Signs of uninstalled progs in regedit

[Northern Breezy]

I was looking at regedit the other day and deleted a folder for a program to remove any trace of it before I tried to re-install it.

I then noticed a lot of folders labled with names of other programs that I have uninstalled in the past.

 

My questions are: 1) Is this a good practice?

2) Can I delete these old program entries or should I just ignore them?

3) Why are they still there? They are like old ghosts!

 

Regedit is a scary place for me and I try to stay out of there.

As I was instructed, I backed up the registry first,

ran a search ,copied what I was going to delete elswhere,

prayed,

and deleted everything found with that programs name.

 

The program didn't work any better upon re-install so I junked it and found a better one.

 

Any advise would be appreciated

[TheFiresInTheSky]

it helps if you would name the program that your trying to get to work.

also, chances are it wasnt the registry causing all those problems.

the registry is pretty much harmless if you leave it alone.

[Northern Breezy]

it helps if you would name the program that your trying to get to work.

also, chances are it wasnt the registry causing all those problems.

the registry is pretty much harmless if you leave it alone.

 

 

The program was called "Listmaker" and it hung up every time I tried to use it after the first few times.

It was suggested to re-install the program but it still acted the same. To start with a fresh install I wanted to delete any traces of the prog. after un-installing it. That led me to regedit.

 

Programs make changes in the registry right?

 

What the program was is really inmaterial. Un-installing it lead to the discovery of all the other ghosts from previous uninstalls.

 

My questions were :

Why are these things left in the regisry after uninstall and would it be safe to go thru it and delete them?

[TheFiresInTheSky]

i wouldnt delete ANYTHING from the registry manually.

programs can add things to the registry, you change a setting, its usually stored in the registry.

for instance, what tab you were on last, background color, font sizes, pretty much anything.

i say, if your not having any problems with your registry, just leave it alone.

if it really bothers you, you could use a cleaner.

Ccleaner searches for issues in the registry but not necessarily stuff thats not needed.

ive heard of other registry cleaners being able to do this but i havent been brave enough to try one, maybe someone could suggest one?

ive only seen those programs do bad tho.

-aaron

[Northern Breezy]

i wouldnt delete ANYTHING from the registry manually.

programs can add things to the registry, you change a setting, its usually stored in the registry.

for instance, what tab you were on last, background color, font sizes, pretty much anything.

i say, if your not having any problems with your registry, just leave it alone.

if it really bothers you, you could use a cleaner.

Ccleaner searches for issues in the registry but not necessarily stuff thats not needed.

ive heard of other registry cleaners being able to do this but i havent been brave enough to try one, maybe someone could suggest one?

ive only seen those programs do bad tho.

-aaron

 

Thanks for the input Aaron