Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpda!hpcupt1!swh
From: swh@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com (Steve Harrold)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: How to clean WIN.INI and WINDOWS directory?
Message-ID: <67620010@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com>
Date: 29 Apr 91 15:11:34 GMT
References: <67620009@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 21

++ >>Is there a procedure or tool documented/offered somewhere that will cleanup
++ >>my WIN.INI file and WINDOWS directory?
++ 
++ Use a program (like Xtree) to sort the files of the windows directory
++ by date.  All windows files have the same date (except of course the
++ ones that get modified like win.ini...).  If you know what you
++ installed, it is fairly easy to delete the files you no longer want.
-------
Thanks for the suggestion, but this technique is not adequate.  I've noticed
that a number of lines in WIN.INI make reference to these "newer" files,
and so I'm stuck with deciding how to remove ALL these references in a 
reliable manner.

I'm also bothered by some utiltiies that CHANGE a line in WIN.INI rather than
inserting a line.  To un-install, I need to determine the suitable replacement
value (probably the original value.)

Keeping backups of WIN.INI before every install is somewhat fruitless, unless
I uninstall everything in the exact reverse order that I installed them.

My search goes on...