What are these mToolkit programs on my Dell laptop (Can I just remove them?)?

What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove Programs
of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or Remove Programs)?

mIWA
mIWCA
mLogView
mMHouse
mPfMgr
mPfWiz
mProSafe
mSSO
mToolkit
mWlsSafe
mXML
mDrWiFi
mHlpDell
etc.

Can I just delete these 'm' programs?
Are they known security or virus programs?
Or are they Dell specific tools that we really need?

Note they do not show up in the 'normal' Windows XP add/remove
programs (which lies) but they show up in the CCleaner and X-Setup Pro
add/remove programs (which I believe tell more of the truth).

Do you know what these programs are?
Lisa

lisa harkema wrote:

What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove Programs
of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or Remove Programs)?

mIWA
mIWCA
mLogView
mMHouse
mPfMgr
mPfWiz
mProSafe
mSSO
mToolkit
mWlsSafe
mXML
mDrWiFi
mHlpDell
etc.

Can I just delete these 'm' programs?
Are they known security or virus programs?
Or are they Dell specific tools that we really need?

Note they do not show up in the 'normal' Windows XP add/remove
programs (which lies) but they show up in the CCleaner and X-Setup Pro
add/remove programs (which I believe tell more of the truth).

Where are the programs on your hard drive? Give the fully qualified
path; e.g., c:\Program Files\name-of-program\executable or
c:\Windows\System32\executable.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 16:59:35 -0700, Malke
wrote:
What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove Programs
of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or Remove Programs)?
mIWA mIWCA mLogView mMHouse mPfMgr mPfWiz mProSafe
mSSO mToolkit mWlsSafe mXML mDrWiFi mHlpDell etc.

Where are the programs on your hard drive?

Hi Malke,
I do not know where they are on my hard drive.
When I run a Windows XP search, they're not found.
They are only in the Add/Remove Programs applications.

Is there another way to find out how/why these 'm' programs are
installed but hidden from the 'normal' WinXP add/remove programs?

Lisa

Hi Lisa,
I think what you may be seeing are programs that were installed by the OEM (Dell, in
this case) that they did not want the end user to remove, possibly because they are
integral to certain features of the laptop, or to their support plan. Most if not
all of the entries appear to be for troubleshooting and configuring an Intel
wireless adapter and drivers (does the laptop have an integrated wireless adapter?).
Removing the items may well be "shooting yourself in the foot" if the applications
are needed for the functioning of your wireless adapter. I would *not* remove any
of them for that reason. Have you asked Dell support personnel about them?

The most likely reason they all have an "m" at the front of their names is that one
method to hide an item in the Registry's uninstall keys is to use the
"ApplicationDisplayName" string to identify the items to be hidden. The OEM may
have used a script to hide all entries in the Uninstall key whose DisplayName began
with "m" at the time the system was built (before you got it and installed more
apps).

I would be wary of the suggestion to wipe the system and install fresh from a
Windows CD only because you may find items such as the integrated wireless adapter
no longer work, unless you can download and install the drivers and configuration
apps from Dell.....in which case you'd likely be back where you began, but with the
items perhaps no longer hidden. That assumes that Dell has those apps available for
download.

Hope this helps.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"lisa harkema" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 16:59:35 -0700, Malke
wrote:
What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove Programs
of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or Remove Programs)?
mIWA mIWCA mLogView mMHouse mPfMgr mPfWiz mProSafe
mSSO mToolkit mWlsSafe mXML mDrWiFi mHlpDell etc.

Where are the programs on your hard drive?

Hi Malke,
I do not know where they are on my hard drive.
When I run a Windows XP search, they're not found.
They are only in the Add/Remove Programs applications.

Is there another way to find out how/why these 'm' programs are
installed but hidden from the 'normal' WinXP add/remove programs?

Lisa

On Sun, 8 Oct 2006 01:57:53 -0400, "glee"
wrote:

Hi Lisa,
I think what you may be seeing are programs that were installed by the OEM (Dell, in
this case) that they did not want the end user to remove, possibly because they are
integral to certain features of the laptop, or to their support plan. Most if not
all of the entries appear to be for troubleshooting and configuring an Intel
wireless adapter and drivers (does the laptop have an integrated wireless adapter?).
Removing the items may well be "shooting yourself in the foot" if the applications
are needed for the functioning of your wireless adapter. I would *not* remove any
of them for that reason. Have you asked Dell support personnel about them?

The most likely reason they all have an "m" at the front of their names is that one
method to hide an item in the Registry's uninstall keys is to use the
"ApplicationDisplayName" string to identify the items to be hidden. The OEM may
have used a script to hide all entries in the Uninstall key whose DisplayName began
with "m" at the time the system was built (before you got it and installed more
apps).

I would be wary of the suggestion to wipe the system and install fresh from a
Windows CD only because you may find items such as the integrated wireless adapter
no longer work, unless you can download and install the drivers and configuration
apps from Dell.....in which case you'd likely be back where you began, but with the
items perhaps no longer hidden. That assumes that Dell has those apps available for
download.

Hope this helps.

Oop. I already deleted some of them. And, YES, I DO have a wireless
card installed by the manufacturer. I'd better hold off on deleting
them I guess. I got rid of about half of them. I generally don't use
the wireless card but I do use it when I travel.
Lisa

"lisa harkema" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 8 Oct 2006 01:57:53 -0400, "glee"
wrote:

Hi Lisa,
I think what you may be seeing are programs that were installed by the OEM (Dell,
in
this case) that they did not want the end user to remove, possibly because they
are
integral to certain features of the laptop, or to their support plan. Most if not
all of the entries appear to be for troubleshooting and configuring an Intel
wireless adapter and drivers (does the laptop have an integrated wireless
adapter?).
Removing the items may well be "shooting yourself in the foot" if the applications
are needed for the functioning of your wireless adapter. I would *not* remove any
of them for that reason. Have you asked Dell support personnel about them?

The most likely reason they all have an "m" at the front of their names is that
one
method to hide an item in the Registry's uninstall keys is to use the
"ApplicationDisplayName" string to identify the items to be hidden. The OEM may
have used a script to hide all entries in the Uninstall key whose DisplayName
began
with "m" at the time the system was built (before you got it and installed more
apps).

I would be wary of the suggestion to wipe the system and install fresh from a
Windows CD only because you may find items such as the integrated wireless adapter
no longer work, unless you can download and install the drivers and configuration
apps from Dell.....in which case you'd likely be back where you began, but with
the
items perhaps no longer hidden. That assumes that Dell has those apps available
for
download.

Hope this helps.

Oop. I already deleted some of them. And, YES, I DO have a wireless
card installed by the manufacturer. I'd better hold off on deleting
them I guess. I got rid of about half of them. I generally don't use
the wireless card but I do use it when I travel.
Lisa

Well, I don't have a Dell laptop to check on, so I can't say what, if any,
functionality or configuration may be affected. Have you contacted Dell Support
about the issue? Considering how many cleaning utilities may show those hidden and
unexplained items, it would behoove them to explain what they are and if they are
required for proper function, and if so, how to reinstall them without restoring the
whole system.

What model is the laptop, and how old? It may be that you can use the wireless
without those items. If they are needed, it may be that you can easily reinstall
them using the Application CD's that came with the system. Dell Support *should* be
able to tell you, though you may have to ask the first-tier support person to
escalate your call to a supervisor.

It would have been nice if they hadn't hidden the items in the first place, causing
this kind of confusion. I have an Acer laptop with integrated wireless. Since some
Acer's use the same wireless adapter as Dell, I am going to run CCleaner on the
laptop and see if it also shows such entries.

You can see in this copy of an Acer installation .ini file that the Intel Pro
wireless adapter installs the items you are seeing (just remove the "m" from the
beginning of the names and search the page for them):
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:...clie nt=opera
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Unfortunately, my Acer notebook uses a different wireless adapter and does not have
any of the items you see, either in ARP or in CCleaner's list.

I still think asking Dell Support might eventually clear up the functions. It
appears they are utilities rather than actual drivers so there may be no harm in
deleting them......but with no personal contact with these apps, I can't say.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"lisa harkema" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 8 Oct 2006 01:57:53 -0400, "glee"
wrote:

Hi Lisa,
I think what you may be seeing are programs that were installed by the OEM (Dell,
in
this case) that they did not want the end user to remove, possibly because they
are
integral to certain features of the laptop, or to their support plan. Most if not
all of the entries appear to be for troubleshooting and configuring an Intel
wireless adapter and drivers (does the laptop have an integrated wireless
adapter?).
Removing the items may well be "shooting yourself in the foot" if the applications
are needed for the functioning of your wireless adapter. I would *not* remove any
of them for that reason. Have you asked Dell support personnel about them?

The most likely reason they all have an "m" at the front of their names is that
one
method to hide an item in the Registry's uninstall keys is to use the
"ApplicationDisplayName" string to identify the items to be hidden. The OEM may
have used a script to hide all entries in the Uninstall key whose DisplayName
began
with "m" at the time the system was built (before you got it and installed more
apps).

I would be wary of the suggestion to wipe the system and install fresh from a
Windows CD only because you may find items such as the integrated wireless adapter
no longer work, unless you can download and install the drivers and configuration
apps from Dell.....in which case you'd likely be back where you began, but with
the
items perhaps no longer hidden. That assumes that Dell has those apps available
for
download.

Hope this helps.

Oop. I already deleted some of them. And, YES, I DO have a wireless
card installed by the manufacturer. I'd better hold off on deleting
them I guess. I got rid of about half of them. I generally don't use
the wireless card but I do use it when I travel.
Lisa

"Malke" wrote in message
...
lisa harkema wrote:

What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove Programs
of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or Remove Programs)?

mIWA
mIWCA
mLogView
mMHouse
mPfMgr
mPfWiz
mProSafe
mSSO
mToolkit
mWlsSafe
mXML
mDrWiFi
mHlpDell
etc.

Can I just delete these 'm' programs?
Are they known security or virus programs?
Or are they Dell specific tools that we really need?

Note they do not show up in the 'normal' Windows XP add/remove
programs (which lies) but they show up in the CCleaner and X-Setup Pro
add/remove programs (which I believe tell more of the truth).

Where are the programs on your hard drive? Give the fully qualified
path; e.g., c:\Program Files\name-of-program\executable or
c:\Windows\System32\executable.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


Hi Malke
These look like the sort of items listed in part of a 'hijackthis' log?
Antioch

On Sun, 8 Oct 2006 01:43:04 +0100, "antioch" wrote:
These look like the sort of items listed in part of a 'hijackthis' log?

Actually, these 'm' programs are listed in the CCleaner Add or Remove
Programs section (and in the X-Setup Pro add remove wizard); they were
NOT listed in a HiJackThis log (although the references I posted from
googling _were_ listed from Hijackthis log files).

Point is that I'm not the only one with a perfectly standard DELL
laptop that has these 'm' programs.

Question is: What are they and what happens if we delete them?

Lisa

What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove Programs
of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or Remove Programs)?
mIWA mIWCA mLogView mMHouse mPfMgr mPfWiz mProSafe
mSSO mToolkit mWlsSafe mXML mDrWiFi mHlpDell etc.

Interestingly, I find absolutely no mention of these 'm' programs in
the google groups (search just run) but the following references in
Google web searches show that others are as perplexed as I with the
same programs showing up in the true add remove programs listings.

http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50237
http://forum.ccleaner.com/lofiversio...php/t5940.html
http://forums.pcpitstop.com/lofivers...p/t124518.html
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index...#entry8 04529
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...ssage.id=45484
http://forum.malwareremoval.com/view...3de b2df1b2d8
http://forums.spybot.info/archive/index.php/t-2800.html
etc.

While it's gratifying to know I'm not the only one in the world with a
score of 'm' programs running (when you really look at the real
add/remove programs) ... none of these sites actually tell us WHAT
these m programs are and if they should be deleted or not.

Do YOU know what these 'm' programs are?

Lisa

lisa harkema wrote:
What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove Programs
of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or Remove Programs)?

mIWA
mIWCA
mLogView
mMHouse
mPfMgr
mPfWiz
mProSafe
mSSO
mToolkit
mWlsSafe
mXML
mDrWiFi
mHlpDell
etc.

Can I just delete these 'm' programs?
Are they known security or virus programs?
Or are they Dell specific tools that we really need?

Note they do not show up in the 'normal' Windows XP add/remove
programs (which lies) but they show up in the CCleaner and X-Setup Pro
add/remove programs (which I believe tell more of the truth).

Do you know what these programs are?
Lisa
Is your computer a brand name (if so, what?), or a put-it-together job?

--
the alt.privacy.spyware FAQ:
http://shplink.com/misc/FAQ.htm

If you looked at subject, you would see 'dell'

"
--
the alt.privacy.spyware FAQ:
http://shplink.com/misc/FAQ.htm

Tom Willett wrote:

If you looked at subject, you would see 'dell'

"
--
the alt.privacy.spyware FAQ:
http://shplink.com/misc/FAQ.htm

Sorry, my bad. I have my columns sized down and got careless.

Doing some searches with the parameters "dell" and some of the m whatsises
might help the OP. She probably already did, so I'll be quiet now.
;-)

--
the alt.privacy.spyware FAQ:
http://shplink.com/misc/FAQ.htm

On Sat, 7 Oct 2006 20:25:21 -0500, "Tom Willett"
wrote:
If you looked at subject, you would see 'dell'

Yup. Dell. 100% factory.

If anyone else has a Dell laptop, can they look for these same 'm'
program files running in the CCleaner add remove programs listing and
report back to us if you have the same 'm' files I have.

Lisa

lisa harkema wrote:
What are these 'm' programs that show up in the Add or Remove
Programs of CCleaner and X-Setup Pro (but not in WinXP Add or
Remove Programs)?
mIWA
mIWCA
mLogView
mMHouse
mPfMgr
mPfWiz
mProSafe
mSSO
mToolkit
mWlsSafe
mXML
mDrWiFi
mHlpDell
etc.

Can I just delete these 'm' programs?
Are they known security or virus programs?
Or are they Dell specific tools that we really need?

Note they do not show up in the 'normal' Windows XP add/remove
programs (which lies) but they show up in the CCleaner and X-Setup
Pro add/remove programs (which I believe tell more of the truth).

Do you know what these programs are?

shplink wrote:
Is your computer a brand name (if so, what?), or a put-it-together
job?


Seriously.. Wow.
How can you miss the two mentions of the name brand of this system... One
in the subject line no less...?

Lisa,

I think you are putting too much stock in these third-party add/remove
programs. If you were smart and ordered the Windows XP CD with your Dell
laptop - since it is new - format it with that Windows XP CD and get rid of
all the Dell crud and put only your stuff on it... Then you know exactly
what is there.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html