uninstalling software in my new e1505

I tried to uninstall some of the useless software dell gives you. I got the following message:

"the windows installer service cannot be accessed. this can occur if the windows installer is not correctly installed. contact support personnel for assistance"

Is there a way to get around this little road block? I really don't need earthlink and a bunch of other stuff.

 

Yep, just download and install CCleaner from

ccleaner.com

under the Tools section it allows you to uninstall programs

it also allows you to remove left over registry entries, cookies, and program fragments.

best of all it's totally free

Best of luck

 

Absolutely. I can vouch for that program, it's by far the best of it's kind that I've ever used. Alternatively, under Add/Remove Programs -> Windows Components, you should be able to install the Windows Installer program, though you might need your OS installation disc for that. That's under XP, by the way, if you're using Vista it may not work the same way.

 

Thanks for the advice but neither approach worked. the shareware gave the same failure message and the other method does work on vista. There aren't such commands.

It's amazing, I've unintalled hundreds of programs over the years with no hassle whatsoever. Now, with a brand new computer i've already spent over an hour just trying to uninstall AOL.

Thumbs down so far for vista.

 

You should just reformat the HD and then reinstall a clean copy of windows

 

how do you do that?

 

I contacted Dell and the tech guy gave me the following reply:
"Brian, it appears that we need to download and install a service from Microsoft's website. I'm sorry as we don't have a solution to this issue right now. Will that be fine if we call give you a call with a solution tomorrow?"

yeah right. the checks in the mail.

 

Did your E1505 come with an OEM Vista OS disk?

 

You know. you could always just delete the programs. Your registry will still have the bloat in it. but that would atleast clear up HDD space.

 

I admit not knowing Vista but you may try if they are ready for vista spybot spywareblaster and adaware. There is one WildTangent that really sucks in XP you have to hunt to find an uninstaller. I would try those but if all else every one I talk to says format but vista is so new that I do not know if all this will work in it yet. Maybe Dell would give you an XP copy. I wish I knew if I could do the express code hold the software until Vista is stable then install it. I got XP on mine for that very reason sorry I hope some of this helps.

 

Be careful with CC Cleaner... it's not as nondestructive as it may seem. When it asks you if you want to make a backup of the registry before continuing, it's asking for a reason. It really screwed up my Lenovo 3000 N100.

 

If you have a particular piece of software that won't uninstall... do this. First reinstall it. Then uninstall it again. Something got messed up and this is the only reliable way I've ever found to fix the problem. Probably the cleanest as well and it always works.