Are you saying that "Add and remove programs" in Control Panel won't open at all, or that your blue flash happens when you click to remove Firefox from the "Add and Remove Programs" window?

 That blue flash may have been an event screen that had a message, but may have been too fast to read. Have you had a power loss that might have caused a file corruption? Have you added any new hardware recently? 
 Right click on "My Computer" from either your desktop or the start menu. Choose "Management". In the left pane of the window that opens, find the event viewer and check all recent program and system events for a clue. Anything important will be flagged in yellow or red. Double-click the event to open a window with a description of the event.  
  Is "System Restore" active on your computer? If so, are there many restore points? If you don't know the answer, I can give instructions on how to check.
  Without more details, it's hard to help. Post back with more information please.

On 21 Jan 2013, at 23:15, "Mike Richardson" <[email protected]> wrote:

Just had another look in the add and remove program and found the sudden blue/white box when I hit remove has a title "Control Panel" which seems the box is normal the action is not Mike R

To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 10:35 PM Subject: Re: purevw posted an answer to your question "uninstall firefox after trying add and remove akso Mozilla, s instructions"

Hello purevw Thank you for your response 1 The blue flash, that I have re visited seems to me as if its a blue frame round a white box, more lke a uninstall user guide or an"are you sure you want to remove" box 2 Event Manager 17 red --Application Hang 14-- Application error1-- Mssi installer 5 ======= 14 Yellow-- user env 5--- Win mgmnt 6 Windows product Active 1 3 System Restore only has todays date 21st in heavy date I reformatted my PC a couple of weeks ago

 I have downloaded a number of programs    iTunes for my iPad, Bonjour, Spark Trust ( a cleaner which I think has taken over the System Restore Hence the one date

In conclusion I have no reason to believe there has been a file corruption but as a learner I cannot be sure I hope I have given you info that will help both you and myself Thank you for going to the trouble to help Kind Regards Mike R

To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 5:11 PM Subject: purevw posted an answer to your question "uninstall firefox after trying add and remove akso Mozilla, s instructions"

Hi mycar1,

On 21 Jan 2013, at 23:15, "Mike Richardson" <[email protected]> wrote:

Just had another look in the add and remove program and found the sudden blue/white box when I hit remove has a title "Control Panel" which seems the box is normal the action is not Mike R

To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 10:35 PM Subject: Re: purevw posted an answer to your question "uninstall firefox after trying add and remove akso Mozilla, s instructions"

Hello purevw Thank you for your response 1 The blue flash, that I have re visited seems to me as if its a blue frame round a white box, more lke a uninstall user guide or an"are you sure you want to remove" box 2 Event Manager 17 red --Application Hang 14-- Application error1-- Mssi installer 5 ======= 14 Yellow-- user env 5--- Win mgmnt 6 Windows product Active 1 3 System Restore only has todays date 21st in heavy date I reformatted my PC a couple of weeks ago

 I have downloaded a number of programs    iTunes for my iPad, Bonjour, Spark Trust ( a cleaner which I think has taken over the System Restore Hence the one date

In conclusion I have no reason to believe there has been a file corruption but as a learner I cannot be sure I hope I have given you info that will help both you and myself Thank you for going to the trouble to help Kind Regards Mike R

To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 5:11 PM Subject: purevw posted an answer to your question "uninstall firefox after trying add and remove akso Mozilla, s instructions"

Hi mycar1,

Seeing a couple of errors in the system log is not that unusual, but the number you are seeing is indicating a real problem.

Did you double-click any of the errors in System Events? It would open a pop-up and give more detailed information on the error and usually has a link to the Microsoft help website concerning that specific error. It is likely the "msi" error is significant, as that is a Microsoft installer file (often used for uninstall also). It seems that either Control Panel is messing up or the msi process is crashing for some reason. The information in that error may contain the answer. If there are error numbers, you could do a search for that error number.

When you say you "re-formatted" your computer, what exactly do you mean? Did you re-install Windows?

 SparkTrust PC Cleaner could possibly be the culprit. Security software, by design, watches for processes that try to make changes to your computer. Along with cleaning, it also claims to "optimize" the registry, which can lead to big trouble if a critical key is removed by accident. I use Registry Mechanic, but with any cleaner, I never allow it to make changes until I have a chance to examine each proposed change. The first "automatic" registry cleaner I used 15 years ago did severe damage to my machine. Windows became unbootable because of registry damage. I ended up having to re-install Windows from scratch. 

PC Cleaner should not have disabled System Restore. If you haven't made any large installs or changes, System Restore simply may not have created a restore point. But there should have been at least the original when you installed Windows. To verify the settings, right click on "My Computer" and choose "Properties". There should be a System Restore tab where you can verify the allowed size and whether or not it is active.

It is generally a good idea to manually tell System Restore to create a restore point on occasion, on a day when everything is working as it should.

Is there a way to temporarily disable SparkTrust? It might be possible it sees the uninstall action as some kind of malware and won't allow it to run. That is simply a guess, but it is generally good policy to disable active security software during an installation (of trusted software), as the security software may interfere with the processes.

I really don't believe Firefox is the culprit here. I think there is a problem with Windows. I have been using Firefox for well over a decade and have never had an uninstall problem. If you can copy and paste error details for the event log, I may be able to learn more.