Registry keys that refused to die !

[moderation3]

I have Windows XP Pro, and I recently uninstalled a program and, not
surprisingly, it left some residue behind in the Registry, so I
decided to clean it out.

My understanding is that Registry keys can be deleted by first
exporting (while in regedit) the keys to a .reg file, then editing the
..reg file by inserting a hyphen between the left bracket and the first
letter of the major folder name, then running the .reg file (in
Start->Run).

When I did that, it worked for 6 out of the 9 sets of keys that were
to be deleted, which leaves 3 sets that did not get deleted. These 3
sets had a common characteristic where each of their folders had a
descendant folder that was called "LogConf". I then thought that,
perhaps, folders that contained other folders could not be deleted, so
I exported the "LogConf" folders separately to .reg files so I could
delete them first, and then go back and delete their parent folders.
Well, that didn't work either because the "LogConf" were still there
when I went back to regedit to search for them.

I then tried to delete the "LogConf" directly while in regedit.
I highlighted the "LogConf" folder, then went to Edit->Delete, and
got an error message that said "Cannot delete LogConf: Error while
deleting key".

Is there some trick to this (or perhaps a better way to accomplish
this)?

 

[Lindsay]

Any particular reason why you don't just right click the key and click
delete?

 

[Galen]

In moderation3 <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I then tried to delete the "LogConf" directly while in regedit.
I highlighted the "LogConf" folder, then went to Edit->Delete, and
got an error message that said "Cannot delete LogConf: Error while
deleting key".

Is there some trick to this (or perhaps a better way to accomplish
this)?

There was probably something stilll loaded. Two things to think about.
First, had you rebooted after uninstalling the application? Second, have you
tried to kill it in safe mode?

Make that three things... Are you 100% certain that these are registry
entries that you want to delete? If the first one doesn't work and the
second one doesn't work, then you probably have some malware on your system
and that's what the basic issue would be.

Galen

 

[Keith Miller]

Registry keys have permissions, just like files & folders. Right-click the problem keys & verify/change so that you have full control & ownership.

Keith

 

[jeffrey]

fdsa

Any particular reason why you don't just right click the key and click
delete?

 

[george]

I have Windows XP Pro, and I recently uninstalled a program and, not
surprisingly, it left some residue behind in the Registry, so I
decided to clean it out.

My understanding is that Registry keys can be deleted by first
exporting (while in regedit) the keys to a .reg file, then editing the
.reg file by inserting a hyphen between the left bracket and the first
letter of the major folder name, then running the .reg file (in
Start->Run).

When I did that, it worked for 6 out of the 9 sets of keys that were
to be deleted, which leaves 3 sets that did not get deleted. These 3
sets had a common characteristic where each of their folders had a
descendant folder that was called "LogConf". I then thought that,
perhaps, folders that contained other folders could not be deleted, so
I exported the "LogConf" folders separately to .reg files so I could
delete them first, and then go back and delete their parent folders.
Well, that didn't work either because the "LogConf" were still there
when I went back to regedit to search for them.

I then tried to delete the "LogConf" directly while in regedit.
I highlighted the "LogConf" folder, then went to Edit->Delete, and
got an error message that said "Cannot delete LogConf: Error while
deleting key".

Is there some trick to this (or perhaps a better way to accomplish
this)?

check out this discussion (http://castlecops.com/posts113827-15.html)
might give you some clues.

george