atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories Add/Remove Programs Missing the Remove Button

I had the same problem quite recently. Luckily, in my case, it happened on the laptop i use for testing/exploring problems vs. the one laptop i use day-to-day. I also had a disk image from just a couple days before so I had a test environment to try and debug the problem.

In my case

1. The problem was consistent and repeatable. It happened each time I uninstalled Yahoo Browser Services (sometimes also call Yahoo Extras)
2. The problem didn't occur uninstalling any other Yahoo entry listed in Add/Remove Programs
3. I found that sometime during Yahoo Browser Services uninstall, the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall is deleted from the Windows registry. Normally, each installed program has its own Uninstall subkey under it along with its information on how to uninstall it. When the Uninstall key gets deleted all the program uninstall subkeys are deleted as well!
4. Programs installed after that point add their Uninstall information to the registry as they normally do. So, new programs appear but all your old program information is gone.

Some after-the-fact options:

• Use System Restore to go back to a Restore point before the data gets deleted. The catch is you can't wait too long to do it as Windows will eventually overwrite the old Restore point with a new one.
• Recover from backups. If you aren't doing them yet... well, here a good reason to start.
• See if you're offered the option to "repair" a a missing program. For each program you want Uninstall info re-entered, try to reinstall it. Some program install setups will offer you the option to repair vs. install vs. remove. If no repair option, just try reinstalling it

I don't know that Yahoo is related to every of these occurences but definitely the case for mine. Also possible Yahoo calls an underlying function which others do as well.. What did you uninstall last before seeing the problem? (Of course, having the answer doesn't get your data back unfortunately)

Check out the instructions at https://alas.matf.bg.ac.yu/~mg94c18/uninstall.txt.cgi

In short, find that program in registry, rearrange characters in ID and run msiexec /x.

Sasa

Welcome mg94c18 of Serbia! That's a great article you found...very helpful!

If you get really desperate you can always restore to a previos restore point. If you have not made many changes since before the issue then this would be the quickest way to resolve the problem.