Problems with program installation

I'm sorry if this seems a little silly, but I cannot find a setup file (or any files, for that matter) for one of my programs.

I just installed Vista home premium (sp2, 32bit), and was glad to see MSVC 2005 listed in my programs list. I did a little programming in PYTHON for a college courese, and want to learn c/c++.

Anyway, when I search for the program on my harddrive, I get no results. No setup file, no logs, no nothing. All I have is the program on my Uninstall Programs list.

Do i actually have the program, or is Vista just messing around with me?

Any help you could give would be great. Thank you so much.

You just installed Vista on this drive ? ?
A new installation wipes out whatever you had installed prior to this.

Welcome,

Patio is correct a clean install of Vista, would have wiped everything from your hard drive, but you say you can see the program. Can you explain the procedure that you used to install? Are you dual booting?

Sorry I wasn't clear earlier.

We had some problems recently with our computer which required a complete erasing of the hard drive. We re-installed Vista (which came with our computer), and downloaded all the updates through SP 1 and 2, as well as most of the updates since.

To see what programs I already had installed, I took a look at our Remove Programs window, and saw MSVC 2005 listed next to all of my other programs. It has the option to uninstall it, but I cannot find it installed anywhere on my drive.

Hope this helps.

I will assume that a erasing the hard drive is another way of saying that it was formatted prior to installation. If this is the case the program cannot be on the hard drive. I do not even understand how it can appear in the control panel.

If the term erase is not a synonym for format, the program apparently was deleted, but the icon remains in the control panel. Bottom line it has to be reinstalled.

yes, the drive was reformatted. We then installed Vista, and the updates. Could it have come with the computer, much like our Office suite does?

I do not understand how the program could be listed, with no trace of any files on my drive. Attached is a screenshot of the window I saw it in- maybe that will help.

If you foramtted the entire hard drive and installed, I cannot understand where this program came from

On the other hand

If you formatted only one drive, and there were other drives the program was probably on the other drive.

There is not other explanation that I am aware of.

See my problem? Windows thinks the program is there, but it isnt.
I got really excited when I saw it, but it.. somehow.. doesnt exist.
And i KNOW it cant be on another drive, because thats the only drive thats ever been in the computer. And i never downloaded it to a flashdrive or something.

Anybody have an answer?