Missing Programs...help needed

[cjs]

Hello all

I recently upgraded my 6 year old laptop to XP due to a previous crash in ME. I had to run a new install rather than an upgrade to get it all to work, everything is fine and dandy except I can no longer access many of my old programs. Thing is I can see these programs in the 'Explore' tree so they are there however they don't appear in the Programs list or on the Add & Remove programs window.

So how do I get these programs back up and running so XP can see them?

Chris

[aldi]

Easiest way is to put the origional disk in and re-install each program. Occasionaly you can get away with just making a new shortcut but you can then find that certain features don't work etc. so just stick the disk in.

[cjs]

aldi said:

Easiest way is to put the origional disk in and re-install each program. Occasionaly you can get away with just making a new shortcut but you can then find that certain features don't work etc. so just stick the disk in.

Thanks

Yes I've done this on a few programs and its worked okay, thing is I don't have the discs for all programs, and some were downloaded, I was looking for a quick way of recovering them all rather than reloading.

[cjs]

In fact one reason I want to get the programs working is so I can delete some, I am low on HD space and want to clean out any unwanted stuff.

[pdV6]

Re-install I'm afraid.

Any that use the registry will need a re-install as the old registry settings will have been nuked by the new install of Windows rather than a repair / upgrade.

[Tripps]

cjs said:

In fact one reason I want to get the programs working is so I can delete some, I am low on HD space and want to clean out any unwanted stuff.

If they aren't installed on the new OS then you can just wax them as they won't have registered anything on the machine.

There aren't many programs left that don't need to register something on the machine to work, although (thankfully) that's going full circle with the new .NET applications which don't leave too many footprints either.

[cjs]

So can I delete the unwanted programs? I can see them in the explore tree but can I delete from there without screwing things?

[thepassenger]

cjs said:

So can I delete the unwanted programs? I can see them in the explore tree but can I delete from there without screwing things?

Was trying to post earlier but PH burped ho hum.

Basically if it's not listed in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.... fire at will because Windows won't have a scooby what it is.