Delete orphaned items from Add/Remove Programs?

My Add/Remove Programs facility in Control Panel is working very fine. But when I uninstall any program, its entry still remains in the dialog box of the Add/Remove Programs. How do I remove these entries?

You can remove orphaned entries:

1. From a command line or from the Run line, run regedit.
   This opens the Registry Editor.
2. Select the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and follow the folder path \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall.
3. Click on the + sign to expand the listing.
4. Look for the name of the program with orphaned entry(the entry you want to remove).
5. Delete the entire listing for the software with the orphaned entry, by highlighting it and pressing the Delete key.
6. Close the Registry.

The orphaned entry will be gone

You can remove an item from the dialog by manually removing its registry entry.

WARNING:
Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall Windows 95. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

IMPORTANT:
Before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat).

Both are hidden files in the Windows folder.

To remove an orphaned entries from the list of Add-Ins available, follow these steps:

Exit Microsoft Excel.
Click Run on the Start menu.
In the Run box, type Regedit and click OK.
Locate the registry key listed above.
In the right pane of the Registry Editor window, locate the entry for the add-in that you no longer want listed.
Click the entry and press DELETE. Click Yes when prompted to confirm the deletion.
On the Registry menu, click Exit.

To remove these orphan entries do the following:

1.
Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2.
Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
3.
Make sure you backup the keys by exporting them to a .reg file.
4.
Look for the name of the program with the orphaned entry.
5.
Delete the entire listing for the software with the orphaned entry.
6.
Close the registry editor.
7.
Restart your computer.
BTW, this can also be accomplished by use of many third-party tools such as TweakUI and others.

happy computing