Windows 10: Is it safe to delete program folders in regedit?

Hello,

i have deleted programs off my PC but i can still see the software folders in the registry editor.

I know they take up little space, but eventually programs i install and uninstall will accumulate,

and so it would be a good idea to get rid of the ones i no longer use.


These folders are found under local_machine\software, including folders such as McAfee,

and i wanted to know if it is safe to delete these folders.

:)

 

Trouble deleting a folder

Thanks for the suggestion but it says "delete folder failed for E:\....." for each folder I try.

*Confused

Will I be forever stuck with these unnecessary folders? *Oh Well hwell:

 

Can't delete folder!

have you tried using safe mode to delete it? i dont know what you had in it, but i have tried to delete files that said they had nothing in them from the program files folder and it said "DUNK" and NO but i was able to delete them from safe mode

 

Is it safe to delete the Temp folder in C:/Windows/Temp?

Yes, all *files* in the temp folder (not the folder itself) can, and should be, deleted periodically.

The temp folder provides workspace for programs. Programs can create temporary files there for their own temporary use. Each program should delete all its temporary files when it closes, but for various reasons it doesn't always happen (for example,
if the program crashes, it never gets to do this). That's why it's a good idea to periodically clean out anything left there.

Also note that there are some program installations which work in two steps. The first step concludes by writing temporary files and rebooting. The second step starts automatically after rebooting and needs to find those files there (and then deletes
them when it's done).

Other than doing it automatically when rebooting (that would interfere with installations like the kind I described), it's always safe to delete the contents of the temp folder. Because it's safe to delete any temp files that aren't open and in use
by an application, and since Windows won't let you delete open files, it's safe to (try to) delete them at any time. If any fail to delete because they're open, they'll either be deleted automatically when the app using them closes, or you'll get them the
next time you delete manually.

Some people may suggest that you reboot before deleting anything, but that's not necessary, for the reason described above (on the other hand, it doesn't hurt to do it).