How do I remove Win2k Games

[onenaive]

I need to remove the OS Games like, Pinball,
Freecell, Minesweeper and Sol. Everytime I remove
the freecell or pinball the OS recopies the game.
How do I remove these games from my system.

[BertImmenschuh]

I don't know if this will work in Win2K, but in Win9x I created a small batch file for each game, sol.bat, freecell.bat, etc. I set it up to display "You are not allowed to play games on this computer!".
Then I searched the 'Net for bat2exec.exe, converted the .bat files to .com files and renamed them .exe. Right-clicked the icon for each game, noted the path, went there in Explorer and replaced the game executable with my version. Worked like a charm. As long as there was a correct file name, Windows didn't care.

[onenaive]

Thankx for the reply Bert !
I managed to find bat2com, could you pls
share with me the format of the batch file you
created.

[POBrien]

you can also do it with the default .inf files...

the below came from my 2000 Pro \winnt\inf folder

sysoc.inf


[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=11/14/1999,5.00.2183.1

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,6
Fax=faxocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,faxsetup.inf,hide,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7 ; temp fix for 64-bits
dtc=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7 ; temp fix for 64-bits
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6 ; temp fix for 64-bits
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp4 0ext.inf,,7 ; temp fix for 64-bits
iisdbg=iisdbg.dll,ScrptDbg,iisdbg.inf,,7 ; temp fix for 64-bits
imagevue=ockodak.dll,ImagingOcEntry,imagevue.inf,h ide,7 ; temp fix for 64-bits

; old base components
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,HIDE,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,HIDE,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,,7
media_clips=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,mmopt.inf,,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,,7


[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%
WindowTitle.StandAlone=%WindowTitle_Standalone%


[Strings]
WindowTitle=Windows 2000 Professional Setup
WindowTitle_Standalone=Windows Components Wizard


notice the line...

Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,HIDE,7

if you add the HIDE entry back into the path, the Games option will no longer be displayed in the Accessories optional components section via the Add-Remove programs applet.

You could go even one step further and add Hide to the line

AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,HIDE,7

this would remove the accessories option altogether.

Just in case someone knows how to edit the sysoc.inf, you can also open the games.inf file
and add a ; to the copyfiles line for each game. This will stop the lines from executing and will not copy the "game" exe's to the hard drive.

games.inf excerpt example. This will stop freecell from being copied.

[Freecell]
OptionDesc = %Freecell_DESC%
Tip = %Freecell_TIP%
IconIndex = 62 ;Windows mini-icon for dialogs
Parent = Games
;CopyFiles = FreecellCopyFilesSys, FreecellCopyFilesHelp
ProfileItems = FreecellUninstallItems,FreecellInstallItems
Uninstall = FreecellUninstall
Modes = 0,1,2,3
SizeApproximation = 131072


You could also use the hardcore solution and remove the sysoc.inf and games.inf files from all PC's.

The user would then receive an error message when try to start Add-Remove programs.

If you decide to customize the files.. copy them down into each box during the users login script.

[BertImmenschuh]

I think POBrien's way is best. I tried my way in Win2K and it kept giving me an error in the line number just after the actual last line. Gotta work on that.

[BertImmenschuh]

This is the text of the .bat file I used, works in Win9x as a .com file, get complaint 'not a valid Win32 application' when renamed to .exe:

ECHO OFF
CLS
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO. This is my Computer. You are not allowed to play games.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
pause

[onenaive]

Thankx a million everybody, I'll try the tips and get back to you.
Have a Very Happy New Year.

[onenaive]

Guru, I tried to insert semi-colon ( ; ) in front
of the copyfiles line and it still copied.
What happens is that the freecell is copied in the
System32 folder and after inserting ( ; ) in the
line, I deleted the freecell application from System32 folder, got out of there and went back
again to check and freecell application icon was re-copied back in the folder.
What is the next step, please..........

[POBrien]

you have to remove the games first then apply the semin colon ;

From that point forward, the files won't copy.

[onenaive]

Guru, there is no removal of the games that I was
able to find. Everytime I delete the game like freecell, it re-copies, and for pinball, I just can't get
the application to delete.

[POBrien]

got it.

make a copy of the sysoc.inf and the games.inf files. Open the original sysoc.inf file and find the entries (below)

AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,,7

remove the HIDE word from each line so that they match (above).

save and go to add-remove programs. You'll see accessories and games.

remove the games.

next, you can either go back to the sysoc.inf file and add the HIDE word back into each line or

go to the games.inf file and add the semicolons.

[onenaive]

Thankx Guru,
I'll get back to you with the results.
Have a very happy new year.

[POBrien]

You're welcome. You too.

[Little_Red_Frog]

IF all fails you could have a look at this link explaining how to remove the w2k proteced files(incl games)

<a target="_blank" href=http://kixtart.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=002709> W2k Protected Files </a>

[onenaive]

Guru, it worked fine.
Thanks again.

[POBrien]

welcome. Thanks for posting back.