Datasheet

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CHAPTER 3
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MANAGING THE WINDOWS DESKTOP
Figure 3.30. The wizard shows you a list of Windows components to
install or remove.
Removing hidden Windows components
Older versions of Windows allowed you to select components such
as games, the Briefcase, and WinTV (remember that one?) at installa-
tion time. Windows XP sped up the installation process by removing
the component selection process. Instead, it installs many components
without asking you for permission, some of which look like they can’t
be uninstalled. You won’t find a way to uninstall Pinball, for example,
even though it takes up a lot of space on your hard drive.
But there is a way to list those hidden components in the
Add/Remove Components dialog box. Using Windows Explorer,
browse to the Windows\inf folder and use Notepad to open the file
SYSOC.INF. (If you can’t see the folder, change Explorer’s settings to
show you hidden and system files.) You will see a number of line
entries like this one:
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,HIDE,7
Delete the word HIDE from the component you want to appear in
Add/Remove Components and then save the file. Go to the Add/
Remove Components dialog box, and you will see the components,
ready to be deleted.
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