Phantom Drive Problem

[blakjeezis]

So my friend gave me her laptop to clean out. It's going okay, but there is a slight problem. There are 2 programs, Windows Defender and Ad-Aware specifically, that I can do nothing with. Windows Defender is the beta version which has expired so it doesn't run, and Ad-Aware isn't there. Now, whenever I try either uninstalling these programs or installing newer versions it gives me an error message listing soemthing about the E: drive as the problem. The computer has no E: drive. It has your standard C: hard drive and D: dvd drive. I guess there must have been some sort of removable drive installed at some point, but it's not there now and it isn't listed in the device manager. So, what to do? Is this a registry problem, i.e. do I have to go searching through the registry for the traces of these programs and remove them before I can do anything else? I'm guessing that's it. I'm no expert, and would prefer not to start dicking around in the registry if not absolutely necessary. So, if there's another way around this, or if anyone can direct me on the best way to find and remove shit from the registry, that would be great. Thanks, brahs.

[undressa]

<p>I just email the problem to my dad and I am waitng for an answer</p><p>when he emails me</p><p>I will reply again!</p><p>V</p>

[zentraed]

try booting into safe mode and uninstalling it from there. When the computer boots up, press F8 before the XP Start screen shows up. That will activate the boot menu and give you the safe mode boot option.

[Wallower]

<p>You can use the <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301">Windows Installer Cleanup Utility</a> to cleanup the registry. Hopefully that will do it for you.</p><p>You can also install new versions of AdAware and Windows Defender and then uninstall them. The later versions of the programs should cleanup their old registry entries.&nbsp;</p>

[undressa]

Hi Dear,<br />For me, in general, I poke around a computer with a problem to get a <br />look at what the problems might be. And I try various solutions to <br />eliminate problems.&nbsp; So I am saying that maybe I should take a look <br />at the patient in person in order to make a good diagnosis.<br />One good program I find that clears up registry problems<br />is System Mechanic 6.<br />There is a trial version that lasts for a month that can be <br />downloaded from www.iolo.com.<br />Another possibility you might try is downloading Ad-aware again, <br />reinstalling and then uninstalling it.<br />Let me know how your friend makes out.<br />Love,<br />Daddy<br />

[SatCam]

reinstall windows

[Tenbatsuzen]

<strong>SatCam</strong> wrote:<br />reinstall windows<p>&nbsp;</p><p>I was just about to say, if you're cleaning out the hard drive, why not just off-load all the personal pictures and stuff, and do a fresh re-install?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>