How to remove items from add/remove list please

How do I remove items from the add remove list which are no longer on my
pc.
Tia
C

 

Caractucus Potts blabbered in 24hoursupport.helpdesk:

I found this: http://tinyurl.com/bgn4m

 

Before editing the registry, back it up (export the hive under which you
edit or just the keys you edit). Go in the registry (using regedit.exe)
and delete the uninstall key(s) for each application under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

The key name under the above path is often the same as the program but
some programs used the classID to identify themselves. The classID is a
32-bit hyphenated number in the format
"{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx--xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}". For the latter case, you can
select each one and then look at the data items within the registry key
where usually one of them is a descriptor of the program which will tell
you what that registry key is for, like the DisplayName data item.
Understand that deleting this uninstall registry key does NOT remove
other registry keys associated with this program, any Start menu group
and shortcuts for the program, or any files left on your hard drive.
You may still have do to do lots of cleanup.

You never bothered to mention WHICH operating system you are using. The
mention of "Add/Remove Programs" probably means you are using Windows
but there are several versions of it. Don't assume everyone uses what
you use. In Windows XP, in Add/Remove Programs, there should be a
Remove option for an item, or running its uninstall will popup an alert
that no uninstall key exists for that item and asks if you want to
remove it.

Of course, if the problem is that the entry is missing from Add/Remove
Programs but would normally be there, you could just reinstall the
program which adds its uninstall key in the registry and then use
Add/Remove Programs to uninstall it (or some provide a shortcut in their
Start menu group that runs the uninstall). It is also possible that the
program you want to uninstall never does add a uninstall registry key or
uninstall shortcut because its "install" is just to copy some files into
a path (so you just delete those files, and their directory if it isn't
shared by another program).

 

Download Microsoft's Tweakui - it has a tool for doing just that.

 

You remove the programs the correct way to start with.