The Registry is NT's system configuration database, used by the operating system to store system information, and by applications to store everything from "class definitions" (for application interoperability) to user preferences.
The user reads and edits the Registry with regedt32.exe, the Registry Editor, found in the {systemroot}\system32 directory (and in "Administrative Tools" in the Start Menu).
As a rule, you don't have to mess with the Registry at all. There are a few tweaks and hacks you can try, but mainly those aren't necessary: most of the tweaking I've seen is now available through an application (user interface), like the well-known Power Toys from Microsoft.
But there are times when you have to get your hands dirty, like when an application's uninstall routine fails, leaving your Registry filled with useless data, which later might cause problems with other applications.
RegClean
Microsoft provides an unsupported utility called RegClean to search your Registry for errors and, if you so choose, fix them. It's basically a dialog box which, when launched, immediately starts searching your Registry for "broken entries", then asks if you want to fix the errors it finds (remove those entries).
RegClean doesn't tell you which entries it wants to remove, but if you choose to let it "fix" your Registry, it will leave you a text file that documents all the changes (deletions) it makes. That text file will have a REG extension, and you should be able to find it in the same directory as RegClean itself. When double-clicked, a REG file will merge into the Registry. Thus, with RegClean's REG file, you can undo anything RegClean does to your Registry by double-clicking, or merging, it.
You can find out more about editing REG files at Making Your Own REG Files.
Manually Cleaning the Registry
In the event RegClean doesn't run on your system, you can manually rid the Registry of a partially uninstalled application.
Usually, it's not that hard to weed out most of what an uninstalled application leaves behind in the Registry, since most applications make their own Registry subkeys with easily recognizable names (usually the name of the company which makes the application). The most common areas for these subkeys are in the Software sections of the following hives\keys:
All you have to do there is find the company's name (or product) in the left-hand pane of Registry Editor, and as long as it's not "Microsoft", select the entire subkey in the left-hand pane, and hit Delete. (For this article, we'll just have to hope that Microsoft's products can uninstall themselves just fine).
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