Manaually editing the registry

[dl65]

How to manually edit the registry using the find function

A word of caution :
Backup the registry before making any changes.
Incorrectly editing the registry may damage your system. You should always back up the registry before making any changes. Should you inadvertently alter or delete something you shouldn’t  have , use your backup of the registry to correct things and then proceed .

How to backup the registry in :

Win XP ....http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;322756#E03E0ACAAA

Win 2000 ....http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;322755#E0LB0ACAAA

Win ME and Win98 ..........
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q256419

Win95......http://support.microsoft.com/?id=132332


Lets say that you have uninstalled some application (lets call it Widget ) …and then decide that you wish to reinstall it again ….. So you attempt it and it doesn’t complete or simply wont reinstall .  The answer is probably because there are entries left in the registry from the initial install …..and these are stopping the reinstall from working.

So here’s what to do …..

Click Start ….then click Run …..when the Run window opens ……in the open box….. type….  regedit  and then click ok.

The registry editor will open .
Click the edit button ….and from the drop down menu select “Find” ( click find)
Find box will open ….

 In the "Find what" box …. Type in “Widget” or (what ever you’re looking for) and then click “Find next” ….you will see a message displayed saying Searching the registry.

When the desired entry is found…… it will be highlighted ( it may be on the left pane or the right pane) ….
Go to that location and right click on the hi-lited entry and select delete .  ( the entry will be removed)

Note …care should be taken to be sure you delete the hi-lited entry …. And take the time to check and be sure the entry does relate to “Widget” .

Now go back up to click on the edit button again ……and select “find” ( Widget will still be in the search box…….

Then click “Find next” and again you will see the message Searching the registry……. And again when the entry is located it will be hi-lited , so right click on it and delete. 

Repeat this process until you see the message displayed …… Finished searching the registry.  
You're finished …..