regedit use?

Question

I discovered lots of Symantec items (I'd gotten rid of Norton over 18 months ago) in the registry. Are they safe to delete since I no longer use this program?

Answer 1

Be very cautious of this, even if you remove all the symantec labelled ones there are over 100 symantec related ones left. Also if you click delete on an incorrect entry you could stop the machine. Better is to use ccleaner.exe, it is the only reliable registry checker I know.

Answer 2

Yes, they are safe to delete. But be extremely careful. this is a normal result of having security software like an anitvirus on your computer. The software must constantly update it files and signatures. All this information is logged in your computer. The majority of the information is placed in your registry.

When your antivirus performs a scan. It produces a log. This log can be up to 100 megabytes of information each. The registry holds all this info. The addition of the info is not the major problem. Its that the information is placed in many places in your registry. This causes fragmentation of files. Your computer's operating system must search through the massive files in the registry constantly. If the registry is error-filled, fragmented, or bloated with unnecessary and duplicate files, you will have major slowdown. Organize and keep it maintained, the problem will most likely be solved. You can scan to see the condition of your registry and see what resources you can unlock resources.
http://www.delete-computer-history.com/what-is-the-best-registry-cleaner.html

Also you should try to see Norton related processes are loaded when your computer starts. Often the antivirus will check your email, scan, and even update at the same time. This may be occuring everytime you start up your PC. These acts can last as long as 3 hours. They may be running silently in the background without your knowledge.

1. Open your Start menu.
2. Click Run
3. In the command screen type "msconfig.exe"
4. In the "system configuration utility",
click either "service" or "startup" tab
5. Uncheck all programs that you dont want to load with Norton antivirus is starting
6. Click "OK"

Answer 3

Dont mess with the registry unless you KNOW that you specifically need to delete something.

Use the Nortons tool to get rid of orphans.

Answer 4

Yeah, but you need to know the exact keys, etc so you don't just damage your system. There will always be residues of Northon through, and you can delete unneeded registry keys by using TuneUp Utilities 2007/2008 and shortcuts.

Of coruse there are ways of pernamently removing but you don't really need to do that :
Backup before you installed Northon (unless built-in)
Reinstall your Windows

Answer 5

Most likely, but you don't really want to just go into your registry and start deleting random items.

Answer 6

YES U CAN IF NO LONGER USING PROGRAM I GO TROUGH REGISTRY EVERY MONTH AND DELETE SOFTWARE I LONGER HAVE THAT HAS BEEN UNINSTALLED ..TRACES ARE LEFT IN REGISTRY ALL THE TIME ...HERE IS A DOWNLOAD FOR YOU ITS CCLEANER ..IT IS A GREAT REG. AND JUNK CLEANER (FREE)
http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10752696.html?tag=lst-0-1

Answer 7

Hi. Usually, but learn how the registry works first. Use 'Export' first to recover if anything breaks.