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Alan Danbury - PC Support
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Have you
de-installed something?
Sometimes,
despite the best efforts of the suppliers, software will fail to
de-install correctly. Usually, it will tell you that this has happened.
The usual problems are either that it has not removed everything, or
sometimes that it has removed too much. whilst the latter will not
cause a problem with the de-installed application, it may prevent other
applications from working properly.
Not removed
everything
Sometimes a
de-install will fail to remove the data files used by that application,
or one or more shared files. The data files are likely to be stored
either in "My Documents" or in "Program Files/application name/". You can always
look for them using Windows Explorer and remove them manually. It is
not usually worth worrying about shared files that are left over, they
may be required by other applications anyway.
Removed too much
Occasionally a
de-installation program will remove shared files which are also
required by other applications. Shared files are usually DLL's which
are installed in the Windows/System32 directory and provide common
functions used by a number of programs. As each program which uses a
DLL is installed, it is meant to add 1 to a counter held by Windows. As
it is de-installed, it is meant to deduct 1 and if the counter then
reaches zero, it should remove the DLL. Some applications fail to
increment the counter correctly, so either they or another application
removes the DLL as the counter has apparently reached zero.
The missing DLL may be in your Recycle Bin, or can be found on the
program install disk. If all else fails, you may be able to obtain a
copy free of charge from DLL
Downloads.com
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Were there any Error Messages?
Have You Installed anything?
Check
your Anti Virus logs.
