Hi James,
On here, I get laughed at, scoffed at and spit on (well not quite spit on -- besides it would be logistically hard to do), for uninstalling and installing. But, this isn't AVG or Adobe with very tight installer packages. This isn't a knock on AC, I simply don't feel comfortable with their install package.
In the future and even now, I would suggest using
Your Uninstaller! 7 for ALL uninstalls. It basically uses the native uninstaller when possible, but then removes ALL registry entries plus more. The last time I mentioned this program, the next few posts were inundated with another program. It worked. I didn't understand it, because I didn't see anything wrong with this one.
I would set a restore point, reinstall AC, uninstall AC with the above program, reboot, then reinstall. Then I would always uninstall/reinstall this way. The program has other features and is very helpful in other ways. I have used it for years. It is in my list of top ten utilities I use from day to day. You can use a registry cleaner (which I don't trust), but they aren't specific. Remember, when you decide to reformat a slow computer, it is basically fixing the registry that counts.
Another possibility that many aren't away of is using the install DVD for that computer and installing over the original Windows. This IS NOT a reformat, it just fixes and .dlls and other corrupt files. It is easy to do if you watch the prompts. I'm glad to help if I can.
Another thing to do is to either get the free version of VMWare, paid version = Bert (can't get anything but the best), or VM Player. Then you can install to the virtual machine which makes it MUCH easier to go back to original points in the system, plus you can see how it is supposed to work.
