Uninstalled Programs Still Listed Under Applications Tab

[nikki605]

I am a long time user of CCleaner and have just ignored this issue, up until now. CCleaner (ver 2.31.1153) routinely finds 2 application programs on both of my 2 PCs (WinXP Pro SP3), that were uninstalled a long time ago - MS Office 2003 and Google Toolbar. MS Office 2007 is installed and is what I am currently using.

 

Looking at the winapp.ini file, I can see why CCleaner is detecting both programs - the registry entries are still there:

 

HKCU\Software\Google\NavClient\1.1

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common

 

Using WinXP Add/Remove Programs, there are no entries for Office 2003 or Google Toolbar. I even ran the Windows Installer Cleanup Tool and it shows no entries for either application.

 

After recent runs of CCleaner, I have noticed that it cleaned a handful of files from Office 2003!?! I wasn't smart enough to run Analyze first and look at the View Detailed Results to see what files CCleaner found and what folder(s) they were in - I will try to remember to do that first the next time I run CCleaner.

 

My question is this: how do I safely uninstall the remnants of Office 2003 and the Google Toolbar so that CCleaner no longer detects them? Is it safe to just delete these registry entries? I'm reluctant to do that since CCleaner seems to be finding files attributed to Office 2003. Something is creating those files, but I don't know what.

 

Thanks for any help!

[Ishi]

Since you said that you have MS Office 2007 installed, that could be responsible for some MS Office junk files that appear, not Office 2003. I do not recommend you to delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common cause that may be linked to the current MS Office version you are using, however, in my mind it is safer to delete HKCU\Software\Google\NavClient\1.1 if and only if, there are no other Goggle related products are installed in your PC. You can manually back it up, just right click the key and choose Export just in case something gets wrong. You do not have to religiously clean the registry cause making a mistake might have grim consequences in your computer and programs plus these two entries you say have very little effect whatsoever to the PC's performance.

 

The time, you uninstalled Office 2003 and Google Toolbar, you should have used Revo Uninstaller cause Revo has the ability to remove most registry entries that are linked to the application it removes. Plus, it also has the ability to remove most of the orphaned folders and files that the uninstalled application leaves behind.

[nikki605]

Thanks. Your reply reminded me that I did forget to include a couple of pieces of information in my original post.

 

Since Office 2007 is installed, CCleaner also correctly finds its registry entries:

 

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common

 

Also, I do have 2 Google related programs installed - Google Earth and Google Updater. From what I've read online, it appears that Google Earth uses Google Updater, so I don't think I can uninstall it.

 

I agree that I don't want to edit the registry and really mess something up. I would export the branch first in case the worst happened.

[nikki605]

Thanks. Your reply reminded me that I did forget to include a couple of pieces of information in my original post.

 

Since Office 2007 is installed, CCleaner also correctly finds its registry entries:

 

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common

 

Also, I do have 2 Google related programs installed - Google Earth and Google Updater. From what I've read online, it appears that Google Earth uses Google Updater, so I don't think I can uninstall it.

 

I agree that I don't want to edit the registry and really mess something up. I would export the branch first in case the worst happened.

After some additional research and first backing up the registry entries. I was able to eliminate CC detecting these uninstalled programs by deleting the registry entries. There were no ill effects. Happy camper.

 

Without CC, I never would have known about the leftover remnants of these uninstalled programs.

 

BTW, Google Earth does NOT use or need Google Installer so I was able to uninstall it which eliminated an unnecessary process running in the background.