How to Delete a Program Completely by Modifying the Registry (Windows)

Last Updated: October 25, 2022 Tested

Deleting a program from your computer, may leave remnant links in your files. In order to make sure the program is completely deleted, just perform the following steps.

Things You Should Know

Be sure your program is completely uninstalled from your computer. Then, remove all registry items relating to that program using Regedit.exe.
Go to File > Export > Save. Name your file something easy to remember, such as regbackup.
Click Edit > Find and enter program name. Then, press F3 to search. When you find your item, press delete to remove it.
Continue until all program items are deleted. Then, reboot your computer to finish.

Steps

1
Completely uninstall the program you want to get rid of.
2
Get rid of the registry items pointing to that program next.

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3
Go to Regedit.exe.
- You can use the run program in the start menu.
4
Go to File.
5
Click Export. (In Win98 and WinME this will be Export registry file)
6
Save the file in c:\
7
Name the file regbackup. Click save.
8
Go to Edit.
9
Go to Find.
10
Type the program name.
11
Press F3 to search.
12
Read to make sure it is a link to that program. Check this once the item is found.
13
Press delete to remove it.
14
Continue pressing F3. Delete all the items pertaining to the program, until all the links are gone.
15
Reboot the Computer to Complete the Process.

Community Q&A

Question

Can I do this in Windows 10?

Community Answer

Yes you can. The registry is a fundamental part of Windows, so this process will probably be the same for many versions of Windows to come.
Question

Can I remove avast with this?

Community Answer

Yes. This should work for any program or application.

Warnings

The registry is the heart of Windows; if you mess it up, Windows will no longer work - backup/export it before starting any changes. If in doubt, don't do it!

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Helpful 8 Not Helpful 3
Make sure you do steps 4-7 first before changing the registry.

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Helpful 6 Not Helpful 3
Editing the registry is very dangerous and should only be done in extreme cases.

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Helpful 6 Not Helpful 4
Some associations in the registry, if removed, will break other functioning programs or windows itself.

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Helpful 6 Not Helpful 4
Do not delete anything other than what is needed...you should backup registry beforehand.

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