Fixing Thunderbird Uninstall Problems

After upgrading to Thunderbird 0.8 I tried to uninstall 0.7.3 and ran into a strange glitch, on trying to uninstall I got the following message:

0:Uninstall log folder not found
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Netscape\Netscape\7.1b1
(en)\Uninstall\Uninstall Log Folder
OK

People using 0.7.1 have also reported this error when trying to uninstall, so it wouldn't surprise me if 0.7.2 has the same problem. After searching the Internet a little I found the following solution:

IF you are brave, here's where to modify the registry to get rid of "ghost" entries in the Add/Remove Programs list.

Please note, modifying the registry incorrectly can corrupt windows beyond recovery. Change ONLY the entries in the location below:

To access the registry, go to Start>Run, and type in REGEDIT and press enter.

When the registry editor opens, there should be several folders on the left side of the screen.

Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder.
Expand the SOFTWARE folder.
Expand the MICROSOFT folder.
Expand the WINDOWS folder.
Expand the CURRENT VERSION folder.
Expand the UNINSTALL folder.

In the UNINSTALL folder, all the programs on the Add/Remove programs list should be showing. Scroll down to the [Thunderbird-0.7.x] folder. Right click on the folder, and then click DELETE. That will remove the program from the list.

Thanks go to WstrnElect for discovering this fix. After you do this then just delete the Thunderbird folder from your Program Files directory. This should leave you with a fairly clean uninstall. For the original thread with the fix (for Netscape) check here: http://www.ufaq.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2575