Windows 10: Editing the registry

I migrated from win7 to win10 using the in-place method MS recommends. But as a result of that the registry is full of entries for programs that were removed years ago. What I want to do is just remove them; edit them out.

I know the best way to remove them is to begin again - do a clean install, but
- apart from the (horrendous) effort to re-install all the software
- the system uses a number of attached devices that were a windows recommendation over several versions, but are now 'unrecognised' by a clean win10 platform. That's mainly the installation issues, because I know that these devices actually work fine under win10 as migrated. At some time these attached devices will die and get replaced and my current reservations about new installs will expire, . . but for the moment doing that is a large expense while they still work.
I simply want avoid repeating the heartache and frustrations of a clean install, and just edit the registry to remove these unwanted entries. It's likely to be tedious, and I've been told that leaving them there won't harm anything, but I've experience of issues being transmitted from a corrupted installation preventing a new one via the registry, and even tho these old entries may not be effective normally, they exist take up space and are still part of (the time taken) every registry search that's done in normal operation of software.

So my request is for advice on editing the the registry:
- is there a better tool than regedit?
- can I just delete any recognised old entry?
- having edited the registry file, how do I apply the changes: simply exit, since save doesn't seem to be available, at least in regedit?

currently running win10-1909

:)

 

Registry editing

Hello,

This issue may have occurred after one of the following situations:

• You upgrade the Windows operating system.
• You install or uninstall CD or DVD recording programs.
• You uninstall Microsoft Digital Image.

Given that, we suggest performing the methods in this article:
Your CD or DVD drive is not recognized by Windows or other programs.
The resolutions that are listed in that article may help solve some instances but not all instances of this problem.

Important:This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow
these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base
article.

Feel free to update us with the results.

 

Trying to disable the Insert key with a Registry edit

Hi Bill,

We appreciate the information that you provided. For us to narrow down your concern with
disabling the Insert key with a Registry edit, have you tried creating a backup before editing the registry? If yes, we suggest that you restore it back; then, try it again with the correct entry. To do this, see this
link, and follow the steps/instructions.

We would appreciate it if you could get back to us and provide us your feedback.

 

registry edit no longer controls adaptive contrast

Hi Chris,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

Did you back up the registry before making any changes to the Registry Editor because serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly?

Try the below methods and see if this helps.

Method 1: Disable Display Power Saving Technology.

Right-click on an empty space on the desktop > Graphics Properties >
Power > Power Feature > Click on the drop-down list and change to
On Battery and uncheck the box beside to
Display Power Saving Technology and see if this helps.

Note: Restart your computer once for the changes to take effect and check for the issue.

Method 2: Registry Edit.

We know that you have changed the registry value, but try the below steps and change the value of FeatureTestControl to 9250 and leave it in base hexadecimal.

NOTE: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added
protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, please refer this link:

How to Back Up the Registry.

Step 1: Press the Windows key and the
R key from your keyboard and type Regedit and hit
Enter.

Step 2: Navigate to the following key.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ ControlSet001 \ Control \ Class \ {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} \ 0001

Step 3: Then, look for FeatureTestControl key >
Right-click on the key > Then, change the data to 9250 without changing anything else and exit the registry.

Note: Restart the computer once for the changes to take effect.

Hope it helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking Yes or No.