deleting programs

[nerie]

I run windows 2000. Is it safe to comb through the entire registry and delete all keys that pertain to programs that are no longer installed. I hate having remnants of programs in my registry.

Thanks

[Tommyknocker]

I would suggest using RegSupreme. It is trialware, but removes all invalid and no longer used registry entries.

[nerie]

what is the difference using a program to do the work and manually doing it? Then, I will have the remnants of the trialware in the registry. I don't like to install things unless it is absolutely necessary.

[Shocker Milwaukee]

True, but it's a little insurance against a critical deletion. To be fair, though, I have to admit that I freely hack away at suspect registry keys.

[johns0]

As long you remove entries that you know for sure that belong to the now uninstalled program there will be no problems,just dont delete keys that contain similar names or there will be major problems after you reboot.

[fritzi93]

If you're running XP, you should already have RegClean.exe in program files, it cleans up all bogus entries in the registry. If you want to delete things manually, you damn well better know what you're doing.

P.S. It's possible I'm mistaken and you need to download RegClean.exe from Microsoft Technical Support. My memory ain't what it used to be.

[HAMP]

A good reason for some type of Reg edit program. Not all programs you wanna delete go by the name of the program or referenced by name, some use a key string that is associated with the deleted program like all numbers or letters and numbers that identify itself with the program.