Cannot remove program

  • Thread starter Thread starter sherwindu
  • Start date Start date
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sherwindu

I am trying to remove the program WinFax, which is no longer supported by
Norton. The standard uninstallers are fouled up. I cleaned all references to
it in
the registry, but when I try to delete the program application, the operating
system
tells me it is already in use (I don't know where). Is there a way to delete
it?

I am trying to run the Norton Removal Tool to clean off my Norton System Works
2005, but it won't let me proceed until I get rid of WinFax. The other Usenet
groups
concerned with Norton or Symantec are not answering.

Sherwin D.
 
Hello sherwindu,

Check if the program has installed a service for it. Start Run services.msc
and search for it, then stop the service and disable it. Retry the deinstall.

Best regards

Myweb
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
 
sherwindu said:
I am trying to remove the program WinFax, which is no longer supported by
Norton. The standard uninstallers are fouled up. I cleaned all references to
it in
the registry, but when I try to delete the program application, the operating
system
tells me it is already in use (I don't know where). Is there a way to delete
it?

I am trying to run the Norton Removal Tool to clean off my Norton System Works
2005, but it won't let me proceed until I get rid of WinFax. The other Usenet
groups
concerned with Norton or Symantec are not answering.

Sherwin D.
Click to expand...

Try deleting it from Safe Mode.
 
Several Symantec services were set to Automatic including one that may be the
offender 'wfxsvc'. I stopped all of them. How does one disable the service
after it is stopped?

Sherwin D.
 
The Norton Removal Tool will not run in Safe Mode. I think Norton does all this

to annoy people.

Sherwin D.
 
As Myweb wrote:
- Click Start / Run / services.msc
- Locate the offending service.
- Double click it.
- Disable it.
 
If you have access to it, try reinstalling WinFax over itself and then see
if its uninstall program will function normally.
 
Unfortunately, WinFax is no longer available from Symantec.

This is unbelievable that I cannot remove certain programs from my PC! There
has to be ways to do this. I have disabled the programs in question and I still

cannot delete them. Keep getting messages that these programs are in use, when
I know they are not.

Sherwin D.
 
I wrote a set of detailed instructions in the other branch of
this thread, to which you never replied. If you cannot get
any response from Norton/Symantec newsgroups then your
best bet is to follow the suggestions in this newsgroup and
report the results. Ignoring them is unlikely to get you very
far.

Note that you can uninstall anything by manual means. It
just takes a little more of an effort.
 
Actually, I thought I replied to your suggestions.

1) I did disable and stopped all the services connected to Norton

2) I did try deleting items in Safe Mode with limited success.

There is still one outstanding delition problem. These concern regostry items
of the type 'LEGACY'. I cannot delete them in normal and safe modes. I get an
error
message. I checked all the devices under the Legacy listings and could not find

anything for Norton. How do I delete these registry entries?????
 
AFAIK, registry Legacy entries have no effect. However,
if they bother you then you can easily delete them too.
Run regedt32.exe instead of regedit.exe, then select the
offending key, click Security, then give yourself full access
to this key and all its subkeys. You can now delete it
under regedit.exe.

It would also be a good idea to delete all Norton/Symantec
folders in "Program Files" and in "Program Files\Common Files".

Many Windows support people have a reluctance to use
Norton/Symantec programs because they can be quite
difficult to remove.
 
I admit this is a fair amount of effort relative to the task but if you're
really stuck there are 74 WinFaxes for sale on ebay. Gotta think outside the
box, although this happens to come in a box.
 
Pegasus (MVP) said:
AFAIK, registry Legacy entries have no effect. However,
if they bother you then you can easily delete them too.
Run regedt32.exe instead of regedit.exe, then select the
offending key, click Security, then give yourself full access
to this key and all its subkeys. You can now delete it
under regedit.exe.

It would also be a good idea to delete all Norton/Symantec
folders in "Program Files" and in "Program Files\Common Files".

Many Windows support people have a reluctance to use
Norton/Symantec programs because they can be quite
difficult to remove.
Click to expand...

Amen to all that.

It is quite awkward to use regedt32. It doesn't let you search for keys.
I tried adding myself to the list permitting system access. Thought I did
it correctly, but it still won't let me delete the Legacy keys. Besides
changing
permissions on all HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, do I have to change it
for individual files? I would think not, but it doesn't work now.

You seem to think Legacy files should not affect a Norton load or clean
program.
Something in the Norton Clean program still thinks I have WinFax installed
and
won't run. Trying to just reinstall System Works from the CD also fails. I
don't
want to load Norton Anti Virus anymore, just the Utilities. What a pain in
the
neck. I may just give up.
 
Try this at your own risk:

1) Note the name of the program that you can't delete.
2) Take ownership of it.
3) Remove all rights to it, including your own.
4) Reboot.
5) Give yourself RW permissions to it.
6) Delete it.

By removing all rights you stop anything using it, and you should be
able to delete it.

Cheers,

Cliff
 
Enkidu said:
Try this at your own risk:

1) Note the name of the program that you can't delete.
2) Take ownership of it.
Click to expand...

How do you do that?
3) Remove all rights to it, including your own.
4) Reboot.
5) Give yourself RW permissions to it.
6) Delete it.

By removing all rights you stop anything using it, and you should be
able to delete it.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan. Problem is the program is basically gone from my machine.
I have stripped the folders and most of the registry entries refering to this elusive
WinFax and it's parent System Works. I cannot reload System Works from my
install CD, and don't have WinFax to download anymore. As Roger noted,
I can buy a copy of WinFax from Ebay, but I bet it won't let me load it because
it will say I have to remove the old copy first, which is back to the basic problem.
There ought to be a class action suit against Symantec. They are a menace to
the Software market.
 
sherwindu said:
Amen to all that.

It is quite awkward to use regedt32. It doesn't let you search for keys.
I tried adding myself to the list permitting system access. Thought I did
it correctly, but it still won't let me delete the Legacy keys. Besides
changing
permissions on all HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, do I have to change it
for individual files? I would think not, but it doesn't work now.

You seem to think Legacy files should not affect a Norton load or clean
program.
Something in the Norton Clean program still thinks I have WinFax installed
and
won't run. Trying to just reinstall System Works from the CD also fails. I
don't
want to load Norton Anti Virus anymore, just the Utilities. What a pain in
the
neck. I may just give up.
Click to expand...

I do not know what Norton Clean does but I wouldn't touch it
with a barge pole. What do you need it for? Can you use something
else to do the job?

Here are a couple of alternatives to modify registry permissions:
- Connect the disk as a slave disk to a WinXP PC, then use
regedit.exe. When you right-click a key then you will see the
permissions menu.
- Boot the machine with a Bart PE CD, then run regedit.exe as
above. It might take you a few hours to create this CD and you
will need a WinXP Professional CD (but no product key!) but
it's such a terrific tool that it's well worth the effort.
 
sherwindu said:
How do you do that?
Click to expand...
As I recall, as an administrator, right click the file, select
permissions, select advanced, take it from there.
Sounds like a plan. Problem is the program is basically gone from my machine.
I have stripped the folders and most of the registry entries refering to this elusive
WinFax and it's parent System Works. I cannot reload System Works from my
install CD, and don't have WinFax to download anymore. As Roger noted,
I can buy a copy of WinFax from Ebay, but I bet it won't let me load it because
it will say I have to remove the old copy first, which is back to the basic problem.
There ought to be a class action suit against Symantec. They are a menace to
the Software market.
Click to expand...
I've not had much problem removing Symantec products. Getting them to
work properly is another thing.... This removal problem is not exclusive
to Symantec.

If the install is not working because Winfax needs to be removed, then
my money is on some registry entries hanging around. There are programs
which supposedly solve this problem, but I don't think I personally
would risk them,

Cheers,

Cliff
 
Pegasus (MVP) said:
I do not know what Norton Clean does but I wouldn't touch it
with a barge pole. What do you need it for? Can you use something
else to do the job?

Here are a couple of alternatives to modify registry permissions:
- Connect the disk as a slave disk to a WinXP PC
Click to expand...

Don't have an XP machine, I'm running Windows 2000. Sounds
like major surgery, just to remove some registry items.
, then use
regedit.exe. When you right-click a key then you will see the
permissions menu.
- Boot the machine with a Bart PE CD
Click to expand...

Not sure what that is?
, then run regedit.exe as
above. It might take you a few hours to create this CD and you
will need a WinXP Professional CD (but no product key!) but
it's such a terrific tool that it's well worth the effort.
Click to expand...

Might work, but a little impractical for me.
 
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