change/remove buttons missing in add remove programs

Hi,

I first noticed this problem when I was prompted by Adobe that my
serial key was missing (it is a legitimate copy). So I being the tech
savvy person i think i am, looked up adobe in my registry. Low and
behold there was no entry in any of the adobe registry folders (keys)
where it should be for a serial key. I didn't feel like messing
around with it so i decided just to reinstall. This is where the real
problem arose. I cant uninstall it! Only about 5 entries out of
about 30 or 40 entries in add/remove programs have a change/remove
button when i click on them. I took a look in the registry and the
ones that have the change/remove button are the only ones that have
uninstall entries in the registry. This should not be so! Even
programs such as Microsoft Office do not have uninstall entries. My
next thought was to attempt a system restore. But when i went to do
this, it turned out that there are only two system restore entries,
none of which will help me as they were made after the problems
started. I know for a fact that i had made many more system restore
points than that and rather recently too! I do not know what to do
now. I suppose i could manually remove each program, but i really
don't want to. Plus i dont think this would solve the problem, and it
may just arise again in the future. So has anybody heard of anything
like this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to run
a full system check with avg, spybot, and adaware tonight but i am
doubtful that it will turn anything interesting up.

Thanks much! ~ sorry for the long pos

Hello Daniel,

Check if this is the cause of the missing options:

Go to Start => Run and type in "regedit" {without the quotes}
Navigate to:

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

Some don't have a recognizable name, just a long series of letters and
numbers, but look in the right-hand pane at DisplayName.

In the right-hand pane:

Check if these values exist, and if so,

Double-click on 'NoRemove' and set its value to 0
Double-click on 'NoModify' and set its value 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

Thanks, however I have already found these solutions on my own and
they do not work. The reason being is that the actual registry
entries do not exist in 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Uninstall'. Only a few are there most are missing.
Yet these programs still appear in add/remove programs, just not with
the change/remove button. The only items in add/remove programs that
have the change/remove button are the ones with entries in the
registry folder mentioned above.

[kelthorne]

any luck yet????

Well..I have the same problem. However when I follow the registry path suggested and I get to "uninstall", it's not there. Now what ?

Could this have been caused by a virus ? I recently had and removed (I'm pretty sure) "Virtumonde" and while reading about it, I THOUGHT I remembered someone saying it could affect things in the control panel.

Needin' help, that's for sure. Thanks for any advice.....Z

Check the Adobe website. It may make no difference whether you upgrade
directly to CS3 or whether you reinstall CS2 and immediately uninstall and
restart. You may save an extra step but on the other hand the direct
installation/upgrade may not work. If you reinstall CS2 you should be able
to go to Add/Remove Programs and remove it, then restart Windows XP and
upgrade to CS3.

Just wondering if anyone has figured this out yet. I too have tried all the
fixes to no avail. The 'NoRemove' and 'NoModify' that everyone mentions in
regedit just don't even exist.
I recently downloaded an Adobe file - Contributor- which I've since removed,
but I'm afraid that's what caused it.

i had same thing happen to me when i tried to remove the yahoo browser
services from my daughter's computer. all the buttons were missing and there
where a bunch more things listed in the add/remove window. after doing
system restore add/remove returned to normal but yahoo broswer services was
listed again.

you can try this and see if it helps Line 337, right column.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

[ebarbero]

I have the same problem. I have heard that some registry cleaners screw up and do this -- but I have no idea if it is true.

I have the same problem after I "removed" Toolbook 10.0 in the usual way. After that, all "remove" buttons disappeared.

[dweop]

Originally Posted by misha1

I have the same problem. I have heard that some registry cleaners screw up and do this -- but I have no idea if it is true.

Yes, Secure Uninstaller can do it. I always use this one, it works well on my pc.

[Starfish2483]

Hey if you have a theme that you got online and installed it to your computer
then get rid of it and go back to your orginal theme this fixed the problem for me and the buttons came back on the add/or remove program.