How to clean the registry manually?
The Windows registry is a very sensitive archive. Although it is possible to delete any element deemed useless, it is important to be extremely careful to clean it without risk. This is important because any wrong manipulation can cause small problems or make your pc unusable. It is therefore advisable to find out how to proceed for such cleaning. Here are the steps to follow to do a manual registry cleaning.
Preparing for registry cleaning
To begin with, we must not forget that manual cleaning is an option that does not really exclude risks. So, in order not to cause your device to malfunction, be very careful. The best way to clean the registry without using a program is to put your computer in safe mode.
Doing so will prevent other programs from interfering with the operation. You should also uninstall other programs that you won’t need. To do this, open the Start menu then go to Settings and click on Applications . Select the one to uninstall and do it.
To complete this first step, you must back up your computer’s data. Thus, an operating system restore would be possible in case of accidental damage to the registry. You must also back up the registry by opening the registry editor to click on regedit then on File in the upper left corner.
You must then select Export and give your backup a name. Check the ” All ” box on the left side of the window and click Save . Wait until the export is complete.
Go into safe mode
This step starts with opening the boot menu. After that, click on the power icon located at the bottom left of the Start menu to open a context menu. Then you have to long press the shift key while clicking on Restart and release the shift key when the blue screen comes.
At this point, you will have to click on the “Troubleshoot” option. It will be in the middle of the screen. Now you need to select “Advanced Options” which is next to the toolset-like icon. This will allow you to choose in the middle of the screen the option “Startup parameters”.
To complete this step, click on Restart and select the “Safe Mode with Networking” option. To do so, press the key corresponding to the number visible to your left of the option to choose. The computer will restart in safe mode and you can start cleaning the registry.
Open Registry Editor and Clean Registry
After following all the procedures to avoid malfunctioning problems, you can open the registry editor and proceed with the cleaning.
Open Registry Editor
Opening the Registry Editor is done in a few steps. So you will need to:
- click on the Windows logo to open the Start menu ;
- then select the regedit option which is at the top of the Start menu;
- Open the Registry Editor program by choosing “ Yes” at the command prompt.
By proceeding exactly as listed above, you will be able to open the registry editor in order to clean the registry.
Clean the registry
To perform your cleansing, you must be orderly. Thus, the following steps must be followed. :
- expand the folder named HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE ,
- then select the SOFTWARE folder ,
- find an unused program folder,
- right-click on the folder to open a drop-down menu,
- select the “delete” option,
- click on the “Yes” option at the command prompt to delete the chosen item.
You must do the same operation for the other programs and proceed to close the registry and restart the computer. When you follow all the stated steps and the different phases, your computer will restart in classic mode and the registry changes will be preserved.
Note that when your device does not work well after cleaning, it is possible to restore the backup created by opening the registry editor. Remember that wrong handling can damage your computer.
