How do I get rid of a program stuck in 'Add or Remove Programs' list?

Q I recently bought a Panasonic digital camera. This came with a CD-Rom containing the instruction manual and various applications. I tried to install these but something went wrong, so I gave up.

I then launched Add or Remove Programs from the Control Pane, clicked Remove alongside the program’s name (it’s called Photofunstudio). The removal wizard appeared and seemed to go through the motions, finally telling me the program was removed.

However, on returning to Add or Remove Programs the program remains. Repeated attempts to remove it, with the wizard duly reporting that it has gone, have been unsuccessful. I have even tried doing this in Safe Mode. Is there any way to get rid of this program? I use Windows XP.
Tom McCormack

A The Windows XP Add or Remove Programs wizard relies heavily on the programs themselves to provide the information required for uninstalling. As you’ve discovered, sometimes installations can go wrong and this can have a knock-on effect on the ability to cleanly uninstall programs. There are a few ways to deal with this.

The quickest method isn’t really for novices, so we’ll start with the safest. And that, essentially, is to attempt to re-install the Photofunstudio from the original CD-Rom. If it succeeds this time then it should then be possible to uninstall the program cleanly, via Add or Remove Programs.

However, if the program’s entry remains in the Add or Remove Programs list you may need to resort to editing the Registry to remove all traces of it. 

We should point out that this will provide little more than psychological relief. That’s to say that the program may have otherwise uninstalled itself successfully, leaving its name in the Add or Remove Programs list. But if you want to get rid of it completely, the Registry edit is pretty straightforward.

Understand, though, that making a mistake when editing the Registry could lead to your PC becoming unstable or even unusable so proceed at your own risk.

We would also implore you to back up before attempting our suggestion. Read Computeractive's guide to backing up the Registry for help.

Open the Start menu and click Run. Type regedit into the Open box and click OK.

This launches the Registry Editor. Now use the left-hand navigation pane to locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. Under the Uninstall folder look for the Photofunstudio entry or entries (there may be more than one): right-click and choose Delete.

Restart the PC and the program should have disappeared from the Add or Remove Programs list.