Want to uninstall program that needs install disk but don't have

[EntityX]

I have a number of programs on my computer now that I don't want but I can't uninstall them because it says I need the install disk which I don't have.

Some time ago I remember successfully uninstalling one or more programs by deleting all files I could find associated with the program I wanted to get rid of and then running my registry cleaning software that I have. I didn't notice any problems afterward by using this technique.

With the programs I want to get rid of now I don't seem to be able to find all the files that have the volume they should. One program is over 100 MB but it seems I can find less than 1 MB of files. I tried deleting them but the program still shows in the Add or Remove Programs list.

There's got to be a way to get rid of some program you don't want without having to reacquire the install disk when it asks for the install disk to do an uninstall.

[drmsucks]

What programs?

[EntityX]

One is ABBYY FineReader 5.0 Sprint. It takes up 101 MB of disk space.

Another is MSDN Library for Visual Studio .NET 2003 which takes up 1.75 GB.  I'm using Visual Basic 2008 now and I've uninstalled Visual Basic .NET 2003 so I can't use the library even if I wanted to.

I have a 149 Gig hard drive and 125 Gig of free space but I'd still like to be able to get rid of those programs that I don't want.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

What Operating System?

Can you do it in Safe Mode?

[BC_Programmer]

ahh, the beauty of the MSI install engine sometimes.

I believe the method to use would be to simply delete the relevant folders, and then use some kind of MSI cleanup utility.

[evilfantasy]

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

Interesting.....

[EntityX]

I solved the problem of uninstalling unwanted programs by doing a clean install of Windows Vista. Everything that I didn't want in XP went bye bye as well as everything I did want. Had to reinstall a good number of things.

I was having problems with Visual Basic 2008 Express in Vista. The problems didn't occur in XP. Someone told me it's better to do a clean install of Vista if you can so that's why I did it. The problems in Visual Basic 2008 didn't go away. Some screens in my VB2008 app run much much slower than they did in XP and I can't get into the designer.

Programming, working with computers and life is never ending ever new problems. Learn to enjoy problem solving then you can enjoy all of it. 

I came across this recently though I don't need it now.
http://www.perfectuninstaller.com/index.php

[evilfantasy]

Revo is free. www.revouninstaller.com

[mcxeb52!]

Windows Installer Cleanup Utility is nice program.

Micrsoft says:

The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility does not perform the following functions: • Remove Windows Installer
• Remove files of any programs that are installed by Windows Installer, such as Microsoft Office 2003
The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility does perform the following functions: • Provides a dialog box in which you can select one or more programs that were installed by Windows Installer

To do this, select the programs that you want in the Installed Products list in the Windows Installer CleanUp dialog box. After you make this selection, the utility removes only the Windows Installer configuration information that is related to those programs. 
• Removes the files and registry settings that make up the Windows Installer configuration information for programs that you select

Which basically means same as uninstalling because program will no longer run once removed from the cleanup utility list.

But you already reinstalled windows, so it's all good I guess