Problem with IE8 is missing bit - cant uninstall etc

[Lamb Chop]

I cant uninstall IE8 uing Revo uninstaller and it does not even appear on Add/Remove.

Seems bits are missing and I am not that tech minded. Had a look in Programs and also on that page is is on and found some more bits of IE8 and dragged them up to program files and into Internet Explorer. Made no difference.

M$ says have to go to Dell - Dell say no longer supported as out of warranty after driving around their site felt loke hours not easy to use.

Any Ideas - It tries to install new version but gets this tag saying troubleshoot which sends you to M$ and as above re support. It shuts down the comuter and restarts it installing once more but several tries - not happening.

Any ideas and do I need it - well yes I do if I go and pay a new warranty with Dell who say only use IE and not any other browser.

Firefox 9.01 was wobbly too - started it in safe mode and think maybe fixed it. Crossing fingers she said.........

[bludgard]

Hi, Lamb Chop.

I take it this is on an XP machine?

1. Close all programs.
   
2. Click Start and then click Control Panel.
   
3. Click Programs and Feature.
   
4. In the tasks pane, click Turn Windows features on or off.
   
5. In the list of windows features, clear the check box next to Internet Explorer 8.
   
6. You receive a warning message in a pop-up window. Click Yes.
   

Or:

1. 
   Carefully select and then copy the following command: %windir%\ie8\spuninst\spuninst.exe
   
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
   
3. In the Open box, type Cmd.exe, and then press ENTER.
   
4. Right-click inside the Cmd.exe window, and then click Paste to paste the command that you copied in step 1.
   
5. Press ENTER to uninstall Internet Explorer 8.
   
6. When the uninstall program is finished, restart your computer.
   

Source: M$

Hope this helps.

Jobe

[Lamb Chop]

OK thanks for the help I followed the steps above and this happened.

Message appeared in box with usual browse and said:-

ieencode.dll.000 on windows NT Service Pack Uninstall is needed.

I am not sure how to find paths unfortunately! I had a look in the program file

and it has usual bits in it but also a couple of other files that I had found along with others which I think belong to IE8 so dragged them there.

[bludgard]

Let's try to find the path, shall we?

Make sure hidden files and folders are shown in searches.

Start > My Computer > Click on Tools in the Toollbar > Folder Options... > View > under the options below, see that Show hidden files and folder radio is ticked and saved and closed properly.

Close everything out.

Start > My Computer > Local Disk ©: [or whatever drive Windows happens to be on at the moment] > Windows > IE8.

Is/are the file(s) dipicted as in the photo below?

[Lamb Chop]

bludgard

thanks for that - I did as you said and result is different to yours on file for IE8. Looks to me as if the whole lot is mixed up but who am I to know

Anyway I have uploaded the file of Intrnet Exlporer and it is in 3 bits as you will see the orphan files I found and dragged so have uploaded theose open. Hope this means something to you! And hope I have got the correct links too

http://s247.photobuc...hiddenfiles.jpg

http://s247.photobuc...4af311c0453.jpg

http://s247.photobuc...39f6b4f69a5.jpg

They all work - hope this helps.

[bludgard]

I just tried something and it worked on this end. It is a bit risky and there may be a partial or total loss of everything IE related.

Please backup the drive if you want the machine back as is in the future.

I created a "snapshot" of the system as is and moved IE8 folder to the trash bin. Reinstalled IE8 choosing not to install updates. There was an error dealing with not being able to install this version blah blah blah would you like to continue? Yes. Rebooted (as required). Seems that all my previous IE shortcuts, settings and favories work like a charm. :0

Not reccomended but suggested.

Let me know how it goes.

[Lamb Chop]

Ok did try to send Program File to the trash bin but it wouldnt let me so did bits and got left with one bit that wont go.

Said being used - it contains connections wizard and cant be oved as said being used by another program which can only be program files as this was only thing open!

Anyway tried installing new version anyway. Failed. Tried again in safe mode starting normally - same thing failed.

It was as soom as it reached remove old versions that it shut down in safe and restarted again with trouble shoot icon which same old - webpage which Is not at all helpful as no support in Australia.

And as I said out of warranty with Dell who need paying before helping and as it is 4 and last one died age 5 and with our high dollar - worth 1.05US$ today - almost buy new one for cost of renewed warranty.

[bludgard]

Do you have XP install media, Lamb Chop? Why not just save what you can and install afresh? Put a half-way new HDD in it and away you go. It seems as though a new machine is in the cards anyway. Save the money and get more of what you want.

Do other browsers operate on this particular machine?

[Lamb Chop]

RE what browsers - I use Firefox 9.01 and it is a bit like IE8 - doesnt close but does the same thing it did - which is go blank when transishening to another page or procedure etc. All the other programs doing it too so a gremlin in there somewhere but I originally got rid of this when first got rid of auto updates giving me IE8 a second time and it affected the system - see why when looked into the program file! And tries to restore sessions all the time when I exited by clicking on X - says a bug and to exit off of File fixes that. Also have Chrome. No MSN as also corrupted I found. think actually it was part of the IE file I sent to trash. BTW I had deleted Chrome but reinstalled it to get a new version of Firefox 9.01 in case that steadied but made no difference. Chrome had been unstable with IE8 but this time seems fine. Just not as friendly as Firefox. :lol: Clunky on stuff like cut and paste cant right click etc.

Now I wondered - is it possible to change the name of the Internet Explorer file which now contains Connections Wizard only to Connection Wizard and make a new empty file called Internet Explorer and see if that works. So will do that now anyway OK will let you knw what happens..........dadadada spooky music plays.........

But I wanted to know what you meant by put in a new HDD - is that into the the computer itself ? Or add externally and plug in via USB? This is what Belarc says I have for drives

475.78 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity

453.09 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

PBDS DVD+-RW DH-16W1S [Optical drive]

WD Virtual CD 070A USB Device [Optical drive]

Hitachi HDS721616PLA380 [Hard drive] (160.00 GB) -- drive 0, s/n PVE331ZFT0V07U, rev P22OAB3A, SMART Status: Healthy

WD My Passport 070A USB Device [Hard drive] (319.36 GB) -- drive 1

.

I made sure buying this one that is had a disc to reinstall the system as last one had partition and was failure because corrupted like the original OS. If necessary will go that route.

thanks for the ongoing help

[bludgard]

Now I wondered - is it possible to change the name of the Internet Explorer file which now contains Connections Wizard only to Connection Wizard and make a new empty file called Internet Explorer and see if that works.

If Windows lets yo rename the IE folder, by all means, give it a whirl. It sure couldn't do any harm at this point. :lol:

Or use Unlocker. It's pretty straight forward. It will release the file to enable deletion.

If you use Unlocker, be sure to install just the basic right-click menu item (see pic 1).

When dealing with a file, one will get a prompt such as this (see pic 2)

Unlocker can wreak havoc on a machine. Please create a system/disk image before running Unlocker.

Forget about the hard drive thing; I wasn't sure if the drive in the machine had been replaced since acquiring said machine.

I made sure buying this one that is had a disc to reinstall the system as last one had partition and was failure because corrupted like the original OS.

I found out the hard way that factory recovery partitions are quite fragile. I create and keep an up to date image partition on the internal drive for quick recovery. There are images stored on external devices as well other backups.

In my humble opinion, I would either uninstall all browsers and start from scratch: If possible. If it were my machine, I would reinstall afresh.

[Lamb Chop]

I have a lot of digital photo's on the computer and if I reinstall will lose these. Unless I can burn them to a disc.

Not had a lot of success doing this. Also not sure if WE Smartware is working as seems to have stopped and will have to reinstall it I think to make sure as I need to back up and tried retrieving and nothing happened - like no where to do things or clink on. Not tried before so no way to know if that area has changed etc. If I can get this working then leave it to update the backups - it will then be able to transfer to a new installation of XP.

Thing is it will not be XP service pack 3 - can you still download service pack 3?

At least M$ lets me in with Firefox but Dell didnt on part I needed said only IE8 !

Also I bought the Dell because it was the only one still loaded with XP home at the time and didnt want Vista as brand new. A new one would come with Windows 7 and havent heard much about that - is it as good as XP?

I think the thing is a bit less unstable - I did move the files in safe mode and then restarted and IE8 seemed to install fine but then it stopped. So I now have the file full of the newer version but still not the code to inunstall seems as if a gremlin is stealing it! Weird eh.

M$ just downloaded updates for the month and all I got was one for IE8

So for now will try to get the back up oprogram working - and hopefully it will then be ready if Ihave to do a

reinstall.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

can you still download service pack 3?

XP-SP3 can be installed via Windows Update / Microsoft Update (http://www.update.microsoft.com/), or as a full installer from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=24

[Lamb Chop]

Thanks for that Pat. Nice to know.

What I have done is to try system restore, only had back to 29th January - rest seem to have vanished - anyway it restored

alright but then Firefox which was version 10 was back to 9.01 and its crash report kept telling me it had to close but I had shut it down on File top left as this has been a problem with FF 9 as well. Fix was to exit and not click on X.

So now uninstalled FF10 and reverted to Firefox 3.6.26 as per Pat's thread update. And things have steadied down dramatically. :D

Everything was slow but seems to be working fine - so maybe a combination of newer FF and wobbly IE8.

checked that program file out and still bits mixed up so I have decided for now to go with the flow.

Just now will try to find out what has happened to my back up system - WD smartware. It is not working at all.

I am cursed with back ups - last lot didnt work out when I had to change computers! But seemingly I am not alone.

I thought by buying external HD would be fine.

Thanks for the help.

BTW crossing my fingers that it stays with 3.6.26 because I tried before and found only Firefox 5 and next day it was back to 9.01 sneaky I thought but hopefully 3.6 will not be affected that way and I like it anyway.