Xp Registry

[ready469]

I Uninstall Some Software Which Do Not Have Its Own Uninstall Using Xp's Add/remove Program.

I Used Regedit To View The Registry. I Was Surprised To Find Out That The Software That I Uninstall Are Still In The Registry (hkey_local_machine_software).

Is It Safe To Just Manually Delete These Software From The Registry ?

Is There A Software That Can Delete These Obsolete Entries In The Registry ?

Any Help Will Be Appreciated.

Ready469

[SKULLZ1987]

If your unsure about deleteing things in the registry then just leave it. Its not doing any harm!

If you really want to delete it get a registy optimiser and run it, this should delete any registy key that is un-used and safe to delete.

If you just want to delete that one registry key then export that particular registry key and save it in a safe place. delete it from the registry and if you have any problems later on just import that key back into the registry.

[fritzi93]

Agreed. My method is to manually delete the folder, run the Windows Install cleanup utility from Microsoft, then use CCleaner to scan the registry for orphan entries. It prompts you to back up the specific keys before deletion. If you wish, you can later merge the backed-up keys into the registry. So it's reversible, but I've never had any trouble in that regard. CCleaner is free, here:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

[EDIT] Some programs refuse to uninstall cleanly. Norton and Nero come to mind, they both offer clean up tools. Kerio firewall and Comodo antivirus are stubborn as well, it being necessary to go to Administrative Tools -> Services to disable services associated with the programs that refuse to be deleted.