The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that contains information about system settings, hardware and software settings, user profiles, and more. When uninstalling a program, in theory, its installations should be removed from the registry, but this does not always happen - due to user errors or incorrectly written uninstaller utilities.
Instructions
Step 1
Activate Registry Editor. To do this, enter the regedit command in the program launch window (called by the Win + R keyboard shortcut or the "Run" option of the "Start" menu). In the "Edit" menu, click "Find" and in the search box write down the name of the program from which you want to clear the registry. This window can also be invoked by the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F. Use the Find Next button to start your search.
Step 2
If an entry with this name is found, right-click on this line and select the "Delete" option in the drop-down menu. You can also use the Delete key or choose Delete from the Edit menu. After the first found file, press F3 to find other entries related to this program, and delete them using one of the described methods.
Step 3
This method can be time-consuming if the remote program was complex, such as Adobe Photoshop. To speed up the process, you can use third-party registry cleaning utilities. Download and install the free RegCleaner program.
Step 4
Select "Search" from the main menu. In the search bar, enter the name of the application you want to get rid of, and click the "Search" button. If an entry with this name is found, the Delete button appears in the lower right corner of the screen. Use it to clean out obsolete data from the registry.
Step 5
Another very handy free registry cleaner is AML Registry Cleaner. Download its developer site, install it on your computer and run it. On the left side of the screen, click the Registry Search button and enter the name of the program in the Find line. In the Result window, the search will display a list of files that are related to the remote application.
Step 6
Right-click on the entry and the Registry Editor will open. Delete the entry using one of the methods described above.
