cannot uninstall the majority of my programs

[drew]

Almost all of my programs will not uninstall, either through the add/remove programs or through ccleaner. When I try to uninstall it says could not open install.log file. I believe this is something that ccleaner deleted. Is there anything I can do at this point or am I pretty much screwed?

[jc836]

Have you tried to remove them manually? This will take a good amount of time and require that you edit the Registry (eek) - at your own risk. You can also try using Norton Win Doctor to aid you with the remnants. Another thing, make sure that you have NOT ticked Log and several other tpes of files like Cookies and extensions.

Just some ideas to try.

[TheFiresInTheSky]

good idea JC but i think there could be ways around this.

some programs have an uninstaller stored in their folder.

for example, to delete Ccleaner, an alternative choice would be go to C:\program files\ccleaner\uninstaller.exe or something along those names.

 

the other way you could fix this is reinstall the program over itself or do a repair if the setup gives you the option to.

that may make it show up again.

[Eldmannen]

Programs should be able to be undeleted. However, if you checked the "Uninstall Hotfixers" then its not possible to uninstall Windows Update patches (which you shouldn't uninstall) and IE7 and WMP betas.

 

Other software should be able to be uninstalled, sometimes software use crappy uninstallers which does not work or does not work correctly, or was wrongly configured by the author of the software. NSIS is the best installer.