Bob W

The greyout usually means that the function of the DEP has been assumed by a third party application. i.e., you have a virus/security program of some type running (Norton, McAfee,IVast, etc.) and it has assumed that responsibility. DEP's function is essentially, as much as I may malign it, but other applications do that job better, in my estimation. I just find that DEP often reacts to false stimulus and operates in an intrusive, non-intuitive, annoying manner. My personal bias. And I have to agree that Window Vista's native security is much improved, but it is not always the sole or best choice. Case in point.

While some here have suggested that McAfee has Vista problems, I have not found that to be true. Other than one of the services getting turned off if I have to do a time point restore of the system back more than 24 hours, it has functioned flawlessly for me for a long time. What I think just about everyone does agree on is that Norton 2007/2008 Vista, as it now stands, has multiple and serious problems under Vista, and you should not use it, at ALL.

If you are using Norton, that may well be the source of all of your problems. Among the issues that I have found with Norton, and it is an incomplete list, is the Spam controls don't come with the basic suite but are a add-on. Even so, the Spam/Phishing filter does not work with WinMail. Norton will screw up WinMail's delete and storage folders and lock messages so you can't read them or delete them. Norton's FileGuard system, which may be why you can't delete that program, will not work with the restore system so Morton, without telling you, just disables it. Oh, it will go thru the Restore process, but at the end, it will always fail if Norton is installed. Norton is not transparent or learning as it should be and often mistakenly, inadvertently, suddenly start blocking needed/trusted/valid access for some programs without notice. You then are presented with a IM app, net browser, etc. that suddenly loses functionality. You have to go into Norton and manually configure the access level for each app. Easy but annoying. It's just not as "smart" or non-intrusive as it should be and far more annoying as it has to be. A good security program is basically invisible.

McAfee 10-in-1 for Vista OS, that I have, has presented me with no issues for normal operations. I can't speak with certainty about the new 2008 12-in-1 suite, but it's basically the same app with a couple extra features so I'd expect the same level of non-intrusive functionality.

If you have Norton, use the Norton Removal Tool to uninstall it and then try again to remove the program in question. That may work. If not, try the AUP program. I have not seen that fail in the forced mode, but if that happens, the only alternative is to use Explorer to go into the Program Files and try to track down that folder and all it's associated files and manually delete them one by one. Not a good or desirable option. Have you contacted the software publisher about the issue? Often they will have a special Removal Tool (like Norton's) for their product that will force remove it and clean up the mess for you. Call them.

Good luck. I apologize to you and all here for letting my bias and personal bad history with DEP color my views. But I still don't like the little S**t!, especially as it is in XP. Not had that much issue with it in Vista as I haven't given it the opportunity.
Bob, Still Old, Still Grey, And Still A Woolf


No trees were harmed in the sending of this message and a very large number of electrons were asked their permission to be terribly inconvenienced. And a party was thrown for them afterwards for being really cool about it.

Bob's Space - Home Page of the Olde Greywoolf

"GregCoppedge" <GregCoppedge@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:FEB8F878-9B42-40B0-BA93-209C6AB61613@xxxxxx
Thanks, Bob. The DEP window in the Control Panel is actually all grayed out
(i.e. disabled), I'm not able to set it to either off or on. I'll try the
Advanced Uninstaller Pro you suggested.
--
Greg Coppedge


"Bob W" wrote: