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johnbridgesFlag for United States of America

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Uninstall not working

Help, please, with a minor annoyance.  I have two identical Dell machines, new, running Windows 7.  I uninstalled Dell "Datasafe" software, which I don't need (I use my own backup utility). On one machine it uninstalled fine, on the other it will not uninstall (I get a very brief flash of something and then nothing), and every time I turn on the machine I get a message that "DataSafe Update Launcher has stopped working," which I must close out of.  Minor annoyance, admittedly, but I like to keep my machines clean.  How can I force the system to uninstall this software?  Thanks in advance for an excellent site, John  
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Darksquire
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Start, Search for Command Prompt, Click on the top one, Type msconfig, Go to the startup tab, find it, uncheck the check-box.
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HMichaelC

I think the trick is to ensure that no Dell programs are running while performing the uninstall

This is done e.g. by running CCleaner (available for free download) and then under the Tools/startup remove all dell applications from automatic startup when windows starts or using msconfig and on the startup tab uncheck any dell program. Then reboot your computer - now no Dell programs should be running - and perform a normal uninstall of dell datasafe through window's control panel.
To run msconfig, from the start menu, click Run, type in msconfig.
Hope this helps,
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try Windows Installer Cleanup Utility
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
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Thanks so much, darksquire.  That utility worked beautifully.  I should have mentioned in my original post that I already tried the msconfig change.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, thanks again - I don't like a cluttered machine.  This site is amazing - I usually have a good answer within 15 minutes!!  Thanks again, everybody.  John