RH7 hangs frequently; unable to remove/repair/reinstall

I have been working with the same project file for about 5 years in RoboHelp, most recently in RH7. The program goes through cycles of hanging very frequently, to the point that it is unusable. I try to open a topic and it hangs. Sometimes it hangs in the Starter, just clicking any link: opening my project, or even going to an outside link (support, for example). The problem is global and doesn't have anything to do with my project, and I've never gotten error messages with my project.

I tried removing the program from my computer, both with the original disk and with Add/Remove Programs. It will not uninstall. And if I click Repair or Remove in the install program, the install program hangs. I'm not sure what to do. I feel like I'm in a black hole. I use this program for about six months out of the year to produce an HTML help system for one client. I had no problems last year, with the same project and the same install.

The one different thing I did this year was attempt to create a PDF version of my Help file which crashed and burned so badly it wasn't even funny.

I run it on Windows XP. Everything is local, and I don't share files with anyone. I don't have Source Control installed, and I've never run it on a server. I've also submitted a help ticket to Adobe.

Any help on this issue would be much appreciated. I need to finish up this help build and submit it in the next couple of weeks. After that I will be recreating the file as the software I'm documenting is undergoing a huge overhaul.

Linda Hefferman