While checking the running processes in task manager I found "mysqld-nt.exe" sucking up 10,000k of memory. I like to have a very clean system so I tried to end the process and got an "access denied" error. I’m the administrator and I can’t find the actual exe file anywhere on my hard drive to check the properties, but it must exist somewhere. I deleted my mysql program using the control panel’s add/remove software but that did nothing. How do I delete a file that doesn’t exist? Through the registry maybe? I’m trying to avoid reformatting, but I will to get this thing off the task manager. Ugh.. sometimes I just want to give my computer a horrible virus just to have the satisfaction that I caused windows lots and lots of pain =)

Remember that MySQL is a server that runs protected. Although you are logged in as Administrator you'll still need to access the services console. To do this, right-click My Computer and select Manager. A window will pop up. Look at the tree on the left and select Services. On the right side of the window you'll see a list of services. Some are running, some are not. Locate MySQL on this list, right-click and select Stop. While here you can also select Properties and have it where MySQL does not start up automatically when Windows does. If you would like to uninstall MySQL server, make sure you stop the service using the method above and then pull up Control Panel > Install/Uninstall Programs and then uninstall it completely.