Aarggh! How do I get rid of it?

[Potiphar Breen]

Solitaire, that is. [censored] thing is addictive enough to cut into my productivity--a lot!--so I've erased it from every machine since Win 3.1. With no XP disks for my T60, all I can think of to do is rename the exe file, and it gets restored automatically. How the devil do I get rid of this plague?

Thanks.

PBreen

[Potiphar Breen]

Oops. My apologies, moderator. That expletive was about as mild as they get, but if I'd thought for a moment I would not have let it slip. Won't happen again.

PBreen.

[rkawakami]

Expletive was altered automatically via the forum's posting filters.

As far as your gaming addiction goes, this may help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307768

[Potiphar Breen]

Thanks, Ray. Unfortunately, the game-removal instructions begin, "With the Windows XP CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive," and the machine did not come with a CD. I'd try it with the disk from my desktop system, but Microsoft probably won't let me use it because the serial numbers don't match. And even if an alien copy of XP worked, I am not sure what to do about what seems to be automatic restoration of damaged or missing system files.

All suggestions more than welcome!

Thanks again.

PBreen

(Actually, I knew the editing was automated. But somebody probably keeps track of these things.)

[rkawakami]

I think that the only reason why you would need the Windows CD mounted is if you want to install any programs. I just removed Spider Solitaire without having the CD in the system.

[Potiphar Breen]

You were right! It should have occurred to me that the recovery partition might work instead of the CD. Solitaire is now history. (Of course, I can still get it back with much less effort than leaving my chair and hunting for a separate CD, but at least that time sink is no longer here on the list of recently used programs.) Much appreciated.

PBreen