Remove "Uninstallable" XP Utilities

Think you can't uninstall Windows Messenger, WordPad, and similar components? Think again. This hack shows you how.

Windows has always had a problem with uninstalling software, and it's particularly poor at uninstalling its own utilities, such as WordPad or Windows Messenger. Uninstalling these utilities can free up hard-disk space if your hard disk is starting to fill up. And if you never use Windows Messenger, you most likely will want to uninstall it because the program frequently launches itself automatically even after you've shut it down repeatedly, kind of like Dracula returning from the dead. It won't bother you any longer if you uninstall it.

To remove XP utilities and components, you normally choose Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs - Add/Remove Windows Components to get to the Windows Components Wizard, shown in Figure 2-1. To uninstall a utility or component, just follow the wizard's instructions.

Figure 2-1. The Windows Components Wizard

Ah, but there's a catch. A number of Windows utilities and components notably Windows Messenger and WordPad don't show up in the Windows Components Wizard so there's no apparent way to uninstall them. But you can, in fact, remove these components. XP has a Setup Information file that controls what appears in the Windows Components Wizard. If you edit this file, you can force these components to appear in the wizard, and then you can remove them as you would any others.

To start, use Notepad or another text editor to open the Setup Information file, sysoc.inf, which is generally found in the C:\WINDOWS\INF folder. For safety's sake, make a backup of the file before editing it, so you can revert to it if you need to. You should also set up a system restore point before making the changes. To set up a system restore point, choose Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - System Restore and follow the instructions.

C:\WINDOWS\INF is a hidden folder, so if you want to view its contents, you will have to enable hidden folders by going into Windows Explorer and choosing Tools - Folder Options - View - Show Hidden Files and Folders.

When you open the file, look for the line describing the program you want to uninstall. Lines in the file have the format:

program=program.dll,OcEntry,program.inf,,numeral

Programs that are uninstallable have the word hide (or HIDE) embedded in the string. When this word is included in the string, the program won't show up in the Windows Components Wizard. The Pinball game entry, which doesn't show up in the wizard, looks like this:

Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7

To force it to show up in the wizard, remove the word HIDE from the entry that refers to the component you want to remove. For example, if you want to remove Pinball, edit its entry to this:

Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,,7

Save the sysoc.inf file, then run the Windows Components Wizard. The component will now show up in the wizard. Remove it as you would any other component.

Keep in mind that not all of the entries in sysoc.inf are as easy to understand as Pinball and WordPad. For example, if you want to remove Windows Messenger, look for the entry that starts with the text msmsgs. If you want to remove the Accessibility Wizard, look for the entry for AccessOpt. Table 2-4 lists the "uninstallable" programs and their entries in the sysoc.inf file.

Table 2-4. "Uninstallable" programs and their sysoc.inf entries
Entry	What entry refers to
AccessOpt	Accessibility Wizard
MultiM	Multimedia components, including Media Player, Volume Control, and Sound Recorder
CommApps	Communications components, including Chat, Hyperterminal, and Phone Dialer
AutoUpdate	Windows Automatic Update
TerminalServer	Terminal Server
dtc	Distributed Transaction Coordinator
dom	COM+
WBEM	Windows Management Instrumentation
Pinball	Pinball game
MSWordPad	WordPad
msmsgs	Windows Messenger

You might run into a few gotchas when trying to remove "uninstallable" components. On some systems, you simply won't be able to remove Windows Messenger because Windows Messenger won't show up on the Windows Components Wizard even after you edit the sysoc.inf file. And some components, such as Terminal Server, will show up in the wizard if you edit the sysoc.inf file, but the wizard still won't let you uninstall them.

Hide Components You Don't Want to Be Uninstalled

You can use this same technique in reverse to hide components you don't want to be uninstalled accidentally. Simply put the word HIDE in the proper place in the entry that you don't want to show up in the Windows Components Wizard. For example, if you want to hide the uninstall entry for the fax utility, edit its entry by changing:

Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7

to:

Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,HIDE,7

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Hack Internet Explorer with the Group Policy Editor

XP Professional's Group Policy Editor lets you tweak Internet Explorer in countless ways from changing its logo and background, to changing its title bar text, and beyond.

XP Professional owners have a reason to feel good about spending the extra $100 or so they forked over for their version of the operating system: the Group Policy Editor, available only in Professional, can make all kinds of secret tweaks to Internet Explorer. This tool, used primarily for setting network and multiuser policies and rights, can also be used to customize the way XP and Internet Explorer look and work. It makes it easy to customize many different aspects of Internet Explorer's behavior and appearance from one central place, without having to edit the Registry or delve deep into menus, dialog boxes, and options. You can customize how Internet Explorer looks and works for each individual account on the machine or just for a single account if there is only one.

That means you'll be able to create customized versions of IE for a variety of different purposes. For example, you can create customized browsers for your children or for a business if you run or administer a small business.

Run the Group Policy Editor by typing gpedit.msc at a command line or in the Run box and pressing Enter. When it opens, go to User Configuration\Windows Settings\Internet Explorer Maintenance. There are five categories of Internet Explorer settings you can modify:

• Browser User Interface
• Connection
• URLs
• Security
• Programs

To change individual settings, browse to any of the categories, then from the right pane choose the setting you want to configure for example, the browser title. Double-click the setting, and then fill out the dialog box, such as the one shown in Figure 2-1, which lets you change Internet Explorer's static and animated logos.

Figure 2-1. Using the Group Policy Editor to change Internet Explorer's settings

You can change quite a few settings with the Group Policy Editor. Next, we'll take a look at what the best of each category can do.

Browser User Interface

As the name implies, this section lets you customize Internet Explorer's interface. This section, as a whole, lets you create your own customized version of Internet Explorer. For example, you can create a version of IE specifically for one of your children take a digital photo of her and use it as the background for the toolbar, crop a headshot photo of her and use it as the animated custom logo, and change the browser title to put her name on it. You can make three types of tweaks in this section:

Browser Title

This option lets you customize Internet Explorer's titlebar text, though only to a limited degree; you can add your name or your company's name to a text string of "Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by." For example, you can have the titlebar read "Microsoft Explorer provided by Preston Gralla." When you do this, Outlook Express will have the same title as well. Because you need to have that initial text string, this isn't a great hack unless you're a computer manufacturer and want to brand the browser.

Custom Logo

This setting lets you replace Internet Explorer's static and animated logo with logos of your own. Note that to do this, you'll first have to create the logos yourself. It's easier to use the Group Policy Editor to change your logo than to use the Registry.

Browser Toolbar Customizations

You can use your own bitmap as the background to the Internet Explorer toolbar. Additionally, you can delete the existing toolbar buttons and add buttons of your own. You don't have to worry if the bitmap you want to use is not the same size as the toolbar. XP will accommodate it for example, by tiling a graphic that is smaller than the toolbar so that it appears multiple times.

Connection

This section lets you customize Internet Explorer's connection settings, which you would otherwise have to go to several places to set:

Connection Settings

This lets you customize your existing Internet connection settings and import them for another use on the PC. It doesn't have any use if you're the only user of the machine; it's intended to help you set up other accounts' connection settings. If you have a network at home, for example, you could copy the settings from one machine to every other machine on the network.

Automatic Browser Configuration

This is purely an administrator's tool. It lets you automatically change browser configurations on users' machines.

Proxy Settings

This lets you tell Internet Explorer to use proxy servers. You can also set up proxy servers from within Internet Explorer.

User Agent String

This lets you customize the user agent string that is sent to web sites whenever you visit them. The user agent string gives out basic information about your operating system and browser to the web site so that the site can better track usage statistics. Using this setting lets you append a specific text string to your PC's user agent string.

URLs

This section is mainly for administrators, so if you don't need administrative tools you can pretty much forgo it. If you are an administrator, it will let you specify IE settings for multiple machines, such as setting a home page for all, specifying a URL they will go to when Help is chosen, and populating their Favorites with those of your choice. If you run a small business, you can use these settings to build a business-specific browser for all your employees. For example, set the home page to be your company's home page or populate Favorites with intranet pages or other pages your employees need to access regularly, such as benefits information:

Favorites and Links

This lets you create a Favorites folder and links, or import them. It's primarily an administrator's tool, since it doesn't add much extra functionality to the normal way you can manage Favorites.

Important URLs

You can specify the starting page, create your own customized Search bar, and create a Help page that will display when someone clicks Help - Online Support. Again, this is primarily an administrator's tool.

Security

Here's where to set Internet Explorer security settings. You can change these settings from directly within Internet Explorer just as easily as changing them here unless you need to change the settings for several accounts, in which case this is the place to go.

Security Zones and Content Rating

You can customize both security zones and content ratings, which limit sites with objectionable content from being visited. This is primarily an administrator's tool, since these settings can be edited easily from inside Internet Explorer by choosing Tools - Internet Options - Security and Tools - Internet Options - Content. But it's ideal for parents who have networks at home and want to customize different security settings for their children's computers. You can set a higher level of security for children's computers and a lower level for parents' PCs.

Authenticode Settings

This lets you designate specific credential agencies and software publishers as trustworthy. This is primarily an administrator's tool, since these settings can be edited easily from inside Internet Explorer by choosing Tools - Internet Options - Security and Tools - Internet Options - Content - Certificates.

Programs

Once again, this section is mainly for administrators. It lets you change default programs for multiple machines. So, for users who require only a simple email program, you can set the default to be Outlook Express. For other users, you can set it as Outlook or a third-party email program.

Programs

This lets you change the default programs to be used for purposes such as email, HTML editing, and others. This is primarily an administrator's tool, since these settings can be edited easily by choosing Tools - Internet Options - Security and Tools - Internet Options - Programs.

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Stop Hidden Fields in Word from Stealing Your Files and Information

Hidden fields in your Word documents can be used to peer into your PC and even grab your files. Here's how to prevent that from happening.

A little-known trick in Word can let malicious users steal your private information and can even allow someone to get access to the files on your PC. It does this by using Word Fields, which are used to insert self-updating information into Word documents, such as page numbers in a header or footer. Some fields, though, can be hidden, and because you can't see them, you can't tell what they're doing.

One of these hidden fields, Include Text, is generally useful; it can insert Word documents or Excel spreadsheets into other Word documents. However, the field can also be used maliciously. For example, let's say someone sends you a document, you edit it, and then you send it back to the person who sent it to you. If it included a hidden Include Text field with specific files and their locations on your hard disk, those files on your hard disk could be sent back to the document originator without your knowing it.

There are several ways to solve the problem. One is to install a Microsoft patch that fixes the vulnerability. For more information and to download it, go to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329748.

Another way to solve the problem is to download the free Hidden File Detector from http://www.wordsite.com/downloads/hfd.htm. It adds a new menu item, Detect Hidden Files, to Word's Tools menu. When you choose it from the menu, a dialog box alerts you to any documents that have been inserted into the file by a Word Field that could be functioning as spyware.

You can also try to solve the problem yourself by choosing Edit - Links to see if your document contains links to other files. (If none exists, the Links option will be grayed out.) If you find them, delete them, and the problem should be fixed.

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