10 Feb 2003, 12:37, Wayne Chirnside (1:275/311), wrote to Charles Angelich:

Hi Wayne.

 CA>> You definitely do _not_ want to just delete apps. My brother
 CA>> did that without asking me first and disabled his computer. (BG)

 WC> I'm using the removal tool provided after being made aware of it.
 WC> Funny I _got_ Win 3.1 intuitively and rarely ever cracked
 WC> the manual, things are different now.

 CA>> Even old W31 won't allow a simple deletion of Internet Explorer
 CA>> v5.x without creating a disaster. :-\

 WC> You have to be careful to _remove_ the right stuff, directories\*.*
 WC> executables and such but not certain DLL's that may be used by other 
 WC> applications.

I've used an "easy way" to "delete" files, directories,
.DLLs etc. from Win 3.0. through Win98SE.

I've made a C:\Windows\junk, and a C:\Windows\System\junk.  Some time after
a successfull install and confirmation that everything is working as it
should, I start moving 'stuff' that I arbitrarily don't recognize or don't
like the names of, into that "junk" sub-directory.  I move
perhaps five to 10 files per day, and re-boot afterwards, open each
application, and if nothing squawks, continue on.  When I hit an error
message, I copy back the file that was complained about, and continue
moving others.  

Every few months, I copy the contents of all the "junk"
directories to a CD and delete them from the HD.  I save them just in case
I install something new, and it needs some files I've already removed.  The
error messages are usually pretty clear as to what's missing, just put the
CD in and copy them back to the proper directories.

My entire working Windows directory (dir C:\windows /a /s) is only 385 Meg
at this time.  

I also have a complete 'skeleton' install of Win98SE on an old WD 350Meg
drive that I use simply for booting different systems to run a
"three-drive backup".  Each time this 350 drive is plugged into a
different system, Win98 continually boasts "Finding new XXXX",
and I keep hitting 'cancel'.  For its purpose, I don't want it installing
anything different, just simply boot to the GUI so LFNs (if any) can be
copied correctly.  Open Windows Explorer, click on "D:" and drag
it to "E:", then go cook dinner.  Piece of cake!


     Good luck...  M.

--- Msged/386 TE 06 (pre)