[johnkromka]

1. When I uninstall something, usually there are still parts of the application left behind in the registry. I always go in there and delete anything related to the uninstalled item because I want to get ALL remnants of the uninstalled item out of the registry completely. However, there are times some registry items of this kind refuse to delete for one reason or another. It is rare, usually everything deletes. However, I am frustrated with the registry items that won't delete. I just tried something called RegOwnershipEx but I couldn't make it work to delete these items. I need something that will force delete these stubborn registry entries. Now I know if I get a message while trying to delete a registry item and it won't go it might be best to leave it in there. But I always do a registry backup in case of any thing I might delete I shouldn't have so no problems result with my system. But I still want to delete everything, call me stubborn. Does anyone know of an application out there I can download to force delete these registry items that will not delete on first try? Also, I would like something that is fairly easy to understand and use. I would think there would be something out there for this purpose but I haven't found anything searching. 

   1. Revo Uninstaller, IOBitUninstaller and others I have tried fail to delete COMPLETELY 100% of the items associated with an uninstalled application. There ALWAYS are 'things' left behind. This varies from a lot to a little. I don't understand this. Why are some items 'left behind' in the registry, and files and folders on my computer? In years past I just left this stuff on my computer, but I have read that this useless junk piles up over time and can even slow down your machine. I have found a utility everyone should know about called TakeOwnershipEx. It allows you to take ownership over files and folders that refuse to delete due to ownership and permission issues, and is so easy to use. If you want to delete files or folders or do other things but run into problems, try downloading this app. and you will get control to do whatever you want with no problems. However, I have not found an equivalent app. to use in the registry. Thanks much. 

 

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Hi John,

First a word of warning. Some registry keys are protected for a reason. And leaving orphaned registry keys and values behind in your Windows registry is not a big problem.
They do not take up a huge amount of space and if they are truly orphaned they will not slow down your computer. Deleting a key that turns out, you needed it after all, can be a disaster though.

That being said as a word of warning, I have used RegDelNull with success a few times against malicious registry keys.

[Metallica]

Hi John,

First a word of warning. Some registry keys are protected for a reason. And leaving orphaned registry keys and values behind in your Windows registry is not a big problem.
They do not take up a huge amount of space and if they are truly orphaned they will not slow down your computer. Deleting a key that turns out, you needed it after all, can be a disaster though.

That being said as a word of warning, I have used RegDelNull with success a few times against malicious registry keys.