Programs and Features has stopped working

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Guest

My "Programs and Features" has stopped working. After days of trolling
message boards and trying to find answers, I have found many people asking
the question, and no one is getting an answer. such as this thread
http://www.vistahelpforum.com/showthread.php?t=360

So here it is: My Programs and Features is missing most of my programs, but
it is showing a LOT of Microsoft Office Updates, and the programs that do
show up mostly have just the default icon. When you click on something to
uninstall it, you don't get the three buttons on the menu bar "change"
"remove" or "repair" and if you right click on the program there is no
context menu at all. I haven't been into programs and features in a while so
I can't pinpoint what I may have installed or done that would have triggered
it. I haven't messed around in the registry or even used a registry cleaner.
The only thing I think I did new was install Norton 360. I can't imagine
that would cause it though.

Any help is certainly appreciated.
 
Hi, Perplexed.

Hmmm... I never tried this before, until I saw your message.

I started Programs and Features, and the appearance was normal: all my
installed programs were listed as Tiles; I quickly clicked View | Details.
Then I clicked View Installed Updates and the list changed. Soon I had a
list of 39 items - all Updates, NO applications!

I also could not find any icon or button to switch back to the applications
list. :>( So I closed Programs and Features. Then I re-opened it and my
apps were listed.

Looks to me like a bug. I'll try to find out if someone is working on a
fix.

Oh! I'm glad I checked this before sending: With the list of Updates
onscreen, I pressed the Backspace key and, voila!, my list applications was
back! ;<) Maybe it's not a bug, after all. Just poorly documented and not
intuitive enough.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
 
Ok this is not the same as the problem I am having.

When I open "Programs and Features" I see a couple of my programs, a bunch
of my Office Updates, and nothing happens when I click or right click on any
of the items, regardless of what view (tiles, details, medium icons) I am
using. I can click on "View Installed Updates" And yes I see all the stuff
I ever got from Microsoft Update, and if I click on anything in that view, I
do get the option to uninstall an update. If I hit backspace at this point
it take me right back to my installed programs list that is still quite
broken, and I am unable to repair, or uninstall anything.
 
I have the same problem. The other night I just happened to click into that
section & found about 70 programs missing from the list. I tried the
"viewing updates, then backspacing", but that didn't work for me either.

As far as uninstalling goes ...... that shouldn't be a problem. When
programs "install" 99% of them put their "uninstaller" right into their
parent directory. So if you need to uninstall something, just get the
program's "path", navigate to that directory, and use the uninstaller that
you should find there.


Regards,
 
yep, I know about the uninstallers, but I guess the main thing is being
bugged that part of my landmark, WOW, MS OS is broken already, I have no idea
how to fix it, and that the one program I do want to uninstall has no
uninstaller, so I can certainly delete the directory, and any associated
startup items using Windows Defender, but I will still have all the programs
registry entries and context menu entries polluting my registry.

I appreciate the feedback, hopefully they will find the culprit soon, if
anyone is looking, and I can't WAIT until SP1 is released. Especially since
MS is stopping the sale of XP really soon.

Thanks again, guys, but if anyone else is aware of a fix for the issue, I'm
all ears.
 
This is very strange indeed. Originally I had about 130 programs listed,
then the other day it went down to 62.

After I posted my last message in this group, I went back to try that
"backspace" idea again, and guess what?

Now there's 53 programs listed! Unbelievable, but true ......... and
everything else "seems" normal.
 
Hi, Perplexed.

I'm sorry that my "discovery" didn't help. (But I'm still glad I found it.
<g>)

As to your fear that...
MS is stopping the sale of XP really soon.
Click to expand...

Well, not THAT soon. ;^}

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
 
Hi, Perplexed.

Well, it took longer than it should have - and some help from another MVP -
but here is the URL (updated 2/28/07, after Vista's public release) for the
Windows XP (and other products) "lifecycle":

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx

The "end date" for Windows XP "Direct OEM and Retail License Availability"
is 1/31/07, just over 7 months from now. "System Builders" will be able to
bundle WinXP with their new computers for another year after that.

I'll let you decide if that fits your definition of "really soon". ;^}

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
 
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