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Registry Recycler , Windows 7 , Windows 8.1

How to Clean Your Computers Registry Manually?

Updated December 26, 2013

Those questioning the inevitability of a registry cleaner, please be observant

and try out to clean your registry on your own.

Windows Registry is a virtual record of physically scattered hives, containing

certain system and user settings. These records are employed by system

components, third party applications, hardware, user profiles, and other great

deal of stuff. A contaminated registry can lead to certain problematic

situations, like sluggish PC performance, broken file extensions, and

misconfigured applications.

Fortunately, Windows lets you enter the realm of its registry and make

changes in it. You can create, remove, copy, rename, and modify registry

entries for your own customization. However, to perform such tasks, you must

possess an advanced level of knowledge and experience. However, novice

users are recommended to use Registry Recycler, which is free and reliable to

fix and clean Windows registry.

Assess registry entries to know their validity. Some of the basic types of

entries are;

Application Settings

Uninstall Entries

Shared DLLs

Startup Items

File Extension Association

COM Components

Drivers and Services

Detailed examples associating each of the above are described below. Each

cleaning process requires Registry Editor. Wait a second! Just before editing

your registry, make sure to create a backup to avoid inconvenience due to any

mistake.

Type regedit in the Run box or Start menu/screen Search

Click Yes on UAC message to confirm your action

Create a backup of your current registry by accessing File menu and

selecting Export

Under Export range select All, give .reg file a name and Save it

If anything goes wrong during the course of registry cleanup, you can

restore the backup by accessing Import option from File menu

In the displayed Dialog box locate the .reg file created earlier and click

Open.

Application Settings

These entries are related to Microsoft as well as third party applications.

Applications create multiple keys and values in registry hives to customize

their settings. After being uninstalled, these settings are mostly sustained and

not deleted. The purpose is to bring it under use whenever the application is

reinstalled in future. Apart of this fact, these entries can virtually be viewed

and deleted accordingly.

Enter Windows Registry Editor

Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER key to navigate through Software key

Under this key, listed down are sub-keys associated to applications for a

specific User Account

Identify and click to highlight the entry which you have already

uninstalled/removed

Right click that specific key and choose to Delete

Now expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key to navigate through

SOFTWARE key

Listed down under this key, are sub-keys associated to applications for the

overall machine users

Identify the key of non-existing application and right click to Delete it

Uninstall Entries

Manually Deleted Programs and applications leave behind the entries that are

of no further use, as manually deleting process is not accredited to delete such

entries. These keys and values will stay there forever until you slay them

manually or with registry cleaner. To terminated these keys,

Open Windows Registry Editor

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key to reach the following key

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Under Uninstall key, you will see sub-keys containing values named

UninstallString within them

Identify the keys of non-existing files or Verify the path given in the

Value data of these entries

If the path is not correct or UninstallString value does not exist, the key is

said to be invalid

Right click the key, and choose to Delete

Shared DLLs

SharedDLLs is a Windows registry key containing the record of DLL files that

are commonly used by multiple programs and applications. It can contain

some invalid or corrupted entries subject to be repaired or removed.

Go to Registry Editor

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key to reach the following key

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs

The final key contains hundreds and hundreds of DWORD Values

Each value is named as the physical path of the .dll file

To identify the invalid entry, you must verify the path of each value

An incorrect path proves the DWORD Value to be invalid

If possible, modify these entries with a correct path

Or else, right click the invalid DWORD entry and select Delete

Startup Items

Startup Items are those launched as soon as a user logs into the system. This

action of auto-takeoff is directed from a specified registry keys. To prevent a

repellent program from launching on the startup, delete the applicable keys in

the manner stated as follows.

Go to Registry Editor and expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER key to reach

following key

Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Verify the path given in each String Value and if found incorrect, Delete

the Value

In HKEY_CURRENT_USER key, navigate to Software\Microsoft

\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Repeat the same process of path verification and Delete the Values with

incorrect paths

Now expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key to reach the following registry

keys

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Verify the paths of String Values and Delete the values with invalid

paths

Do not delete any of the Run and RunOnce keys

Please note that Startup items listed in HKEY_CURRENT_USER are applicable

only on current user profile. While those listed under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

are applicable in all user accounts. Moreover, Run keys enclose actions that

would execute on each startup, while those in RunOnce will execute once and

then removed from the key automatically by Windows.

File Extension Association

File extension is the type or format of a file, which associates it to a program

or application to open. This link between the file type and program/application

is called the file association.

Stay at Registry Editor and expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key

You can view File extension keys starting from the top (Example; .pdf)

Please note that all the file extension keys are named with a . (dot) at its

start

Each of these keys contain a String Value named as (Default)

Value data of (Default) entry specifies its File association Application

ID

(Example; AcroExch.Document.11)

Track down the File association Application ID keys under the same hive

(Example; HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document.11)

Locate and expand this key to view sub-keys under it, shell\open

\command

(Default) String within command key shows the physical path of the

associated application

Verify the path by typing it into the Run box (remove extra characters)

and pressing Enter

The path should be typed without quotes which possibly ends with exe or

dll

An incorrect path represents an invalid registry key and should be

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deleted

Remove the Application ID from the (Default) String Value and its

relevant key under Classes Root

COM Components

COM is the system for creating binary software components. Each component,

when registered, is allocated with a unique Class Identity or CLSID. To find

errors in these components,

Access Registry Editor and expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key

Expand a component in this key to view a sub-key named CLSID

From the above given example, navigate to

AcroExch.Document.11\CLSID

The value of CLSID appears in the (Default) String

(Example; {FC48CC30-4F3E-4fa1-803B-AD0E196A83B1})

Locate this 32-digit value in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID key

A non-existing CLSID points towards an invalid Application ID and

should be deleted

If found, expand the CLSID key to view and select InprocServer32 key

A (Default) String within InprocServer32 key must contain a path to its

real location

(Example; C:\Windows\system32\msaatext.dll)

Verify the path by accessing it in Windows Explorer

An incorrect path demonstrates the invalid or corrupt entry

Rectify the path if it is possible, and if not,

Delete both the invalid keys (Application ID and CLSID)

Drivers and Services

To initialize hardware while the computer is turned on, system needs to run its

drivers. For this purpose, relevant registry entry is called upon, as it knows the

path to the driver (.sys) file. An invalid registry (with invalid path) would result

in unloaded driver possibly causing a BSOD. Windows Service is a system

process that runs in the background and follows a specific set of rules and

protocols which doesnt apply to a normal Desktop Application.

Open Registry Editor and navigate through HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

key

Expand further to get SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services

Under the Services key, locate any sub-key related to a driver

(Example; Modem)

While Modem is selected, locate the String Value named ImagePath on

the right panel

Double click this path to view its Value data

The Value data of this string must have a valid physical path to the driver

file

(example; system32\drivers\modem.sys)

If the path does not exist or is invalid, delete the driver key

For cleaning up the services within your registry, try out with the following

steps;

Under same services key, locate a sub-key related to a service

(Example; AdobeARMservice)

While AdobeARMservice is select, locate the String value named

ImagePath in the right panel

The Value data of this string must have a valid physical path to the service

file

(Example; C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0

\armsvc.exe)

If the path does not exist or is invalid, delete the service key

While deleting drivers and services keys, please be cautious, as a minor lapse

can put your PC into an irreparable state displaying a BSOD. You may not

even be able to boot into your system afterwards.

Disclaimer

Despite, performing it manually, you can acquire the assistance of a reliable

registry cleaner such as Registry Recycler, as Windows Registry encompasses

hundreds of thousands of entries. It is extremely intricate to identify invalid

entries among these. You are notified once more to be cautious while

executing each of the steps noted above. However, we recommend not

overseeing the registry archives manually.

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