On Sun, 8 Oct 2006 01:57:53 -0400, "glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com>
wrote:

>Hi Lisa,
>I think what you may be seeing are programs that were installed by the OEM (Dell, in
>this case) that they did not want the end user to remove, possibly because they are
>integral to certain features of the laptop, or to their support plan. Most if not
>all of the entries appear to be for troubleshooting and configuring an Intel
>wireless adapter and drivers (does the laptop have an integrated wireless adapter?).
>Removing the items may well be "shooting yourself in the foot" if the applications
>are needed for the functioning of your wireless adapter. I would *not* remove any
>of them for that reason. Have you asked Dell support personnel about them?
>
>The most likely reason they all have an "m" at the front of their names is that one
>method to hide an item in the Registry's uninstall keys is to use the
>"ApplicationDisplayName" string to identify the items to be hidden. The OEM may
>have used a script to hide all entries in the Uninstall key whose DisplayName began
>with "m" at the time the system was built (before you got it and installed more
>apps).
>
>I would be wary of the suggestion to wipe the system and install fresh from a
>Windows CD only because you may find items such as the integrated wireless adapter
>no longer work, unless you can download and install the drivers and configuration
>apps from Dell.....in which case you'd likely be back where you began, but with the
>items perhaps no longer hidden. That assumes that Dell has those apps available for
>download.
>
>Hope this helps.

Oop. I already deleted some of them. And, YES, I DO have a wireless
card installed by the manufacturer. I'd better hold off on deleting
them I guess. I got rid of about half of them. I generally don't use
the wireless card but I do use it when I travel.
Lisa