QUOTE (UnderWorld007 @ Mar 12 2008, 12:55 PM)

You should try
ftp://ftp6.nero.com/tools/General-CleanTool.zip first.
Uninstall Nero8 Run this tool, reboot you're system and install nero 8 lite.
It worked fine for me. The activation Issues are also gone. so just try it out.
FYI everyone! Warning! This tool partially hosed my Vista installation. I never received the activation issue until recently. I uninstalled Nero 8 Lite, ran this tool, rebooted and for all intents and purposes, my Desktop was bare. Initially my sidebar popped up with it's gadgets but no icons on the desktop. Then the sidebar disappeared. Further tests indicate that the icons are probably still somewhere, but the desktop is turned "off" somehow. Right-clicking on the desktop does nothing, brings up no menu.
I can open My Computer (Windows Explorer) from the Start Menu, but if I right-click My Computer and choose Properties, then the screen flashes quickly as if it opened but it's not actually visible. Haven't tested other programs.
Also, all Windows-supplied notification icons are not present. All third-party program notification icons are.
Last but not least, I have Acronis True Image do regular scheduled backups every day, plus I do manual backups before I install or uninstall anything. After this hosing, I restored the backup from before I uninstalled Nero 8 Lite, and nothing changed, the desktop was still hosed. I don't know why. The closest I can come to an explanation is that in my Vista installations (just as with XP), I move most folders inside the user account folder (in this case, Administrator) to folders on a different partition, and maybe the General-CleanTool deleted something there? But I don't know why that would affect the desktop because that's one of the few things I don't move.
Argh.
I just wanted to let everyone know to be careful with General-CleanTool under Vista especially.
Edit (Update): I believe I did find the culprit. What happened is that almost all my drive letters changed. I should be able to restore the correct drive letters outside of Windows (BartPE), then restore the Vista backup once more and hopefully I'm set. Will update when I test.
Update 2: No luck at all getting Vista's desktop to work again. It appears that Vista should still work as normal other than the sidebar and desktop, so I'll just re-re-re-install yet another Vista installation on another (already existing for the purpose) partition and switch back and forth until my new one is satisfactorily set up.