Cleaning by deleting

I'm trying to learn how to delete ALL traces of a program or download. I know how to do a little bit but I think I may not be doing it completely.

I usually go to Add/Remove, then I right click on start and explore, look for the program and delete from there also. But I don't know how to delete them from Regedit. The are numerous keys with digits and I'm afraid I'll delete something important.

Is there anything else I need to do to delete ALL traces or to figure out which hkey belongs to the programs or downloads?

Thank you!

 

I have Registry Mechanic. The reason I'd like to do this is because I play alot of games and once I'm done I either uninstall them or delete them. I just want to make sure that they are not taking up any space. I usually play on weekends and then I do a cleanup. Is there anything else I may be missing?

 

If you don't have a full backup image of your drive, I'd suggest that you get some good imaging software and keep a current image stored on separate media for the time when you might hose the system by Reg editing. It happens to all of us and good backups are imperative. I use Acronis true Image and keep daily incremental images for several months. Then you can play fast and loose with your Reg editing and not worry about doing something untoward.

FWIW, cleaning the Registry is a waste of time and poses unnecessary risks for the normal user. The Registry Hives are in essence text files that occupy 30 megs or more and deleting some orphaned line of 200 bytes has no measurable effect. The example given would represent a .0007% in the bulk of the Registry. And given that it won't be read if not referenced, no difference at all in speed of operation.

Proper Uninstalling using the uninstaller included with any good software is all that is necessary. If you know that the program is a stand alone program, manual deleting is fine. My motto is, "Never miss a chance to leave the Registry alone. "

 

Thank you so much, have a great week!!!!