Removing programs listed in Add/Remove programs or Programs and Features
Do you have a software program you uninstalled, but still have it listed in Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features?
You can easily use the Windows Registry to remove any listed programs from this list.
Please keep in mind, this does not uninstall the program. This only removes the entry so you no longer see it as an installed program in Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features. Is also does not remove any additional registry entries the program may have created during install. Most programs create a log file when installing that normally contains a list of all files installed and registry entires created and their locations.
If you need to manually uninstall the program, it is suggested you either contact the software manufacturer for a removal tool or you find the uninstall log and and manually remove the files and registry entries yourself.
You should always try using either Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features to uninstall a program before trying to remove it manually from the registry.
Search By Program Name
The easiest way the remove a program listed is to search the registry by the exact name the program is listed in Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features.
Find the name of the program you no longer want to see listed and note it’s exact name. Open regedit.exe (located in c:\Windows or can be opened from a command prompt or from “Run” in the Start menu) .
In regedit:
Click on “My Computer” or “Computer”
Click “Edit” in the menu
Click “Find”
In the “Find” window, type the exact name (make sure enter EXACTLY as it appears. If it is listed as “This Program”, enter “This Program” not “this program”.) of the program you want to remove and click the checkbox for “Match whole string only”.
It may take a while for regedit to find the entry. Once found, it will be highlighted in the right pane of regedit.
Make sure the entry found is in the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
If you are not in the key mentioned above, you will need to search for the next entry. You can either press “F3” or click “Edit” in the menu and then click “Find Next”.
Once you are in the correct key and the program name is highlighted in the right pane: In the left pane, find the key that is highlighted and right-click it and click delete. An example of a uninstall key: {5B34EEAF-2BD6-4323-B7C2-FB8968755ACC}, Note: this is an example only, your key will not be an exact match.
The program should now be removed from Add/Remove Programs or Programs and features. If you still have Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features open you will need to close it and reopen it to refresh the list.
You can also find installed programs in the registry by just navigating to the following registry key and checking each key for the correct one (slower this way):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall