Thanks for your help Andrew. It took a while for me to reply because I
didn't set up the notification and then couldn't find this posting. Anyhow,
I followed your instruction, the first time to the "T" but didn't really
notice anything happening, and then when I checked the add or remove programs
list, nothing had changed. So I tried again, this time without the XP cd
because its basically a recovery cd provided by Toshiba....hoping I don't
have to go that route. Then when I went to cmd I changed the directory to
the root directory because it started in "my documents" and then followed the
rest of your instruction. It was pluggin away with scannow and then chkdsk,
and completed and restarted successfuly, giving me some hope I might add,
however it was to no avail. When I checked the add or remove programs list,
it again only contained a fraction of the programs, and none of the kd files.
I wish there was a utility to scan and bebuild the registry. The programs
that aren't listed seem to work fine, but they also can't be removed.

"Andrew E." wrote:

> Install xp cd,exit the page,go to run,type:cmd In cmd type:Sfc /Scannow
> When its thru type:CHKDSK C: /F Agree to restart,type:EXIT Restart pc,
> remove cd.Back in xp,type in run:appwiz.cpl
>
> "ReCom" wrote:
>
> > this is my second post for this issue - hoping to somehow get it
> > resolved...hope this is OK.
> >
> > In case this is helpful, today I noticed that Uninstall Information folder
> > and WindowsUpdate folder are both empty.
> >
> > "ReCom" wrote:
> >
> > > while attempting to resolve a problem with Movie Maker, I decided to get rid of some
> > > unused programs using the add or remove utility. As soon as I removed what I
> > > believe was Yahoo Messenger, add remove closed and my laptop restarted. When
> > > I went back into add remove I immediately noticed a large number of programs
> > > including most of all the windows updates were all missing from the list.
> > > When I try to use one of the now unlisted programs uninstall programs it no
> > > longer works either. Before I did the program removing excercise, I updated
> > > latest version of DirectX without setting a restore point, didn't notice
> > > those instructions until now, so I apparently can't go back. Any help would
> > > be greatly appreciate because I am quite sure this is going to come back to
> > > bite me in the a$$.
> > >
> > > Thanks
> >