I just recently got my buddy's old Gateway notebook, it's about 5 yrs. old, and it originally came with Windows ME. When he had it he installed XP Pro. and was using it for quite a while. When he gave it to me he said he had someone wipe everything clean and re-install XP so that it was like a brand new comp. My question is that now i have two of all programs, Word, Outlook, Excel, Frontpage, etc.,how do i delete one of them and why are there two in the first place? Did he not delete ME before re-installing XP? I went to Add/Remove programs but none of the programs were there. Thanks for the help.

 

be more specific.

when you go to ADD/REMOVE programs, what do you see?

 

A bunch of XP security updates, bunch of Win. XP Hotfix( which i have no idea what those are?), Adobe, Google Earth,Spy Sweeper, etc. Just programs that i have downloaded since i got the computer it looks like.

 

you need thoes extra updates its how MS fixes and patches thier programs. if you use microsoft update or windows update those are what download and that is what you are seeing.

 

If you're seeing duplicates of the Office apps, and nothing's showing up in Add/Remove, then I'd bet that when your buddy "wiped" the box, all he did was delete the Windows directory and then installed XP. Or, installed XP along side of ME, then left ME in place.

The point being that when Office (or most any Windows app) installs, it places information in the registry to tell Windows that it's there. That information is used to build the Add/Remove screen, and if it's not there - then the underlying info is missing. The programs still show up on the drive because they're still physically there, the drive was never really wiped.

This all brings up questions about how clean the install is on the box. The best thing you can do is to physically wipe the box - REALLY wipe it down to fomatting the drive, and then truly re-install XP from the ground up.

If you don't, I can pretty much promise that you'll always have flakey things happening on the machine.

 

midiwall is correct as usual

just throw in that Windows XP disc and install it. But at the beginning make sure you select format and install. This will completely clear the hard drive of all information including previous XP install. Then you'll have to start from scratch, install all the apps you want. Make sure you have everything you need before doing this or it will be lost.

 

(i'll lay odds that he doesn't have an XP disc, and the buddy who installed it may not wanna give it up. sigh)

 

Are you trying to delete word, outlook, etc? Be more specific.

As Dudebud explained it, Hotfix is security upgrades for your computer. It's not very necessary for me but if you want to keep up to date, then go ahead and download it. But it will run alot of your space in your HD.

I would send you Windows XP for free. But i'm not sure if it's legal. I heard if you give it away,then it's free but if you sale it, that's illegal. Not sure. But Usually how i would reformat is i take my HD out, put it into another computer and format everything. Meaning 0mb. Then i just put it back into the original computer install XP. Best way to know that everything is gone and fresh.

 

Wow... there are a number of MS employees on here that would love to hear the logic behind that concept.

The only way that it would be "legal" is if you effectively did a "license transfer" which means that you wipe any other installation of that serial number. But even then, the license is with the computer, not the user.

 

Yes, he gave me the disc in case there where any problems, which the comp. runs fine other than the fact that i have a duplicate of everything( word, excel. etc.) What would be the best way to delete the duplicates without losing the programs and settings i installed( adobe, google earth, spy sweeper, etc)? Thanks for the help.

 

dood.... can you possibly get us a screen shot of what this looks like? I'm wondering just where you're seeing dupes.

If they're appearing in the "Programs" list that comes off of the start button, then... there's no easy way to get them out. If you can see dupes through Explorer, then I wonder if one set are just shortcuts to the other.

The real "issue" I have (ehh, call it a "worry"), is that these apps don't show up in Add/Remove programs. THAT means that the registry is messed up, and THAT means that there are problems happening at a lower level.

I can appreciate that things are running fine now, but there's a LOT that goes on behind the scenes in terms of keeping "stuff" straight, and it's all based in the registry. I've gone through a LOT of Windows installs, and while I don't practice what I preach, I ALWAYS come around a gajillion hours of frustration later and do it right.

There's no Windows install better than a clean Windows install - which means formatting the drive. Yeah, it's a pain to reinstall other apps, but the end result is really worth it.

 

Yes, when i go to the start button and all programs appear, there are duplicates of everything, but none of them are showing up in Add/Remove programs. So from all the advice given i'm gonna start fresh and re-install XP along with everything else myself. Hopefully I'll be up and running later. Thanks for all the help!

 

Cool. I KNOW it's a pain, really I do, but it's the best thing. It's better to do it now and avoid issues later.

Remember to really relly start fresh. Boot from the install CD, blow away the partition, and recreate it. You can't get any more fresh than that.


Good luck!

And check back when you're back online!

 

You'll be amaze of how fast your computer will be when you reformat. I reformat all the time. I transfer my data to my external HD and just reformat it just to speed things up. But i plan to get 2x512 memory soon. =)