Ask a new question

Deleting Registry Key Not Allowed

I got a new PC with Win 8.1 and it had a trial version of McAfee which I deleted and then installed NIS.  There were many registry keys still that included mcafee and I was able to delete most of them.  THere were some of the keys that would not delete even after I tried changing permission even in safe mode.

Can someone tell me how I can delete these "stubborn" keys? 

Hi Neil,

 

You may contact McAfee support team and check if they have any removal tool to get rid of the remnants from registry.

https://community.mcafee.com/index.jspa

 

Get back to us for any issues related to Windows. We will be happy to help you.

 

Regards,
Anil

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I have already contacted them but they have not responded.  I guess the bigger question is why can't I modify/delete anything that I want to in my registry?  It would seem that I should have access to change anything I want to,

1 person found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you for the response.

 

I would appreciate if you could help me with more information.

  1. Have you logged in as administrator on the computer?
  2. Do you receive any error message/code when you modify the registry?

 

 

Regards,
Anil

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I am the only user on the account and the account is an administrator account.  I am able to add or remove programs as I want.

When I try deleting I get an error message "cannot delete XXXXXX.  Error while deleting key" where XXXXXX is the name of the key which I am trying to delete.

To repeat for freshness I am using a Win 8.1 64 bit PC (HP Envy Quad Edition) and it is only about 1 month old.  I tried doing the deletions in safe mode and got same problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Neil,

Thank you for providing all the information regarding this issue.

How did you uninstall the McAfee Trial Version Security Program from the computer? Was it done from the "Program and Features" in Control Panel or did you use the McAfee Removal Tool?

If you haven't used the McAfee Removal Tool, then you may try running that and check if that helps. The McAfee Removal Tool will remove almost all the left over McAfee files and registry entries from the computer and then you should be able to install any other security program without any conflicting issues. You may refer to this article to know on how to use the McAfee Removal Tool:

 

How to uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee products using the Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR)

Some registry entries that are not deleted during the uninstallation process of a program are just leftover folders with empty keys that have no value at all. So, removing them won't help a lot. Also, we may even bound to do something wrong, if any wrong registry keys are deleted.

 

Moreover, It is also not recommended to delete all the registry entries of certain programs from the computer registry as they may contain certain configuration information which might be needed while reinstalling these programs on this computer in the future.

Hope this is helpful. Please get back to us if you need any further assistance on this.
Regards,
Rajesh Govind - Microsoft Support Engineer

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I did first uninstall using the programs and features.  I just tried using the removal tool you suggested but once again it did not remove the registry keys (which are not empty).  I then tried once again to delete them manually but no luck

I previously contacted McAfee but they have not bothered responding.

If anyone has any ideas I will welcome them.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Neil,

Thank you so much for your reply.

You may also try running the McAfee Removal Tool in Safe Mode and check if that brings any changes.

Boot the computer in Safe Mode

In Windows, we can start the computer in different advanced troubleshooting modes to find and fix problems on the PC. One of such troubleshooting mode is Safe Mode. Here we start Windows with a minimal set of drivers and services. Please refer to the steps given in this article to boot the computer in safe mode:

Windows Startup Settings (including safe mode)

After booting the computer in Safe Mode, you may go to the location where you have saved the McAfee Removal Tool and then run it to check if that deletes the unwanted registry entries.

You may also contact the McAfee Technical Support from this link: McAfee Technical Support

Hope this is helpful. Please get back to us with the updates.

Regards,
Rajesh Govind - Microsoft Support Engineer

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Tried running the McAfee removal tool in safe mode but it will not run in safe mode

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Neil,

 

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

In this case, I would suggest you to contact the McAfee Technical Support from the link given in the previous post and check with them. They should be able to help you with this issue.

 

If you need any further assistance with Windows Operating System, please post your query on Microsoft Community Forums and we’ll be glad to assist you with it.
Regards,
Rajesh Govind - Microsoft Support Engineer

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I have been in contact with McAfee but they have not been helpful.  I would think that someone at Microsoft would know a way to have complete access to the registry and would appreciate that advice.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

 
 

Question Info

Last updated March 14, 2023 Views 1,250 Applies to: