Visual Studio compiler issues

I had a version of the engine release in the program files x86, I deleted it and put a new version with the same folder name in the same location. The issue is that the 14.0 visual studio compiler directory was stuck up on the precompile operations of the old file so the file names were conflicting and the new build wouldn’t compile even though it’s a new clean install. How do I reset the compile operations so visual studio clears the command line to not contain the references to the old project folder, it’s looking for the old project when it’s no longer there.

The Windows headers don’t live in Visual Studio, they live in the Windows SDK folder.
The directories settings for Visual Studio live in both the general settings dialog (for global settings,) as well as in each project.

Here’s hoping that you actually used the installer to uninstall/re-install visual studio. If you tried putting some different version into the wrong folder name, you’re basically screwed and your best bet would be to re-image your machine (backup everything important, deactivate any software, format hard disk, re-install windows, re-install everything you need.) It’s going to be faster than trying to debug what happened if you went behind the installer’s back.

Other than that, “the 14.0 visual studio compiler directory was stuck up on the precompile operations of the old file so the file names were conflicting” isn’t a particularly clear description of some particular problem or error message, so nobody can really help you with that.
When you say “engine release in the program filex x86,” that can mean many things, too. Did you change the default location of the engine from where the Unreal Launcher would download/install it?

No I didn’t change any directories or anything for the unreal engine. It’s that visual studio itself (nothing to do with my unreal engine) is holding on to precompile operations and is attempting to reference files that no longer exist. The previous engine I used before deleting it has the folder name engine-release and when I deleted it Visual Studio kept it’s files referenced in the precompiler.

Due to the fact that I get a visual studio enterprise 2017 with my college program I’m just uninstalling 2015 and trying a fresh 2017.