Completely Remove Programs

[bman]

I am about to reformate my computer. I am wondering when I reinstall Windows XP, how I can completely uninstall Windows Messenger, Internet Explorer, and programs like that. I have never done that before. Is there a tutorial or something?

Thanks invanced.

[maxXPsoft]

Check this out

Nlite

[bman]

I know about that. I dont want to edit my Windows CD, I already tryed that and it just dosent work for me. I am looking for something to tell me how to remove after I install windows.

[neosapience]

I haven't seen a great guide on uninstalling windows apps. Some things (like internet explorer) can't really be removed. Other programs are a pain and require a few tricks to remove. My advice is to look around for each program you wish to remove and take note of what you need to do.

[bman]

Will XPLite, i think thats what it's called, remove all those programs. I have been reading a little bit about it, not totally sure what it does, and what it can do.

[neosapience]

XPlite looks good, but it's not free.

I only deal in free software.

BTW, you can easily remove about 90% of the items XPlite does without any real trouble. Just go to the add/remove programs applet in the control panel, then click the add/remove windows components button on the left.

[bman]

The add/remove components in windows xp doesnt accually remove the programs, just deletes shorcuts and stuff.

[neosapience]

Like I said, some components can not be removed. IE is an integral part of Windows and is all but impossible to uninstall. There are other components that are also like that.

To be honest, I've never seen an easy way to remove most Windows components. The best solution is what the others have already mentioned - nLite.

I'm sure you could find a commercial uninstaller, but from what I've seen, they can be trouble.

[jisin63]

From Extremetech.com:

Remove "Uninstallable" XP Components

There are a number of Windows components-notably Windows Messenger and WordPad—that don't show up on the list of uninstallable components on the Windows Component Wizard. There's no apparent way to uninstall them. But you can, in fact, remove these components.

XP has a Setup Information file that controls what appears in the Windows Component Wizard. If you edit this file, you can remove these components as you would any others.

To start, use Notepad or another text editor to open the Setup Information file, sysoc.inf, which is generally found in the \WINDOWS\INF folder. Look for the line describing the program that you want to uninstall. Lines in the file have the format:

program=dll.inf entry, OcEntry, program.inf entry, numeral

Programs that are uninstallable all have the word hide or HIDE embedded in the string. Next, delete the word hide from the entry that refers to the component that you want to remove. For example, if you wanted to remove Pinball, you'd edit its entry by changing

Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7

to

Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,,7

Save the sysoc.inf file, then run the Windows Component Wizard by choosing Add or Remove Programs from Control Panel, and clicking on Add/Remove Windows Components. The component will now show up in the wizard. Remove it as you would any other component.

Keep in mind that not all of the entries in sysoc.inf are as easy to understand as Pinball and WordPad. For example, if you want to remove Windows Messenger, edit the entry for msmsgs, and if you want to remove the Accessibility Wizard, edit the entry for AccessOpt. The following table lists the "uninstallable" programs and what their entries are in the sysoc.inf file.

Entry\What Entry Refers To

AccessOpt\ Accessibility Wizard

MultiM \ Multimedia components, including Media Player, Volume Control, and Sound Recorder

CommApps \ Communications components, including Chat, Hyperterminal, and Phone Dialer

AutoUpdate \ Windows Automatic Update

TerminalServer\ Terminal Server

Dtc \ Distributed Transaction Coordinator

Com \COM+

WBEM \Windows Management Instrumentation

Pinball \Pinball game

MSWordPad \WordPad

msmsgs\ Windows Messenger

Alas, this isn't perfect. on some systems, you simply won't be able to remove Windows Messenger - Windows Messenger won't show up on the Windows Component Wizard even after you edit the sysoc.inf file. And some components such as Terminal Server will show up in the wizard if you edit the sysoc.inf file, but the wizard still won't let you uninstall them.

To remove Windows Messenger, first try the methods of theeldergeek.com:

Microsoft Messenger Removal

One of the most sought after tweaks at the moment is the ability to remove Windows Messenger from Windows XP installations. I do want to clear up one misconception before the methods are presented. In none of the cases below is Messenger actually 'removed' from the system. You can hide it, prevent it from starting, disguise it, and fool the system into thinking it's not available - but it isn't removed. It's still on the computer and a part of the operating system.

Messenger Service Popup Advertising

The latest trend is using the messenger 'service' to send pop up advertising spam to unprotected computers. It's important to note that these messages have no relation to MSN or Microsoft Messenger. Messenger service is used via the 'net send' command to send messages between networked computers. Directions on how to prevent this type of spamming are located here.

Official Microsoft Messenger Removal Methods

How to Prevent Windows Messenger from Running on a Windows XP-Based Computer

Microsoft issued Knowledge Base Article Q302089 on Jan 30, 2002 that details methods to prevent Windows Messenger 4.0, 4.5 and 4.6 from running on Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional. Messenger is installed by default in XP Home and Professional.

***On September 9, 2002 Microsoft released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP. As part of an agreement with the Department of Justice, certain items termed middleware may be hidden by using the Add/Remove Windows Components section of the Add/Remove Programs section of Control Panel. Microsoft messenger is one of the middleware components affected by this change. In addition, a new section of Add/Remove Programs called Set Program Access and Defaults allows users to specify a different default messenger utility . Setting a different default messenger program will also hide Microsoft Messenger.***

Use Group Policy Editor to Alter Messenger Behavior / XP Pro Version

Two methods of dealing with Messenger are available via Group Policy Editor (GPE) which can be started with the gpedit.msc command in the Run dialog. Identical settings are available for either Computer Configuration or User Configuration. If you want the policy to be computer wide, use Computer Configuration and all users will be equally affected. To set individual user policy, use the User Configuration section.

Under Local Computer Policy, navigate to Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger in whatever section you previously determined was appropriate. There will be two settings in the right window pane.

• Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run.

• Do not automatically start Windows messenger initially.

Double click the appropriate setting to open the box where changes may be implemented. Close GPE and reboot.

***Disabling Messenger via GPE Slowed Outlook 2002 To A Crawl

Since I don't use Messenger, I opted to disable it with GPE using the "Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run" option under Computer Configuration. Just by chance, I happened to open Outlook immediately after completing the tweak and the splash screen took forever to disappear. Normally, Outlook is very fast on this box. I knew nothing else had been changed so I suspected disabling Messenger was related to the slowdown

Sure enough, the setting in Outlook for "Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook" was checked. Outlook was trying to start Messenger and having it disallowed in GPE was causing a huge slowdown. Removing the checkmark from the "Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook" option returned Outlook to its normally snappy response. I suspect this same scenario may play out in other applications that have the ability to access Messenger automatically. Just something to keep in mind if you experience an unexpected slowdown.***

Unofficial Windows Messenger Removal - Method I

Note: If SP1 is installed this tip is pointless. Use Add/Remove Programs to remove Messenger

To add Messenger to the Add/Remove Programs feature accessible via Control Panel

Navigate to C:\Windows\inf

(If your Windows directory is different, substitute the proper drive letter)

Open sysoc.inf

Find the line that reads

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

Change it to read

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7

Windows Messenger will now appear in Add/Remove Windows Components section of Add/Remove Programs accessible through Control Panel.

Unofficial Windows Messenger Removal - Method II

Click [start] [Run] and in the [Open:] box type or copy/paste the following command

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

Click [OK]

Unofficial Windows Messenger Removal - Method III

This is my favorite method for fooling Windows XP into not being able to launch Messenger. The default location for Windows Messenger is C:\Program Files\Messenger. When XP wants to fire up Messenger it will try and access the files at the default location. To prevent Messenger from loading, just rename the Messenger folder to something new; MessengerDisabled has worked for me. If you want to use Messenger at some point down the road, simply rename the folder to Messenger and you're back in business.

Or try the download from dougknox.com:

Doug Knox Windows Messenger Removal

Note the warnings that most of the techniques just trick XP to not run messenger, it’s still there.

Remove Internet Explorer:

I think this is the best you can do (from newsforge.com):

How to remove IE

Once you've decided to get rid of IE, you can use the following process, provided you have Internet Explorer version 6 or later installed. Ironically, the easiest way to remove Internet Explorer versions earlier than version 6.0 is to first upgrade to 6.0 -- a process best done through Windows Update. If you're using Windows 95 and want to remove IE, Microsoft has instructions here.

In Windows NT 4.0, 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, and Advanced Server Limited Edition, open up your Control Panel, which is found in the Start Menu under Settings. Then double-click on Add/Remove Programs; a new window will appear with this same title. Select Add/Remove Windows Components from the left-hand icon column and then uncheck the box next to Internet Explorer. Click Next and IE will disappear from your system; click Finish to complete the process. All IE icons will be removed from your quick launch, desktop, and Start menu.

Depending on which operating system you're using and how it has been updated and configured, the option for removing Internet Explorer may alternately be in the Add/Remove Installed Programs section instead of the Add/Remove Windows Components section, but the basic process remains the same.

In Windows XP the process is exactly the same, except you have some further options to limit Internet Explorer. In the same Add or Remove Programs window, Windows XP has an additional option for those with Administrator rights: Set Program Access and Defaults, which is the last icon down on the left-hand icon bar. Click on it and you'll see some different profiles to choose from. Click on Custom; this will list some program defaults and access controls that you can change manually. The first group in the list is for your Web browser. Uncheck the box labeled "Enable access to this program" next to Internet Explorer. You'll notice there is a button for the system default -- you'll want to click the dot next to your new browser to make it the default if it isn't already set.

Internet Explorer is, unfortunately, built into Windows in all versions after 98 and can't be fully removed. No matter what you do, IE will still be available in a limited capacity for the purpose of running Windows Update, which requires Internet Explorer to run. It will not be generally available to users, however, and since you set your default browser to whatever you installed earlier, IE will never open on its own when you click a link offline. This is the best you can do; Windows security is all about reducing risk, rather than eliminating it. If you start Windows Update, an IE window will open and you can use it for browsing sites other than Windows Update despite the fact that it's been "removed" and "disabled." This is one of the main problems with Windows -- there are always loopholes like this one that compromise your system's security. A more effective long-term answer to such security concerns might be to switch to GNU/Linux (not that I condone that).