Generally, you would use the Window's Control Panel’s ----> Add/Remove Programs tool or Vista's Default Programs | Programs and Features page to install/uninstall programs from your laptop computer. Some of these uninstalls will leave program names behind which, when clicked on it, either produce errors or no result. You can remove these invalid entries using these steps carefully.
Start the Registry Editor (Start ---> Run and then type “regedit” [without quotes] into the textbox)
Go to this key value in the left panel:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
Right click on the Uninstall entry. Select the 'Export' option from the left menubar. Give the exported .reg file a name you can remember and store it in a location you can remember. Doing this makes a backup you can recover from if you make an editing error in the steps below.
* Locate the specific key you wish to remove. It will likely have the name of the program but, in case not, scroll down each entry and look at the value for DisplayName. The key you want is the key that contains the same display name as you are trying to remove from the Add Programs menu.
If you want to be extra safe, right click on this key and again select Export and save the .REG file.
* Close the Registry Editor.
* Open the Add/Remove Programs utility from the Control Panel and verify that the invalid entry is gone and that the other entries are still there.
Start the Registry Editor (Start ---> Run and then type “regedit” [without quotes] into the textbox)
Go to this key value in the left panel:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
Right click on the Uninstall entry. Select the 'Export' option from the left menubar. Give the exported .reg file a name you can remember and store it in a location you can remember. Doing this makes a backup you can recover from if you make an editing error in the steps below.
* Locate the specific key you wish to remove. It will likely have the name of the program but, in case not, scroll down each entry and look at the value for DisplayName. The key you want is the key that contains the same display name as you are trying to remove from the Add Programs menu.
If you want to be extra safe, right click on this key and again select Export and save the .REG file.
* Close the Registry Editor.
* Open the Add/Remove Programs utility from the Control Panel and verify that the invalid entry is gone and that the other entries are still there.