PCMM,
It has been a long time since I used Win98. If I remember correctly:
1) To clear your desktop, use Regedit:
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Current Version \ Policies \ Explorer
From the menu select Edit > New > DWORD value
Name it NoDesktop
Double-click this entry and give it the value 1
Close the registry editor and reboot your computer
2) If the uninstall errors in add/remove programs, that usually means the program was just deleted from the hard drive without using the uninstall program. You could reinstall the programs to uninstall them properly, or use Regedit:
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Uninstall
Delete the program entry here
Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows
(TweakUI will do this too and is a lot safer than going into the registry.)
Take Care,
Richard