Hot Fixes - View Which Hot Fix Patches Have Been Installed

[manimarank]

Start/Run/Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\Hotfix. Periodically Microsoft releases Hot Fix's to patch bugs in Windows and other products, this key contains information about which Hot fix's have been installed.

Some of the Hotfixes (Mostly security updates) do not have an uninstall feature, these will not appear in the Add and Remove list. If a Hotfix does appear in the Add and Remove list then it can be uninstalled just like any other program. If you uninstall the Hotfix, you will lose the benefits of that patch. This should only be done if you can determine that you are experiencing negative effects from the particular Hotfix.

If you simply do not want them to appear in the Add and Remove list and you are sure that you will not need the uninstall option, you can remove items from that list by using a registry tweak.

Go to Start, Run, type in REGEDIT and press OK. This will open the registry editor. Navigate to the following key.

HKEY CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Expand this branch and look at the list. The Hotfixes are all listed by a "Q" number that corresponds to the entry in the Add and Remove list. Make sure that you back up each Key before deleting it. Select the key and then select File/Export and include the Q number in the name of the file. Right click the entries you want to remove and select Delete.