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Q203492: HOWTO: Remove Games from Windows Setup, Add Remove Program

Article: Q203492
Product(s): Microsoft Windows 95.x Retail Product
Version(s): WINDOWS:95,98,98 Second Edition
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbOSWin95 kbOSWin98 kbWSH
Last Modified: 26-SEP-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows 95 
- Microsoft Windows 98 
- Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition 
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SUMMARY
=======

This article describes how to prevent GAMES from appearing under Accessories in
the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs. Accessories is on the Windows Setup tab
in Add/Remove Programs.

MORE INFORMATION
================

To remove the option for GAMES under Add/Remove Programs, rename the section
[GAMES] to [NOGAMES]:

- For Windows 95 the file to modify is Windows\Inf\Applets.inf

- For Windows 98 the file to modify is WINDOWS\Inf\Appletpp.inf

Administrators can automate the process by adding a line similar to the following
in the login script:

  Cscript \\<server>\<share>\NOGAMES.VBS //T:5 //B

Where <server> is the name of the server and <share> is the name of
the share. //T:5 Terminates the script after five seconds if it is still
running. //B Tells the script to run in non-interactive mode.

Sample Code
-----------

The NoGames.vbs sample below automatically renames the section to NOGAMES.

NOTE: Windows Script Host (WSH) must be installed on a Windows 95 machine to run
VBScript. For more information on WSH and how to install it please visit the
Scripting Web site on the MSDN Scripting site
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting). Using a text editor, create a VBScript
file called NoGames.vbs with the following lines:

  ' NOGAMES.VBS removes games from Add/Remove under Windows setup
  ' Windows 95 requires Windows Script Host to run the script.
  ' Windows Script Host is built into Windows 98

  Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8

  '*** The following 3 lines get the path of the INF folder
  Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  Set WshSysEnv = WshShell.Environment("PROCESS")
  INFfolder = WshSysEnv("WINDIR") & "\INF"  

  '*** The applet function returns the name of the INF
  '*** that has the game section based on Windows version.
  Function Applet()
    WinVerPath = _
    "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\VersionNumber"
    On Error Resume Next
    WinVer = WSHShell.RegRead(WinVerPath)
    If WinVer = "4.00.950" then
      Applet = INFfolder & "\APPLETS"  'Win95 or Win95a
    ElseIf WinVer = "4.00.1111" then
      Applet = INFfolder & "\APPLETS"  'Win95b or Win95c
    ElseIf WinVer = "4.10.1998" then
      Applet = INFfolder & "\APPLETPP" 'Win98
    ElseIf WinVer = "4.10.2222" then   
      Applet = INFfolder & "\APPLETPP" 'Win98 Second Edition
    Else
      WScript.Quit        'Unknown version exit script
    End If
  End Function

  '*** The following section copies the file to be modified
  '*** to *.bak then recreates the original file with [nogames]
  Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
  File1 = Applet() & ".INF"   'path and file with [games]
  File2 = Applet() & ".BAK"   'name of backup file.
  fs.copyfile file1, file2    'copy file1 to file2
  Set A = fs.OpenTextFile(File2, ForReading, False)
  Set b = fs.CreateTextFile(File1, True)
  Do While a.AtEndOfStream <> True    
    textline = a.ReadLine    
    if StrComp(trim(textline), "[GAMES]", vbTextCompare)=0 then
      textline ="[NOGAMES]"
    end if
    b.WriteLine textline
  Loop
  a.Close
  b.Close

For additional information about how to determine which folder Windows is
installed in, click the article number below to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q305792 How to Determine Which Folder Windows Is Installed In

REFERENCES
==========

For additional information on scripting, and the Windows Script Host, see the
MSDN Scripting site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting).

Additional query words: Freecell hearts minesweeper solitaire games

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbOSWin95 kbOSWin98 kbWSH 
Technology        : kbWin95search kbWin98search kbWin98SEsearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbWin98 kbWin98SE
Version           : WINDOWS:95,98,98 Second Edition
Issue type        : kbhowto

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