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https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-the-Windows-Registry-by-Hand Preparing to Clean the Registry Image titled Understand Icon31 Understand the consequences of editing the Registry. The Windows Registry stores information about every process, program, and setting on your computer, so removing the wrong entry can result in your computer failing to work properly. Image titled Understand Icon42 Know the safest way to clean the Registry. Unfortunately, cleaning the Registry by hand isn't safe, and following the steps in this article may not result in your computer speeding up or resolving corrupted Registry entries due to the limited approach you'll have to take. If you want to clean your Registry in an effective, thorough manner without deleting anything important, use the Registry Cleaner app instead. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 33 Understand the process you'll use to manually clean the Registry. The best way to clean the Registry without using a program is by placing your computer in Safe Mode. This will prevent other programs from interfering with your cleaning, becoming corrupted, or making changes to your computer. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 44 Uninstall any programs you don't need. Before you can begin cleaning out the Registry, try removing the programs you no longer want to use: Open Start Image titled Windowsstart.png. Click Settings Image titled Windowssettings.png. Click Apps. Select a program you want to uninstall. Click Uninstall. Follow any uninstall prompts. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 55 Back up your computer. If you accidentally corrupt your computer's Registry, you may need to restore your operating system from a backup. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 66 Back up the Registry. To do so: Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit into Start and then clicking regedit. Click File in the top-left corner. Click Export... in the drop-down menu. Enter a name for your Registry backup. Check the "All" box on the left side of the window. Click Save. Wait for the Registry to finish exporting (this can take several minutes, and the Registry Editor may freeze). Part 2 Entering Safe Mode Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 71 Open Start Image titled Windowsstart.png. Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 82 Click the "Power" icon Image titled Windowspower.png. It's in the lower-left corner of the Start menu. A pop-up menu will appear. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 93 Hold down ⇧ Shift while clicking Restart. You'll find Restart in the pop-up menu. Do not stop holding down ⇧ Shift until instructed to do so. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 104 Release ⇧ Shift when the blue screen appears. Once the screen turns blue, you can release the ⇧ Shift key. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 115 Click Troubleshooting. It's in the middle of the screen. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 126 Click Advanced Options. You'll find this next to an icon that resembles a set of tools. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 137 Click Startup Settings. It's in the middle of the screen. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 148 Click Restart. You'll find this at the bottom of the screen. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 159 Select the "Safe Mode with Networking" option. Press the key that corresponds with the number to the left of the "Safe Mode with Networking" prompt (usually the 5 key) to do so. Your computer will restart into Safe Mode, after which point you're free to begin cleaning out the Registry. Part 3 Opening the Registry Editor Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 161 Open Start Image titled Windowsstart.png. Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 172 Search for the Registry Editor. Type in regedit to do so. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 183 Click regedit. It's at the top of the Start menu. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 194 Click Yes when prompted. Doing so opens the Registry Editor program. Part 4 Cleaning the Registry Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 201 Expand the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" folder. Click the Image titled Android7expandright.png icon to the left of the folder, which is in the upper-left side of the window, to do so. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 212 Expand the "SOFTWARE" folder. You'll find a list of folders related to your installed programs in here. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 223 Find a folder for an unused program. Since the only files you can safely delete are ones pertaining to programs you've already uninstalled, you'll want to find a folder that matches the name or company of a program you no longer use. You may have to expand the folder of a company (e.g., "Adobe") to see a list of related program folders. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 234 Right-click the folder. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 245 Click Delete. It's in the drop-down menu. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 256 Click Yes when prompted. Doing so deletes the Registry entry. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 267 Repeat this process for other programs you recognize. Once you're finished deleting the folders of programs you've already removed, you can proceed. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 278 Close the Registry and restart your computer. Click the X in the top-right corner of the Registry Editor, then restart your computer from the "Power" Image titled Windowspower.png menu. Once your computer finishes restarting, it will be back in regular mode, and your Registry's changes will be saved. Part 5 Using the Registry Cleaner App Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 281 Install the Registry Cleaner app. This app can help guide you through cleaning your Registry by scanning for corrupted or unnecessary files, determining which ones are safe to remove, and removing them as needed. To install it, do the following: Go to http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/registry-cleaner/ in your computer's web browser. Click Download now. Double-click the downloaded setup file. Click Yes when prompted. Click Click to install. Uncheck the offered software's box and click Decline (you may have to do this several times). Wait for the app to finish installing. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 292 Open the Registry Cleaner. Click Finish once the Registry Cleaner finishes installing, then click Yes when prompted. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 303 Click Settings. It's a tab at the top of the window. A drop-down menu will appear. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 314 Make sure "Back Up Changes" is checked. In the Settings drop-down menu, you'll see a "Back Up Changes" option which should have a checkmark to the left of it. If this option isn't checked, click it to check it. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 325 Click Scan Now. This option is at the bottom of the window. Registry Cleaner will begin scanning your Registry for bad entries. When the results display, you can proceed. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 336 Click Repair. It's at the bottom of the window. Doing so causes Registry Cleaner to remove any unnecessary or corrupted entries. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to over an hour depending on how bloated your Registry is. Image titled Clean the Windows Registry by Hand Step 347 Restore your Registry settings if necessary. If your computer begins acting different or displaying errors for normal processes, you can restore your Registry by doing the following: Click File. Click Rescue Center. Select the most recent backup. Click Restore.