How to clean the registry with standard Windows 10 tools

Features of a manual registry cleaner

Since Windows 10 lacks a built-in registry cleaner, third-party programs have traditionally been used to remove outdated entries from the database. But that doesn't mean you can't clean the registry using the system's own tools. Windows 10 has an editor for this purpose, but this method has a big drawback. Firstly, you should at least generally understand the purpose of the registry keys, and secondly, cleaning them manually is quite a long and laborious process.

Method 1: Registry Search

To remove registry keys left behind by uninstalling the software, you can use the built-in search functions in the "Registry Editor" itself..

1. Open by pressing the combination of Win + R the quick command window, enter the command regedit and press «OK».
2. In the window that opens "Registry Editor". and click the left mouse button on the first section named "Computer".. Then go to the menu "Edit". and select the option Find more.. Instead, just press the key F3.
3. The registry search configuration window appears. Enter in the field "Find". name of the removed program, game or component, uncheck the items "parameter names" и "parameter values", and then press thebutton. “find next”.
4. Once you have found a section with a name that matches the keyword, right-click on it and select from the context menu the option "Delete".
5. Confirm the deletion in the dialog box.
6. Press the key F3to continue searching the registry hives.

Delete all found items as indicated in points 5 and 6.

Method 2: Delete temporary entries

Both the disk and the registry have sections that store cached data, such as search history on "Explorer". Here are some of these sections.

• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs. The key stores file access history – delete directory "RecentDocs" with all its content.
• HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\WordWheelQuery. The key stores the search history in "Explorer".. Delete it by deleting the folder "WordWheelQuery".
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU. The last subsection stores the history of the commands performed in the dialog Win + R.
• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache. The MUI link cache can be safely cleared by deleting the last subsection.

key backups

If you decide to use this method of cleaning the registry, make a backup before deleting the subsections. This way you can always restore your programs or components if you delete the wrong registry key by mistake. To create a backup of a key, do the following

1. Right-click on a registry subkey and select the option from the menu "Export"..
2. In the directory selection dialog that opens, give the file to be saved a suitable name and click "Save".

This will save the registry key as a text file in REG format. This is the backup, from which you can restore simply by running the REG file.