How do I use the Registry?

Q. I have uninstalled my old anti-virus program from my computer so that I can install a different anti-virus program but every time I try to install it, it says that it won't install because my original anti-virus program has not yet been removed. I was told that I needed to edit the registry. How do I do that?

A. It sounds like you deleted the program from some place other than Control Panel, Add/Remove programs and it left residual portions of the program scattered throughout the System Registry. This is a very common problem and in this case, you'll likely need to go into the System Registry to manually delete all Registry KEYS associated with the original program. However, I must caution you that this is not recommended for novice users and should be attempted by advanced users only. Improper editing of the Registry could cause serious damage to your Windows Operating System! Because of this, we will only show you how to access the System Registry, rather than give instructions on how to edit it. The purpose of this Q. and A. is to help you to understand the reason why you are having the problem that you are having. The variables are unlimited and we would not want you to cause more damage than is already done. We recommend that you take your computer to a pc repair professional to have this issue resolved.

In Windows XP, click on Start, Run, type in REGEDIT and click OK.