How to uninstall Microsoft Office Activation Assistant (2007)?

  • Thread starter GOMF Browser UI
  • Start date
G

GOMF Browser UI

Hi, I have a new notebook that was pre-loaded with a trial version of MS
Office 2007. I uninstalled it. Now I see there is this program called
Microsoft Office Activation Assistant, but when I try to uninstall it, it
tells me Office must be installed... of course Office is no longer there. So
how do I remove it? I saw KB Q290301 has an installer cleanup utility, it
could remove the entry from the uninstall list, however it does not actually
uninstall/cleanup anything. I looked at that Office Activation Assistant and
it's quite big, it has tentacles all over the registry and windows system
directories, it's impossible to remove by hand, and I don't want to mess with
that. There must be a way to uninstall this properly? An MS "Office
cleanup" tool of some sort? If not, well... I guess I'm just going to have
to get used to it with all the rest of the junk I can't remove on this brand
new laptop... 3 days now, I'm trying to cleanup the mess on this new Vista
laptop, haven't installed anything yet... I've got a big headache. Thanks
for listening.
 
C

CASellars

I understand EXACTLY what you're saying! I can't figure out how to uninstall
anything on the welcome screen that comes with the laptop. If you figure out
how to completely uninstall napster, aol, and all that other CRAP, please,
please let me know. I'm fairly savvy in computers, but this vista stuff has
me all twisted up in knots! Thanks!
 
C

CASellars

I understand EXACTLY what you're saying! I can't figure out how to uninstall
anything on the welcome screen that comes with the laptop. If you figure out
how to completely uninstall napster, aol, and all that other CRAP, please,
please let me know. I'm fairly savvy in computers, but this vista stuff has
me all twisted up in knots! Thanks!
 
V

Vista de Sade

Thanks for replying... I can't understand how non-technical people deal with
all this. For example the pre-installed trial version of Symantec Security
Suite is exactly like the mob; when I tried to uninstall it, it told me I
shouln't, I should pay up, when I insisted it told me it wouldn't protect me,
I'd be unsafe, and suggested I not use the internet at all if I continue.
Vista is supposed to be the most secure Windows, yet I have this preinstalled
bully making me feel like it's going to punish me if I don't pay up. Heck
maybe it has, by making my system unstable? I wouldn't be surprised.

The other crazy thing is that the manufacturer not only loaded up tons of,
obviously paid for, third party software but also it's own crapware that is
eating up gobs of RAM, slowing everything down and making Vista completly
unreliable (although I can't tell if it's Vista, third party/OEM software or
drivers). I'm giving up... I'd have to spend many more days trying to
cleanup manually all that was pre-loaded, messing with the registry, startup,
cleaning system files. Since I already paid for Vista Premium with my new
notebook, I'm going to try and track down a full copy of Vista Premium retail
so I can borrow it, make a copy, and install it on the reformatted HD using
the key that was supplied with my notebook... I hope that works! If not, I'm
returning it... this whole experience has really left a bad taste in my mouth.

However, I'll point out that Microsoft continues to write bad software,
including the Office team that installs by integrating itself into the OS,
droping files all over the system and leaving 1001 entries in the registry
(it should install itself in it's own discreet directory and stay there, and
uninstall clean); and writing programs like the Activation Assitant that will
not uninstall itself... it's a sad state of affairs.
 
V

Vista de Sade

Thanks for replying... I can't understand how non-technical people deal with
all this. For example the pre-installed trial version of Symantec Security
Suite is exactly like the mob; when I tried to uninstall it, it told me I
shouln't, I should pay up, when I insisted it told me it wouldn't protect me,
I'd be unsafe, and suggested I not use the internet at all if I continue.
Vista is supposed to be the most secure Windows, yet I have this preinstalled
bully making me feel like it's going to punish me if I don't pay up. Heck
maybe it has, by making my system unstable? I wouldn't be surprised.

The other crazy thing is that the manufacturer not only loaded up tons of,
obviously paid for, third party software but also it's own crapware that is
eating up gobs of RAM, slowing everything down and making Vista completly
unreliable (although I can't tell if it's Vista, third party/OEM software or
drivers). I'm giving up... I'd have to spend many more days trying to
cleanup manually all that was pre-loaded, messing with the registry, startup,
cleaning system files. Since I already paid for Vista Premium with my new
notebook, I'm going to try and track down a full copy of Vista Premium retail
so I can borrow it, make a copy, and install it on the reformatted HD using
the key that was supplied with my notebook... I hope that works! If not, I'm
returning it... this whole experience has really left a bad taste in my mouth.

However, I'll point out that Microsoft continues to write bad software,
including the Office team that installs by integrating itself into the OS,
droping files all over the system and leaving 1001 entries in the registry
(it should install itself in it's own discreet directory and stay there, and
uninstall clean); and writing programs like the Activation Assitant that will
not uninstall itself... it's a sad state of affairs.
 
T

tolduonce1

Thanks for replying... I can't understand how non-technical people deal with
all this. For example the pre-installed trial version of Symantec Security
Suite is exactly like the mob; when I tried touninstallit, it told me I
shouln't, I should pay up, when I insisted it told me it wouldn't protect me,
I'd be unsafe, and suggested I not use the internet at all if I continue.
Vista is supposed to be the most secure Windows, yet I have this preinstalled
bully making me feel like it's going to punish me if I don't pay up. Heck
maybe it has, by making my system unstable? I wouldn't be surprised.

The other crazy thing is that the manufacturer not only loaded up tons of,
obviously paid for, third party software but also it's own crapware that is
eating up gobs of RAM, slowing everything down and making Vista completly
unreliable (although I can't tell if it's Vista, third party/OEM software or
drivers). I'm giving up... I'd have to spend many more days trying to
cleanup manually all that was pre-loaded, messing with the registry, startup,
cleaning system files. Since I already paid for Vista Premium with my new
notebook, I'm going to try and track down a full copy of Vista Premium retail
so I can borrow it, make a copy, and install it on the reformatted HD using
the key that was supplied with my notebook... I hope that works! If not, I'm
returning it... this whole experience has really left a bad taste in my mouth.

However, I'll point out that Microsoft continues to write bad software,
including theOfficeteam that installs by integrating itself into the OS,
droping files all over the system and leaving 1001 entries in the registry
(it should install itself in it's own discreet directory and stay there, anduninstallclean); and writing programs like the Activation Assitant that will
notuninstallitself... it's a sad state of affairs.






- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Simply download a trial version of the software at microsoft, install
in your pc. Then proceed to remove Activation Assistant before you
unninstall your trial version. That's it. It works....
 
T

tolduonce1

Thanks for replying... I can't understand how non-technical people deal with
all this. For example the pre-installed trial version of Symantec Security
Suite is exactly like the mob; when I tried to uninstall it, it told me I
shouln't, I should pay up, when I insisted it told me it wouldn't protect me,
I'd be unsafe, and suggested I not use the internet at all if I continue.
Vista is supposed to be the most secure Windows, yet I have this preinstalled
bully making me feel like it's going to punish me if I don't pay up. Heck
maybe it has, by making my system unstable? I wouldn't be surprised.

The other crazy thing is that the manufacturer not only loaded up tons of,
obviously paid for, third party software but also it's own crapware that is
eating up gobs of RAM, slowing everything down and making Vista completly
unreliable (although I can't tell if it's Vista, third party/OEM software or
drivers). I'm giving up... I'd have to spend many more days trying to
cleanup manually all that was pre-loaded, messing with the registry, startup,
cleaning system files. Since I already paid for Vista Premium with my new
notebook, I'm going to try and track down a full copy of Vista Premium retail
so I can borrow it, make a copy, and install it on the reformatted HD using
the key that was supplied with my notebook... I hope that works! If not, I'm
returning it... this whole experience has really left a bad taste in my mouth.

However, I'll point out that Microsoft continues to write bad software,
including the Office team that installs by integrating itself into the OS,
droping files all over the system and leaving 1001 entries in the registry
(it should install itself in it's own discreet directory and stay there, and
uninstall clean); and writing programs like theActivationAssitant that will
not uninstall itself... it's a sad state of affairs.






- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Simply download a trial version of the software at microsoft.com.
Install it in your PC. Uninstall Activation Assistant before you
uninstall your trial version. Simple and it works....
 
V

Vista de Sade

Thanks for replying, but think about it... it's just silly. I'm not going to
spend a long time downloading a big software package I don't want, and
installing it, simply so that I can then be allowed to uninstall it. It's
ludicrous. Like I already explained, instead, I'll reformat my hard drive
and install a clean version of Vista... it's going to take less time and
won't leave my system cluttered with crap that Office leaves around even
after a full uninstall.
 
D

DD/Deeply Disappointed

I've had it all, just like you and many others. I'm most interested now in
your wish to return it - is it really possible to do? I bought my laptop 3
mos ago with preloaded Vista and Office 2007, struggled some time with the
stupid Ribbon, un-installed 2007, managed to un-install the Activation
Assistant, but now it's basically just a fancy box without Office 2003 that I
cannot install because of error 1913 and the only soluton the very "helpful"
Miscrosoft tech support offers me is to buy a retail version of the Office -
which I am sure will have the same compatibility issue with Vista again. So,
I want to return the laptop and try Mac instead - will it work though?
 
O

Omega

Just wanted to say "thanks" to (e-mail address removed) for your logical & simple
solulition to remove the activation assistant.
I just downloaded the Student Teacher version of Office, since I figured it
would be the smallest & quickest to download. To save even more time I used
"customize" & eliminated all features from the download except for Word.
The entire process went very smooth & there was no conflict w/ the Office
Ultimate 2007 I already had on my notebook.
 
G

Gary Goldblum

Hi Folks-
Do I need to uninstall the assistant? Will it cause problems later?
I've installed Home and Student on 2 computers (bought a 3-user box):
one by CD w/o the assistant, the other by code (much easier) with the
assistant. I never actually activated the trials. I have no problems
with either computer (got lucky, I guess). I did delete the assistant
icons to prevent accidental use of the aa (the desktop is shared by
family members). Should I uninstall the aa? Is there a disk space
issue? Will it be needed again?
Thanks.g.
 
R

richi

1.
Use "Regedit" to nagivate to
-HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{65DA2EC9-0642-47E9-AAE2-B5267AA14D75}-
or search HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Unistall fo
"Activation Assitant".
To use Regedit, use Windows-Start-> Run and type in "Regedit"
HKLM is an abbreviation to HiveKeyLocalMachine, which appears a
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" within the registry editor.

2.
Change Values for Keys "NoRepair", "NoModify", "NoRemove" from "1" t
"0"
as there is no Key "UninstallString", only a value vor "InstallSource"

3.
Uninstall Office Activation Assistant using "System" -> "Maintenance
-> "Software" (might be a different path on Vista, I'm also not sure i
I used the correct terms as im using a German Vista installation)

Worked fine for me when I first erranously removed Trial Version o
Office 2007 Home and Student prior to Activation Assistant.

Hope this solution works for others also, so good luck.
If so, post a reply I you like
 
A

Akire

Hi all

I had the same problem but I found that a program called Rev
Uninstaller, which was recommended by Computer Choice magazine, did th
complete job of uninstallation without any questions asked. As an extr
bonus, this software is totally free fro
http://www.revouninstaller.com
 

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