j2k4b Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 I would like to remove or uninstall Notepad from my computer. I want to get rid of all the registry and system information for this program. I have Windows XP Pro SP2. Quote
cajunman4life Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 As notepad is integrated into Windows, I'm not sure you can. May I ask why you wish to remove notepad? It's not like it's a huge program... Quote
stevevan Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 Among all of the other programs that Micro$oft sticks on a computer, Notepad, in my opinion, is the program that demands the least out of a system. Besides, many people write code using Notepad. It's great for those little quick notes. But if you're that set against it, just remove the shortcuts and forget it's there! Quote
Madmanmcp Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 Notepad is a small basic text editor that comes with windows. It takes a total 68kb for the executable and 25kb for the help file. Ignore it. If its really that bad, just delete the two files, "notepad.exe" and "notepad.hlp", then delete the shortcuts you may have. I don't believe there are any registry entries except maybe the associations for .txt. But once you try to open a .txt it will not find the executable and a popup list will display asking you for another program to use to open the file and you can change the association at that time. But its really not worth all this trouble...just ignore it. Quote
sdempsey Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 Notepad is a small basic text editor that comes with windows. It takes a total 68kb for the executable and 25kb for the help file. Ignore it. If its really that bad, just delete the two files, "notepad.exe" and "notepad.hlp", then delete the shortcuts you may have. I don't believe there are any registry entries except maybe the associations for .txt. But once you try to open a .txt it will not find the executable and a popup list will display asking you for another program to use to open the file and you can change the association at that time. But its really not worth all this trouble...just ignore it. Windows automatically restores notepad if you copy over it or delete it. This is a sensible security feature. One possibility is - Change Explorer view options to show system files - Open folder C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 - delete notepad.exe - Open folder C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache - delete your notepad.exe - Open folder C:\WINDOWS\system32 - delete your notepad.exe - Open folder C:\WINDOWS - delete your notepad.exe Now you'll need to stop the file being copies again by excluding it from the restore\filelist.xml. ---------------------------- attrib -s -h -r %windir%\system32\restore\filelist.xml ' edit the file notepad.exe %windir%\system32\restore\filelist.xml ' now add the following lines to the excludes node of filelist.xml <REC>%windir%\system32\notepad.exe</REC> <REC>%windir%\notepad.exe</REC> ' change the attributes back to hidden and read only. attrib +r +h %windir%\system32\restore\filelist.xml That should work if you absolutely MUST delete it. Quote
TCH-Mark Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 Hello, The fact that windows doesn't offer the ability to remove notpad easily, if its designed to be removed it would be in the add/remove programs section. Rather than messing with windows files and changing things I would suggest that you simply leave it there. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 You could always change the association of the .txt extension to use what ever editor you want when you double click on a file name. Quote
Deverill Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 I saw a shareware program once, years ago, that stored one entry in the registry relating to notepad which it used to identify that it had, indeed, been installed so people couldn't cheat it. With this I would assume that notepad is a more-or-less permanent part of Windows and that's why they chose that particular identification method. "Kinda clever," I thought at the time but with tools available today, it is less effective than other methods. Quote
j2k4b Posted January 18, 2006 Author Posted January 18, 2006 Thanks... The information in this post helped! Quote
TCH-Mark Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 Hello, Glad we could be of assistance. Quote
borfast Posted January 18, 2006 Posted January 18, 2006 One possibility is[...]- delete your notepad.exe - Open folder C:\WINDOWS - delete your notepad.exe Now you'll need to stop the file being copies again by excluding it from the [...] ' edit the file notepad.exe %windir%\system32\restore\filelist.xml I thought he had just deleted notepad.exe... Just kidding, I know what you meant Quote
oneengguy Posted February 11, 2006 Posted February 11, 2006 I am also tempted to remove notepad from my XP operating system, although I am not sure that this would solve anything. The problem that I have with Notepad is that all of my links/shortcuts open in notepad. An association has been created, and I can't seem to resolve it. I would very much appreciate some feedback on this one. Thanks to all. Quote
Madmanmcp Posted February 11, 2006 Posted February 11, 2006 An association has been created Oh, thats an easy fix. Start Windows Explorer, click on Tools and select Folder Options, click on the File Types tab. Now scroll down the list till you find TXT line and click on the Change button. Select the program that you want to use to open your text documents from now on. Click OK, click on close to close the Folder Options window and close Windows Explorer, you are done. Now you can also locate the file you want to open in Windows Explorer, right-click on it and use the OPEN WITH... option and select a different program than what is set as the default assocciation. Quote
oneengguy Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 Thank you very much, Madman, and thank you all for the greetings/welcome. Sorry for the late response, I just got back from spending a weekend in Montreal. Hope all of you enjoyed your weekends, too. :-) More than likely, I poorly expressed myself when I described the problem I started encountering a couple of days ago, after doing a thorough (i.e. excessive...) cleanup of my hard drive. So, I will try to be more precise. Please bear with me. My *.txt association is with Notepad. I have verified it (deleted it and re-created it, also): that, is likely not the issue. The issue is that all my software *.lnk open up in Notepad, either if there are located on my desktop or in my start menu. For example, I have my HP Director link on my desktop: when I click on it, Notepad opens the command. I have to, instead, go to the pertinent *.exe file (under Program Files, etc...), and double-click on it to open the program up. Something went very wrong somewhere, and I was wondering if there was a simple way to revert everything back to the (corresponding) default setting(s). I have never encountered anything like that. If it is something obvious or silly that I can't seem to grasp, please do go ahead and embarass me :-). Thank you very much once again. Quote
cajunman4life Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 I would recommend following the procedure Bob (Madman) above states, but instead of modifing the "txt" entry, modify the "lnk" entry. If one exists, I would say delete it (but we'll wait for more of a Windows expert to come along and verify this). Me, I'm a Unix/Linux guy so take my advice on Windows with a grain of salt. Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 That's pretty much it but you could also right-click on the file and select Open With and configure the .lnk files to open with your web broswer. Quote
Madmanmcp Posted February 13, 2006 Posted February 13, 2006 (edited) described the problem I started encountering a couple of days ago, after doing a thorough (i.e. excessive...) cleanup of my hard drive The issue is that all my software *.lnk open up in Notepad, either if there are located on my desktop or in my start menu. Ok, appears there is more to this than a simple association problem. An "excessive" cleanup of the hard drive can cause major malfunctions of Windows depending on what you have deleted. I am guessing that there is more wrong then just this issue. As far as I can tell at the moment there is no association listed for .lnk, it must be a built in Windows function. Two possible fixes I can think of is to reinstall Windows or try to run System Restore and restore to a point before you did your excessive cleanup. Edited February 13, 2006 by Madmanmcp Quote
TCH-Dick Posted February 14, 2006 Posted February 14, 2006 it must be a built in Windows function. This is the extension for Windows Shortcut FileS. Quote
Madmanmcp Posted February 14, 2006 Posted February 14, 2006 Nice find Dick, hope thats the fix we're looking for. Quote
oneengguy Posted February 18, 2006 Posted February 18, 2006 This is the extension for Windows Shortcut FileS. Thank you very much for the info, Dick. Very useful. Great weekend to all! Quote
jayson Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 I found this online, it is a replacement for notepad, I just installed it, and it is great.. Notepad replacement It even tells how to remove notepad if you so desire Quote
TCH-Don Posted April 22, 2006 Posted April 22, 2006 notetab is a handy HTML editor. opens files with a simple tabbed interface, will also replace windows notepad. Quote
j2k4b Posted April 22, 2006 Author Posted April 22, 2006 I use PSPad. When I click on a .txt file it opens. Quote
jayson Posted April 23, 2006 Posted April 23, 2006 but what I posted also tell you how to remove Notepad Quote
TCH-JimE Posted April 24, 2006 Posted April 24, 2006 I love using notepad and I find it incredable handy, however, each to thier own. I hope the above has given you the correct solutions to your problem JimE Quote
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