add and remove programs

hi i am having trouble opening my add and remove programs file the file
opens however there is nothing in the window to view and i have left it open
all day trying to allow the programs to appear , so i am now unable to add or
remove any programs as i cannot see them .
all the best
sam

This is hardly a Windows Update problem but try this before you repost
to a newsgroup for your operating system:

All Installed Programs May Not Be Displayed in the Add/Remove Programs
Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=240348

I have fixed several of these recently for others.
The problem will occur in these two situations:

1. The uninstall keyname for an application is greater than 63
characters.
Solution: Rename the keyname.
e.g. this is invalid
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall\12345678901234567890123456789 01234567890123456789012345678901234]

2. The DisplayName for the key is greater than 63 characters.
Solution: Shorten DisplayName
e.g. this is invalid
"DisplayName"="12345678901234567890123456789012345 67890123456789012345678901234"

If you need a second opinion, export the key to a text file and email
it to me.

*** Note that the invalid entry that can cause this is not necessarily
connected with the ones missing so you must check all entries.

.....Alan
-
Alan Edwards MS MVP W95/98 Systems

In microsoft.public.windowsupdate, "srmfish"
<> wrote:

> hi i am having trouble opening my add and remove programs file the file
>opens however there is nothing in the window to view and i have left it open
>all day trying to allow the programs to appear , so i am now unable to add or
>remove any programs as i cannot see them .
>all the best
>sam