Member Avatar for pixiegirl

Hello,

A lengthy opening question with an introduction and thanks in advance (hopefully).

I am experiencing some problems with my computer, I have an e-machines 5220, with Windows XP. I am fairly lacking in knowledge with computers though I am willing to understand more. So please be kind!

I mainly use the comp for games and installed The Sims about 10 days ago. I then (foolishly) visited some websites and downloaded new skins and objects.

There was an issue with unzipping the files as my partner had already downloaded a program to unzip (Winrar) and the trial period had expired. I looked into it...realised we didn't even need it as XP has an unzipper and so tried to uninstall it. It won't go!

So I searched on google, found a program which claimed to clean up hard drives inc programs which won't uninstall. I downloaded this as a trial version (Ace) and ran it. It still didn't remove the dodgy file and seems now to have caused undue chaos.

I also tried to manually delete the still unzipped files in the Sims game and reinstall that. It won't install at all. I panicked....and went to an earlier system restore point. No joy...and by this point I have no idea whats going on. Demo programs that were unistalled have reappeared due to going back to an earlier system checkpoint and bits of programs are still hanging around.

I tried to uninstall these using the add/remove programs but I think that by this point in the disaster so many bits are missing and mixed up that it won't let me uninstall anything giving me various error mesages for the different programs and causing add/remove programs to freeze up. So I tried to uninstall them manually.

Can you guess the rest? It's a mess, I want to completely reinstall XP but my partner has many, many hours of music on here and it will be expensive to buy something to back it up on. Is there an easier way to find the solution?

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Dani AI

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This is a textbook case of a partial uninstall + an aggressive "cleaner" leaving Windows XP with mismatched files and broken uninstall entries. described the right priorities, pointed at restoring an app's own uninstall support, and was correct to make backing up irreplaceable music the first job. Securing the music is the single safest move before any further repair work.

Recommended priority steps (in order):

  • Back up media first. Copy all music files and any playlist/library files to another device (external USB disk, another PC over the network, or a USB-IDE/SATA adapter if the drive can be removed). If Windows is unstable, boot from a Linux/WinPE live USB to mount the drive and copy files safely. Search for common extensions (.mp3, .wma, *.wav) and copy any playlist files (for example, .m3u) and the media player database folders so playlists can be restored later.

  • Create an image of the drive before further changes. A bit-for-bit image provides a safety net that a simple file copy does not, and lets experiments be rolled back without buying extra media.

  • Attempt targeted repairs rather than wide registry cleaning. Useful, lower-risk actions are: run sfc /scannow (XP CD required), use Microsoft's install/uninstall troubleshooter, and remove stale uninstall entries only after exporting the registry. The uninstall keys live under:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
    Export the key before editing. For MSI-based installs the GUID found there can be removed with msiexec /x {GUID}.

A few cautions: general-purpose registry cleaners often cause more harm than good after manual deletions; they should be avoided unless a full image exists. If targeted repair fails, a clean OS reinstall is the last resort — but only after imaging and backing up all data, then reinstalling programs from their original installers (not by copying folders). When uncertainty about any step remains, have someone experienced perform the backup and repair to avoid accidental data loss.

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Member Avatar for nanosani

just reinstall winrar and try uninstalling it then .... I think you just deleted its uninstall log file by chance ... and its staying there now without uninstalling support.

Member Avatar for Puckdropper

Sounds like you've really got it screwed up.

Get a bunch of CD-Rs (the cheap ones are good enough) and back up your hard drive. When that's done, you can format and reinstall. Do NOT COPY programs back on to the hard drive from your backup, REINSTALL them. Copy your data files back to where they belong on the hard drive. You may lose a program's organization of the music files by doing this, but what good does it do if you can't use the computer anyway?

Member Avatar for pixiegirl

I'm trying to avoid having to reinstall the whole system if I can...and it works as long as I don't want to uninstall these messed up programs!

Is running a program to clean up the registry keys a good idea? and with reference to reinstalling a dodgy program...does this usual solve uninstalling problems?

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