Saturday, October 05, 2013

How to remove blank space from Add/Remove Programs in Windows XP

Every once in a while I still come across this weird issue when dealing with a Windows XP machine. Open up Add/Remove Programs to check out the install software or maybe uninstall something and I see a ridiculous gap between 2 software entries in the list.

Add/Remove Programs with a big blank space see at the bottom

It might look something like the above screen capture.

Leaving it alone doesn't really damage your Windows installation in anyway. It's just annoying every time you have to go to Add/Remove Programs. So, here's how to rid yourself of this problem.
  1. Open up regedit and browse over to HLKM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
  2. Browse through the sub-keys on the left side. You're looking for a DisplayIcon which will be listed on the right. If you have AutoCAD installed then this is probably the entry causing the problem
  3. There should be a -1 in the entry. Remove it (not the entire DisplayIcon but just the -1 value) then re-open Add/Remove Programs and the blank space should be gone.
DisplayIcon entry with -1 at the end. Double click on the entry and remove the ,-1 at the end
I've tried replicating this on Windows 8 but it seems Microsoft has fixed it there. Windows 7 probably has this fixed too. Ditto, Windows Vista.

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