A free utility uninstalls apps that Add or Remove Programs can't handle

On Tuesday I reported on Microsoft Outlook 2007's unexcused absence from my Vista PC. I thought the problem might due to Outlook 2003 being installed on the same machine. When I upgraded to Office 2007, the older versions of the apps remained on my system, even though I never used them. This didn't appear to be a problem until Outlook 2007 took a hike.

My second surprise was my inability to uninstall Office 2003. Vista's Programs and Features Control Panel applet (which XP calls Add or Remove Programs) would pop up this error message: "This patch package could not be opened. Contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package." You'll find more information about this and similar Windows error messages in this Microsoft knowledgebase article.

The fix entails downloading and running Microsoft's Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (this link starts the download automatically). The program also helps cure problems you encounter when trying to install Office and other apps that rely on the Windows Installer, including Adobe Acrobat. After you download and install the program, open it by clicking its shortcut on the Start menu, select the app from the list, and click Remove > OK > Exit.

Microsoft's Windows Installer CleanUp Utility can fix programs that refuse to install or be removed from your system.

Pay attention to Microsoft's warnings about this tool: It changes your Registry, an activity that's always fraught with peril. Also, if you reinstall the program, make sure you use the same directory as the previous installation to avoid placing duplicate copies of files on your hard drive.

I'm happy to report that Outlook 2007 has remained in place since I removed my old Office apps using the installer cleanup tool. I can't say for sure that the two problems are related, but a fix is a fix.

Monday: Clear space on your hard drive by manually deleting the unnecessary files that auto-cleanup tools leave behind.

[Riquez-001]

Great. So I need to install extra programs to allow me to uninstall other programs.<br />Who came up with that idea?

[xtrasico]

Microsoft?

[mpicher]

Probably the same people who spend $5k more for a hybrid to "save on gas".

[phongfreestyle282]

yeah, that sounds ridiculous but true since your uninstaller program hasnt been as effective as you'd like it to be.

[Motyoj]

Sounds like typical Microsoft woes. If you're a home user, I would either wipe Windows off the computer and install Linux and use Open Office or get a Mac. Glad to be finally Microsoft free. It's been a year since using Windows and I haven't missed it a bit. Especially after reading about users that gleefully *upgraded* to Vista. Now if I had only kept my Apple stock instead of buying Microsoft...

[DraconumPB]

Oh yes. EVERYTHING is easy in Linux. At least in Windows I don't have to spend hours trying to figure out how in the heck to INSTALL an application. While distros are getting better, Windows has been much easier to use than Linux for the desktop for quite some time now. Sure, if you're just using it for Office stuff or the web, it's fantastic, but I tend to doubt that anything interesting can be done on Linux most of the time outside of the datacenter.<br /><br />I guess I'm just complaining because I hate GIMP and most music production software (-laugh-) that is available for Linux, and getting said music software to even work on the various distros I tried was a nightmare (fedora and knoppix, and one other that I don't recall).<br /><br />Having trouble installing Office (which was something that was ultimately easily taken care of) is also NO reason to go buy a whole new computer, which is what buying a Mac necessarily entails; though I can't say it'd be bad to get one. I just hate the phrase "get a Mac". I'll do that when you give me a thousand bucks, thanks.

[qwerty75]

Hours to install an app?<br /><br />I guess pushing a button or two is challenging for Windows users...

[mojo60754]

good day. Dell software support use,s this tool to remove printer programs in XP

[john55440]

On my next computer, I will be upgrading from Office XP/2002 to Office 2007.<br /><br />Can I install the upgrade version of Office 2007, without installing the old Office XP/2002 first? In other words, when I install Office 07, will it ask for an Office XP disk or serial number, rather than requiring that Office XP be physically installed on the computer?<br /><br />If I can do that, it would eliminate any new vs old Office software conflicts.

[doreilly]

You should be able to upgrade to Office 2007 without needing your Office XP installation CD, though the Office XP apps will likely remain on the PC. In the past I would've said this is no problem, but after my recent problems with Outlook 2007 I'm not so sure.<br /><br />There's another issue with Office 2007 running on XP machines: Some features in the new programs are designed to work with Vista specifically. One of these is the inking feature I talked about earlier this week. I'm going to do a post--probably next week--on what you lose when you run Office 2007 apps on XP vs. using them on a Vista PC.

[Timcal]

I've used the program before. It worked great. I had to take out Adobe reader 6 cause it would not uninstall and I could not install Adobe reader 8 cause it said that I had to uninstall 6 first. I was stuck.

[pbbt]

Does this program allow you to only uninstall one program at a time, or does it mess with every program that it lists?? I need to uninstall Windows Defender.<br /><br />Thanks.

[tobiusb]

This looks like the program I am looking for BUT? how do you load a program when Windows Install will not allow you to install it???? Another Microsoft BOO! BOO!. <br />I am stuck here - can't uninstall - can't install to cleanup to uninstall any program - grrrr <br />Tobius

[Melinealilis]

Hope somebody can suggest a solution for this: 3 days ago suddenly none of my Office 2003 documents would open, kept receiving error msg for missing CAB.... after re-installing many of them into MSOcache I realised that I would have had to re-install the whole Office. But I had to uninstall it first. I see many tech forums are facing the very same trap, and I decided to trust 2 solutions: downloaded and run Ork.exe and then Windows installer Clean Up utility. Yes it did get rid of all Office installers, but now I can't remove Office 2003 as it has disappeared from the Add/Remove feature in Win Control Pannel....I've tried with Revo uninstall but Office does not appear to be a sw on my pc.... I have a xp sp2 installed on a very old notebook which has a lifetime of work in it, and I just want to remove all of Office 2003 to install Open Office instead, but I only have 256 mb ram ......<br />Please help me somebody!!!!!!!<br />Many thanks for your attention<br />Melinealilis