i.e. C:\ProgramFiles\parg\uninst.exe. The reasons for the problem could be corrupted entries in the uninstaller list, or because the entries have got deleted because of some malfunctioning uninstaller or utility. Your first step towards solving the problem is to go to the location in the registry as mentioned above and check if the installed programs are listed there. If the programs are listed, please delete the . ZAPro entries.There is a tool to help you identify and delete the invalid and unwanted entries. You can find it at http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptpruner.asp

Please download the "Pruner" utility and run it. Go to the Add/Remove tab and delete all the items that are checked because they are invalid entries, next remove the ZAPro's entries also, if any, and check if this solves your problem. If, on the other hand, you do not have any program listed under the uninstall node in the registry in the path given above, then you will have to do some manual entry to get the program list in the add/Remove icon. However, there is no serious problem because of this as you can still uninstall the programs by going to their respective installation paths and double clicking on the uninstaller program which will be usually something like prgunistall.exe, uninstall.exe or uninstall.bat.

Solution by G. Rajah

(Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using a computer).

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