Can't get rid of ACE Mega Codecs Pack

[swissguard]

I mistakenly downloaded and installed ACE MCP some months ago. It conflicted with all kinds of programs. I tried to uninstall it and realized that it had infected all my computer, almost like a virus or worm. I uninstalled and reinstalled, deleted some codecs after researching postings on the web, ran a new Registry Editor and deleted hundreds of entries there.

Most everything began to work OK again except for my AVS Video Converter and, occasionally, Windows Media Player 10. What happens when these programs are launched is that an installation window (.msi) for ACE MCP begins coming up repeatedly. Fast as I shut it down, it's back up again until it, somehow, manages to freeze AVS and Win MP. I've searched with Windows, Google and they can't find any evidence of ACE MCP in my computer.

Wrote the AVS manufacturer and asked them for help. They said use the Windows Add/Remove Programs option. I've tried that so many times but, it never worked. I tried to remove 3ivx codec and that just put itself back in.

Got several commercial uninstallers and am using them on trial and they don't work either.

It's driving me nuts! Help! I'm running Win XP Home, with a collection of three HD's totaling 200Gb. I have a 1.6 Ghz Pentium 4 processor and 512 MB RAM running in an HP box.

Thanks.

[ECA]

Sorry to hear this..
Uninstallers work best if they are ON the machine before installing STUFF. And most STILL dont kill it all.

I would ASK the company for a listing of files placed on the machine, and locations in the reg...

And if they dont advise you properly, that you will report there program as a Spybot/spam to the proper authorities, and will send them a BILL from the person/company that has to FIX/reinstall your computer to the POINT that it was working and updated to, when you Installed there program... Thats at LEAST 40 hours of work at $40 an hour...

[swissguard]

Thank you.

[ECA]

did you call them??
What did they say, and do..

[swissguard]

I did a ZD Net software search, no mention of ACE. I did a Google search for ACE MCP and got 278,000 returns. Obviously, I've not gone through all of them but, so far, there's no reference to an author, let alone a phone number. However, I have found numerous other complaints similar to mine.

Oh, I tried CCleaner and several other uninstallers. While CC did take out some registry entries for ACE, I still have the problem.

[ECA]

http://www.freeweb.hu/galgonet/
Author site...
If you can get past Hungarian..

[swissguard]

Well, after spending most of the day on trying to translate the Hungarian site, I did (sort of) enough to learn there's no useful information there. All he's trying to do is sell his products and services.

Anyway, I came back to see if by some miracle my AVS Video Converter might be working. It wasn't, just like the first post I made.

So, I went to CCleaner and ran it in all three flavors. While the first two produced nothing, "Issues" provided the following:

1. Under "Problem," "Missing Shared DLL" was listed as that for all 60 entries.

2. In the "Data" column, virtually all were "Program Files\ACE Mega Codecs Pack, followed by the likes of \ZoomPlayer\Skin\BlueSteel.skn. Others are \RegistryFiles\Quality\ASUS Video CodecV2.reg, \Utilities\VorbisTools\vcut.exe, etc.

3. The entry in the third column for ALL 60 items is HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Shared DLL's. I'd be a bit reluctant to go into the Registry and take all of these out for fear of what else I might delete that I didn't want to.

I have no "Program Files" (that I can see) like those listed above under the "Data" column.

Now, for the twist in this saga. As you know, CCleaner allows you to "Fix Selected Issues," which I did. I reran "Scan for Issues " and was advised that "No Issues Were Found."

Hoping against hope, I shut down CC and started to open AVS. Just like in my first post, up came the damn ACE installer and AVS froze.

So, back to CC I went, ran it to "Scan for Issues" and would you believe, all 60 of those devilish entries came up again? I tried the sequence several more times with exactly the same results.

I have a feeling that, if those are real entries and they must be somewhere on my HD, really getting rid of them could be the solution to my problem.

This thing is becoming my life's work, something that I'm not really happy about. Whadya think?

[ECA]

COULD suggest reloading windows..

[swissguard]

Would you believe I reinstalled Windows XP and guess what, it's still there! I cannot believe it. What do I have to do, buy a new computer?

Oh, CCleaner identifies ACE MCP codecs, files and Registry entries but, when I ask it to delete them, it says it does but then, they come right back when I start AVS again. I asked CC about this and they never answered my question.

[Ioman]

I didn't read the whole thread, but did you try reinstalling it and then uninstalling it? I downloaded it this weekend and had no problem uninstalling it.

[dang]

if you re-installed windows and it was still there, that means you didnt format. It also sounds like you did a repair rather then a new install, as a new install should wipe out your registry.

[ECA]

Did it LIST the files??
If so, then DELETE them..

Search the reg for them and delete those also.. DONE.

[swissguard]

Well, after seemingly months of trying to get rid of ACE MCP, and yes, I did reinstall and try to uninstall it, all with no success, I took out every .msi and .mst I could find and anything I could locate that referred in any way to ACE MCP.

I ran multiple Registry cleaners and other programs which supposedly removed pieces of programs that were still left.

FINALLY, I got rid of something (I know not what) that allowed me to use v. 3.4.6.187 of AVS Video Converter. There were a couple of other versions that came out in the meantime and today, I tried to install 3.5.3. Would you believe, the Windows Install window came out and I could not run AVS?!! So, I went back to 3.4.6.187, it works and I'm gonna leave well enough alone.

Going to the AVS company via e-mail (the only way I can find to reach them) gets me only inane answers.

So, all's well that ends well, even if it's not exactly what I want. Thanks to all who helped me. You're great!

Todd

[ECA]

Dont you LOVE windows..
I would think that WINDOWS WOULD/COULD keep a copy of Each set of Progs and program installs and KILL it when asked to uninstall...

[llbbl]

ACEMCP603PRO.exe
http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=297&s=83

http://www.free-codecs.com/Codec_Packs.htm

What do you think of the 6.03 Pro version?

[llbbl]

It sounds like he had problems getting ACE MCP to work with a specific program. This AVS Video Converter.

http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoConverter/index.aspx

I wonder how many other programs this ACE codec pack will break.

[llbbl]

Author site...
If you can get past Hungarian..

are you sure this is the author's homepage and not some guy in hungary that has hosted this freely available file on his website?

[ECA]

well, yes..
I traced it from other sites, and follwed it the the main site run by the owner of the programs.

You do it, if you dont believe me.

[llbbl]

I read that 3vix codecs work better at uncompressing the Xvid movies because you can still play most DivX files with them.

[ECA]

Why dont MS come out with the drivers??

[llbbl]

read the DivX and XviD thread ECA. i don't think you have a good understanding how codecs work.

[ECA]

I do..
they are the codes to read the files to be displayed/played or interpreted.
But after all this time you would think MS would supply ALL the codecs we need or want, and WORKED properly under windows..
I dont want 1000 versions of a codec as its updated, changed, augmented, improved, on my machine... trying to find the BEST one, requires us to WADE threw alot of "STUFF"/trial ware/betas/ non working models/ abandon ware... And getting rid of them is a PAIN under windows.

[llbbl]

Well its not MS job to combine all the different codecs and make sure they all work friendly together. That is probably why they choose to do what they did, which was come up with thier own video codec.

[ECA]

They supplied the rest of them..for audio and video..
If we want to play DVD's and VCD, why dont they supply one..And if we want, we can get a better one later..