Sometimes you find that even after you have uninstalled a program, it still shows in the Add/Remove Programs list and refuses to be removed. While there is no perceptible harm to your system, it is surely annoying, especially if you like to keep your Windows nice and clean.

You can however remove those stubborn programs from the list through the Windows Registry.

Go to Start > Run, type regedit and hit enter. This opens the Registry Editor.

Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Look for the program name there, and delete the key.

If you can’t find the program, look in one of the sub-keys whose names start with a curly brace. Then look for the program name in the DisplayName sub-key within that key. Delete the entire key (the one whose name begins with a curly brace). The program will no longer appear in the Add/Remove list.

Use this hack with care - you don’t want to mess with Windows by deleting a wrong key.

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