Windows 7: Windows Help 'corrupted' by OEM Help Customization

My new HP laptop came with the usual OEM software suite. I always uninstall most of the stuff since there are better means to acheive results.

After uninstalling HP Help / Docs / Support Assistance; Windows plain old vanilla Help (F1 or start menu help) gave various useless results. Many times the content began with _elbasuer_ and unrelated text to the query submitted. Things improved if I used online help as opposed to offline help, but reverted back once I disconnected.

After a few attempts at registry modifications - there were no significant improvements.... plus there wasn't any degradation either

I gave in and called HP support - they of course wanted to remote in and fix it. I generally don't let support use my machine as a reference machine. The rep worked on a reference machine where he was and after about an hour - gave me the following to try.

Note: I don't know if the OEM Help Customization feature was actually enabled, but the command 'restored' Windows help functionality to normal. You might want to query the feature first using

dism /online /get-features

Regardless of the results of the query, if your Windows help isn't working and you're not concerned about OEM help, it seems like something you might try. Sure beats reinstalling the OS.

It worked on my machine - if Help isn't working correctly and you have OEM help customization and you have uninstalled it - you might try this.



The following must be run in an elevated command prompt and
-the parameter OEMHelpCustomization following option /featurename: is case sensitive

dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:OEMHelpCustomization

There were some left over Assistance\Client registry entries that I cleaned up, but I don't think that was necessary, it was just housekeeping.

Peace!