Add/Remove programs list messed up

[MrMarcDee]

StarWindServices isn't a virus it is from Alcohol 120

 

[Osiris]

Some applications in Add/Remove Programs list are missing Change and Remove buttons ?
When you open Add/Remove Programs applet and click an application entry, you may notice that the Change, Remove (or Change/Remove) buttons may be missing, thus leaving only the application name entry there (Fig 1). Here is a method to make Windows show the Remove, Change (or the Change/Remove button together) buttons in the listing. (Fig 3)



RESOLUTION
Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT. This starts the Registry Editor. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SOFTWARE
\Microsoft
\Windows
\CurrentVersion
\Uninstall
\<Program Name>

<Program Name> here is Adobe Acrobat 5.0 - Taken as an example

In the right-pane, do the following:

Double-click NoRemove (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0
Double-click NoModify (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0

If NoRemove is set to 1, the Remove button will be unavailable
If NoModify is set to 1, the Change button will be unavailable

Visual aid for the Registry editing procedure:


Final result is you'll get the Change and Remove buttons back (Or, the Change/Remove button together)

 

[Inaris]

Unless you need to uninstall something, this is going to do nothing to you. The issue you will have is finding all the uninstall logic you need. Best thing to do is reinstall the applications if you can. It shouldn't replace anything that is already there, but it should restore the content of the installed applciation to the registry. This is if they are using proper install logic.
MSI's are the best at this, but some are pretty crappy when it comes to good install code.

have you uninstalled anything lately?
Just thinking that there is a call in the uninstaller to remove something and it was done wrong. That would lead to it removing a bunch of stuff without you knowing...

Good luck to you...