Add/Remove Programs are not listed through the Control Panel

There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

Cheryl, this is sometimes caused by malware/viruses/spyware/etc., make sure
that your AV utilities etc. are up-to-date. You should also try either or
both of the following MS knowledge base articles :-

"Unexplained computer behaviour may be caused by deceptive software"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315/en-us

"Control Panel, Help, and System Restore are empty or partially empty"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309663/en-us

Good luck

Mart


"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control
panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own
unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

Cheryl, just a further possibility worth checking-out. If you have TweakUI
installed in your Control Panel :-

"Error Message When Removing Program with Add/Remove Programs"
http://support.microsoft.com:80/kb/141697/en-us

That (see especially Method 2) has helped others with a similar problem.

Mart



"Mart" wrote in message
...
Cheryl, this is sometimes caused by malware/viruses/spyware/etc., make
sure that your AV utilities etc. are up-to-date. You should also try
either or both of the following MS knowledge base articles :-

"Unexplained computer behaviour may be caused by deceptive software"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315/en-us

"Control Panel, Help, and System Restore are empty or partially empty"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309663/en-us

Good luck

Mart


"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control
panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own
unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much Mart,
Just one more question? I have never been on the internet with this
computer. I have not used it in a couple of years. I remember that I was
having this problem before I quit using it. I can not free up any memory.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Cheryl

"Mart" wrote:

Cheryl, this is sometimes caused by malware/viruses/spyware/etc., make sure
that your AV utilities etc. are up-to-date. You should also try either or
both of the following MS knowledge base articles :-

"Unexplained computer behaviour may be caused by deceptive software"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315/en-us

"Control Panel, Help, and System Restore are empty or partially empty"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309663/en-us

Good luck

Mart


"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control
panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own
unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

Well Cheryl, I suppose that you're almost welcome g

However, your 'Just one more question?' puts my suggested solution(s) in
doubt and I suspect your question could be the tip of an iceberg. I guess
that since you've "never been on the internet with this computer", then that
pretty much rules out 'malware/viruses/spyware/etc' - unless you've been
infected via a floppy disk of course! And what's even more worrying is that
you probably haven't installed all the WinMe updates. Oh dear!

But, even more intriguing is your assertion that you "can not free up any
memory" Are you sure that you mean 'memory' or do you really mean 'disk
space' on your C: drive?

... I have not used it in a couple of years. I remember that I was
having this problem before I quit using it ...

Perhaps a better description of your problems might be more useful. Full
size and free-space of the HDD would help. How much memory (RAM) is fitted?
And, for what it's worth - does System Restore still appear to work?
Although 'a couple of years ago', under the circumstances (no updates),
probably not - you *may* have had a Restore Point which could have been
useful. You might however still have a 'good' registry backup available -
worry about that later.

Again 'under the circumstances' it might also be useful to know whether you
would be able to do a clean install if necessary - do you still have the
original WinMe installation disk(s) and the 25 digit key code?

In the meantime, it might also be worth running standard scandisk (not
thorough yet!) just to see if it finds errors on your hard drive. If so do
not attempt to fix them yet - just make a note and report back. There should
be a few people available here to help.

Mart


"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
Thank you very much Mart,
Just one more question? I have never been on the internet with this
computer. I have not used it in a couple of years. I remember that I was
having this problem before I quit using it. I can not free up any memory.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Cheryl

"Mart" wrote:

Cheryl, this is sometimes caused by malware/viruses/spyware/etc., make
sure
that your AV utilities etc. are up-to-date. You should also try either or
both of the following MS knowledge base articles :-

"Unexplained computer behaviour may be caused by deceptive software"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315/en-us

"Control Panel, Help, and System Restore are empty or partially empty"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309663/en-us

Good luck

Mart


"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control
panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own
unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just
deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

Cheryl wrote:
There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

For me I remember CCleaner will list programs even when they aren't
shown in add/remove programs.
and removed programs with it that couldn't be uninstalled through add/
remove programs.

Also to see what may be taking up memory you may want to do a ctrl-alt-
delete and a box will show
whats running.

Then in start menu go to I believe it's run then do msconfig and see
what programs run at startup.

Also have you run scandisk and defragmented lately. I may not help
anything but maybe it would.

Cheryl wrote:
There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

For me I remember CCleaner will list programs installed even when they
aren't shown in add/remove programs, and removed programs with it that
couldn't be uninstalled through add/remove programs.

Also to see what may be taking up memory you may want to do a ctrl-alt-
delete and a box will show
whats running.

Then in start menu go to I believe it's run then do msconfig and see
what programs run at startup.

Also have you run scandisk and defragmented lately. I may not help
anything but maybe it would.

You are correct. I have never updated Windows ME and I do mean disk space on
my C drive.

"Mart" wrote:

Well Cheryl, I suppose that you're almost welcome g

However, your 'Just one more question?' puts my suggested solution(s) in
doubt and I suspect your question could be the tip of an iceberg. I guess
that since you've "never been on the internet with this computer", then that
pretty much rules out 'malware/viruses/spyware/etc' - unless you've been
infected via a floppy disk of course! And what's even more worrying is that
you probably haven't installed all the WinMe updates. Oh dear!

But, even more intriguing is your assertion that you "can not free up any
memory" Are you sure that you mean 'memory' or do you really mean 'disk
space' on your C: drive?

... I have not used it in a couple of years. I remember that I was
having this problem before I quit using it ...

Perhaps a better description of your problems might be more useful. Full
size and free-space of the HDD would help. How much memory (RAM) is fitted?
And, for what it's worth - does System Restore still appear to work?
Although 'a couple of years ago', under the circumstances (no updates),
probably not - you *may* have had a Restore Point which could have been
useful. You might however still have a 'good' registry backup available -
worry about that later.

Again 'under the circumstances' it might also be useful to know whether you
would be able to do a clean install if necessary - do you still have the
original WinMe installation disk(s) and the 25 digit key code?

In the meantime, it might also be worth running standard scandisk (not
thorough yet!) just to see if it finds errors on your hard drive. If so do
not attempt to fix them yet - just make a note and report back. There should
be a few people available here to help.

Mart


"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
Thank you very much Mart,
Just one more question? I have never been on the internet with this
computer. I have not used it in a couple of years. I remember that I was
having this problem before I quit using it. I can not free up any memory.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Cheryl

"Mart" wrote:

Cheryl, this is sometimes caused by malware/viruses/spyware/etc., make
sure
that your AV utilities etc. are up-to-date. You should also try either or
both of the following MS knowledge base articles :-

"Unexplained computer behaviour may be caused by deceptive software"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315/en-us

"Control Panel, Help, and System Restore are empty or partially empty"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309663/en-us

Good luck

Mart


"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
There are no programs listed to unistall when I go through the control
panel.
I have tried to unistall some of the other programs with there own
unistall.
Some worked but I freed up no space on my computer. I also just
deleted
some files and I did not gain any hard drive space. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.

OK Cheryl, let's start over -

I have never updated Windows ME ...

Means that you are very unlikely to get System Restore to work (it needs an
update to make it work after 8th September 2001) You can download (onto your
current computer) the fix (Checkpoints that you create after September 8,
2001 do not restore your computer :-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290700/en-us )
- but one step at a time.

... and I do mean disk space on my C drive.

According to Windows Explorer, what is the size of your hard drive and how
much Used and Free space do you have?

What sort of stuff (types and sizes of files) is filling your hard drive?
Just programs and applications, or other unspecified stuff e.g. photo's,
music, etc.. ?

Did you manage to run scandisk? Any reports?

Mart

snipped

I have a 60 gig hard drive. 30 gig in drive c and 30 gig in drive d. The
computer came that way. It is a sony vaio and I mainly use it for pictures.
So I do have a lot of pictures on it. I also have several photo programs on
it. Adobe Premiere for videos and Microsoft Picture It for stills. I know
Premiere is a very large program.

"Mart" wrote:

OK Cheryl, let's start over -

I have never updated Windows ME ...

Means that you are very unlikely to get System Restore to work (it needs an
update to make it work after 8th September 2001) You can download (onto your
current computer) the fix (Checkpoints that you create after September 8,
2001 do not restore your computer :-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290700/en-us )
- but one step at a time.

... and I do mean disk space on my C drive.

According to Windows Explorer, what is the size of your hard drive and how
much Used and Free space do you have?

What sort of stuff (types and sizes of files) is filling your hard drive?
Just programs and applications, or other unspecified stuff e.g. photo's,
music, etc.. ?

Did you manage to run scandisk? Any reports?

Mart

snipped