If you have to uninstall a program on your computer, you can go to Apps and Settings and uninstall it. Simple as that. Until you can’t. Maybe there’s another reason you can’t or don’t want to uninstall something the default way. Maybe you have an error message on your screen that claims your attempted uninstall was unsuccessful. Maybe you are trying to demonstrate uninstalling a program for a class. Maybe you just found out your computer has Limewire on it. I’m not here to judge you. Unless you actually do have Limewire on your computer. Then I’m definitely judging you.
One of the ways you can uninstall a program is to do it in the Registry. The Registry is a database that contains settings info for the computer, it’s programs, and it’s users. Explaining everything in the Registry isn’t really my goal here, so I’ll try to keep it related to the topic.
There are multiple ways to get to the Registry. A newer Windows OS will have a Search Bar on the task bar and in the start menu that you can use.
You can enter ‘Registry’ or ‘regedit’ (it’s short for ‘Registry Editor’) there to access your Registry.
You can also do it the old-school way, through the Run dialog box. If you press ‘Windows + R’ you should get a box to pop up. If you enter ‘regedit’ in this dialog box, it should open the Registry.
If you just happened to be in the command prompt, you could also enter ‘regedit’ there for the same effect.
No matter how you reach the Registry, what matters to you in this scenario is the box on the left, wherein you will navigate through the following items: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Uninstall.
Now you can swing your attention over to the right and search for the name of the program you’re seeking to uninstall. If you right-click on this sub-key, you can get the option to uninstall that program.
Now, once you’ve done this, you may still have to delete the program files themselves, which usually hang out in either the Program Files or Program Files x86 folder, but may be elsewhere depending on the program itself and the options you chose when you installed that program.
Other methods include using WMIC in command prompt or using a restore point to restore the computer to a state prior to installing the program, but therein lies an opportunity for you to do some research, another great skill to have in an IT career.
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