Programs listed in 'c:/' but not in 'all Programs'

[Hollis Jackson]

I am getting rid of extra programs I no longer need.
I am finding a number of programs listed in 'c:/programs' and ''c:/programs/86'.
They are not listed in All programs, nor are they listed in 'Control panel/Programs and features' where I can uninstall them. They also do not show up in Revo Uninstaller a third party uninstalling program.

I have no idea how to get rid of tese programs.
Any ideas?
My machine is Dell XPS 8700 with Win 10 Home, 250G SSD foc 'C:/'

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Hollis,

Welcome to the Forum.


It is possible some of the Programs you are seeing are standalone executables; meaning they are not actually installed at all, but run directly from the executable using any additional resources stored in its Program folder.


If you are certain you at some point did install them, then you can verify this by reviewing the Uninstall key in your Windows Registry Editor.

• Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog
• In the run dialog type regedit then click OK
• The User Account Control prompt will appear. Click Yes
• When the Registry Editor opens left-click once inside its Address bar
  • That will leave you a flashing cursor just to right of the word Computer
• Now copy & paste the following into the address bar where the flashing cursor is:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Press Enter key

Note: If you are using Windows 10 64-bit OS, then some or all of the 32-bit applications you are attempting to find in the Registry may be located at a different Uninstall key location. So repeat the steps above, but copy & paste this instead into the Address bar of the Registry editor and press Enter key

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

You'll now see in the left pane the Uninstall key which is expanded to reveal its sub-keys. Each of these sub-keys represents an installed application. Some with have Alphanumeric names surrounded by { }, and others will have a simpler program name which is easier of course to identify.

Simply, left-click on each sub-key to view its content in the right pane

In the right pane take a look at the String value called DisplayName. You will see here the name of the application listed beneath the Data column. When you are satisfied you have found a program you want to uninstall, but is not showing up as you all ready mentioned, take a look in the right pane for another String value called UninstallString.

Double-left-click on UninstallString to open a dialog. Copy the information in the Data field which will more than likely have one of three possible variations:

Variation 1: C:\Program Files\Program Name\Uninstall.exe

Variation 2: "C:\Program Files\Program Name.exe" -uninstall

Variation 3: MsiExec.exe /I{11087D24-567D-7D88-69C6-D7A08B5F4C47}

There are other variations but these three are the most common.


For variations 1 and 2 simply copy the information then press Windows key + R and paste what you copied into the run dialog and click OK

For variation 3 simply copy the information then press Windows key + S and type command into the search field. Now in the search results locate and right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. When the UAC prompts you, click Yes. Finally, right-click inside the command prompt to paste your copied information then press Enter key to execute.


​

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[Trouble]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Can you be a bit more specific as to which programs you are trying to remove or uninstall.
IF they are UWP (Apps) that come with Windows 10 then there is another way of uninstalling them

 

[Hollis Jackson]

Thank you for your prompt reply. I use Win 10 Home. I don't know if that make a difference.
When I opened regedit, I did not see an 'address bar'.
I searched here https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/66329-turn-off-address-bar-registry-editor-windows-10-a.html
and found this is new in Win 10. The picture showed it should be below the 'file, Edit...' line. But it is not there in my machine. The site shows how to get it by clicking on 'view', but on my machine when I do 'address bar' is not there. it says 'status bar'.
Byw, the programs I want to remove include things like Garmin GPS software, etc. so at least some of them are actually installed.
Any idea why I don't have an address bar in my version of windows??
Thanks again for your help.

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Hollis,

When Windows 10 was first released the Address bar was not an included feature for the Registry Editor.

This was introduced later via a cumulative update for all editions of Windows 10 [Home, Professional, Enterprise etc ].

If you cannot see it or enable it, then possibly you have not yet updated Windows 10 Home.


The Address bar just makes it a little quicker to get to where you want to go though, so you can still do what I mentioned with a little more clicking.

In the left pane simply double-left-click on the keys [folder icons ] mentioned in the previous post to expand and you will eventually get to the correct location, which is displayed in the status bar so once at the correct location you can double check in the Status bar and compare to what I said to copy & paste to make sure you are in the right spot.

Thus for example:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

In the left pane of Registry Editor

• Double-left-click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to expand it
• Next, in the sub-keys you now see, double-left-click on SOFTWARE to expand it
• Next, in the sub-keys you now see, double-left-click on WOW6432Node to expand it
• Next, in the sub-keys you now see, double-left-click on Microsoft to expand it
• Next, in the sub-keys you now see, double-left-click on Windows to expand it
• Next, in the sub-keys you now see, double-left-click on CurrentVersion to expand it
• Finally, in the sub-keys you now see, double-left-click on Uninstall to expand it

The sub-keys below the now expanded Uninstall key each represent an application/program

Tip: To save a lot of scrolling, if you left-click once on the first sub-key of an expanded key, you can then tap the first letter of the next key you are trying to get to, and repeat the tap until you get there. Otherwise, just scroll down until you locate the next key.​