Removing Windows Hidden Programs

I'm posting this for myself as much as anyone. I always hated the fact that I can't remove Windows Apps because they are hidden from Add/Remove Programs. This little trick will take care of that.

Edit SYSOC.INF file, which is located in the C:\WINDOWS [or your Windows XP directory]\INF folder. Open it with Notepad.

Under the [Components] heading, you'll see a whole bunch of parameters for various Windows applets. Some of them contain the word "hide." Those particular programs, which include Windows Messenger (msmsgs), Terminal Server, Pinball, and others, are installed on your XP system, but their entries are hidden from and Add/Remove dialog.

To remove Windows Messenger, edit hide out of the line that reads

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

so that it looks like this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,7

Save the file, close it, and open the Add/Remove Program applet. Click on Windows Components button and you'll see Windows Messenger listed. Uncheck it and click Next to purge that silly program from your system.

Feel free to edit hide everywhere it appears in the SYSOC.INF file to reveal other removable Windows XP components.

Thanks for the info. I'm getting perilously close to needing to do a system overhaul. This will help when I do 😀

Nice Atomm.

Recently I've acquired a Viao PII laptop that I'm trying to get setup. Only problem is I have to relearn w98se to set it up. God awful pain in the arse. I've spent two days trying out pcmcia and usb wireless network cards and still can't get a connection to the internet.

Just goes to show you how spoiled we've become with XP/Vista.

Hmm... wonder if I should try to convert it to Linux? 128m ram and 400mhz PII with a 6 gig HD doesn't leave much to work with windows wise. Otherwise it looks brand new, not a scratch on it.

Many of the Linux distribs are rather bloated now a days, it's not like the days of old where you could put linux on a toaster. Getting wireless to work if you are a linux novice is one of the harder experiences.

Win 98 shouldn't cause too much trouble. That machine might take xp, but it'd use up nearly all the HDD space and take just about forever to boot. But I think 128Mb and 400Mhz was mini req for XP when it came out.

Linux is only as bloated as you make it during installation... Bubba! You are full of lies and are trying to bring down the Linux community... A memo has been sent out with your name on top in BOLD RED!!!!

ephil wrote:Linux is only as bloated as you make it during installation... Bubba! You are full of lies and are trying to bring down the Linux community... A memo has been sent out with your name on top in BOLD RED!!!!

Is there a community where Bubba ISN'T on a list with his name in bold red? 😀

Haven't found it yet, though you poor bastards let me in the door!

I understand that ephil, though you have to admit it isn't quite what it used to be in say year 2000 with RH 7.1 when it would install on anything and took up like half a cd. I also freely admit I like the Ubuntu due to the user friendliness that the "bloat" adds.

Can I have my local LUG card back again?

Denied!

chmod 444 Atomm

I see you chmod and raise you....



Ok, so that last part is Cisco IOS, but it looks good! 😈

Format c: (note I didn't include the /s)
so there

rm -rf
dd

ok, so that should really take care of Bubba.....

Atomm wrote:rm -rf
dd

ok, so that should really take care of Bubba.....

I was going to go the linux route and instead felt there would be a more satifying thud if I used DOS and that was DOS 4.0

Bubbaspanky wrote:I was going to go the linux route and instead felt there would be a more satifying thud if I used DOS and that was DOS 4.0

"No moral ambiguity; no . . . hopeless battle against ancient and overwhelming forces. They were the Bad Guys -- as you say; we were the Good Guys. And they made a very satisfying "thump" when they hit the floor." - Citizen G'Kar

Oh my God. . .it's happening to me too!

Remember, he become a Nerd himself...... 😈

This thread has lost all hope of sanity.

Bubbaspanky wrote:I was going to go the linux route and instead felt there would be a more satifying thud if I used DOS and that was DOS 4.0

To go back to my off-topic ripoff here ;p, what do you guys think of Win2000? From scoping out an old Sony site I've found most if not all the drivers I'd need to convert to 2000.

I've always heard it was a pita, but dang, I can't even get it to connect with the internal modem or a pcmcia modem. Anyways, I've already ordered a replacement HD, more ram, and a new wireless pcmcia card. Brings me up to a total of about $70.

....or with a total of 192 ram and 20 gig HD should I even try XP??

Windows 2000 IMHO got a bad rap. It was rather stable, the key was drivers, at first they were few and far in between (remember this was based on the nt kernel and thus wasn't meant so much for home users and their hardware requirements). I think the built in drivers got rather robust. I ran it for a year or maybe more, it's a good OS, just came at a bad time.

I don't think you will see that it is much smaller than XP in requirements, at least not enough to make it worth the effort. I would give XP a shot and see how it works with 192Mb and 20G, those are above the min requirements (at least for sp1).

I mean it'll never hurt to give a crack at Ubuntu, download and burn the cd and do a live boot off of it and see if the wireless works automatically. Ubuntu does pretty well with wireless and if you pare it down at install Ubuntu might work good, still it'll take a long time to boot, but it will run good once it boots. Also bear in mind the bootdisk OS will run much slower than the real one.

Thanks Bubba. I just ran the XP compatibility pgm on it. Only compatibility probs were those software based, ie like the internal modem and laptop tweeking utils.

Now to wait the couple of days for the parts to come. At least it boots from the DVD. There is an unlisted 199meg HD partition. I'm wondering if its a holding place for the bios drivers. I guess its off to google and notebook forums 🙂

lexx wrote:Thanks Bubba. I just ran the XP compatibility pgm on it. Only compatibility probs were those software based, ie like the internal modem and laptop tweeking utils.

Now to wait the couple of days for the parts to come. At least it boots from the DVD. There is an unlisted 199meg HD partition. I'm wondering if its a holding place for the bios drivers. I guess its off to google and notebook forums 🙂

Its pretty common to have a drivers and diag partition though 199Mb is rather large for that.

Bubbaspanky wrote:Its pretty common to have a drivers and diag partition though 199Mb is rather large for that.

Well dang it anyways. The new HD and wireless pcmcia card was on my doorstop when I got home from work. I had the vaio apart already so I plopped in the HD and Its working fine with XP SP3! Took about 2 hours to install, and takes a little over 4 mins to reboot, but I'm impressed. So far it seems better than it did with W98se. At least the wireless and USB port works now. Wonder if the little extra ram will help it much when it comes.

Not a real speed demon but I'm surfing and listening to an mp3 with it. Now to just get it put back together and get some software installed and tweaked.

Gonna be a bugger getting the Fn keys, etc, working, but I knew that beforehand. Couldn't access that diag partition either. I don't see a need for it so far. Has a pretty good basic BIOS that you can setup.

Nice call Bubba, you da man 🙂