I want to clean up all the redundant entries out of my registry to reduce
(speed & stability) its size.
How do I delete something in Regedit when it will not let me delete it? 
All I keep getting is the message (example)
"cannot delete LEGACY_DISKEEPER: Error while deleting key."

Hello Confused115

You have not stated which version of Windows you are using so I will
assume XP.  If it is not XP please ask for a clarification and I will
provide it for the version of Windows you are using.

First of all you need to navigate to the key you want to delete in
Regedit (I guess you already know how to do this since you have tried
to delete it).

Now go to Edit->Permissions and ensure that "Full Control" is ticked
for everyone and then click OK.  (If you wish to keep the security
tight remember the settings you have before ticking anything and
return these once you have deleted the key).

You should now be able to delete the key without any problems.

You may also wish to try out RegCleaner which is a program I find
invaluable in doing this kind of thing and is much easier in the long
run:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=963771680
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=987567453 (just as good alternative)

If you have any further questions regarding this solution please ask
for clarification and I will be happy to help out.

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Request for Answer Clarification by confused115-ga on 24 May 2004 13:13 PDT

Hi
Thanks for the quick reply, my operating systems is Windows 2000, with
service pack 4.

Sorry for the ommision.

Regards.
Paul.

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Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 25 May 2004 00:49 PDT

Hello Confused115

The procedure for doing this with Win2K is very similar to the method
with WinXP as it involves setting the correct permissions.

1) Type "regedt32" in the run box on your start menu
2) Navigate to the key you wish to delete
3) Right-click and choose permissions (or go to Security and choose permissions)
4) Click on Everyone
5) Tick/Check the box saying "Allow Full Control"
6) Click OK
7) You should now be able to delete the key  

You can find the exact details on this page:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1229787,00.asp

I hope this helps.

Excellent.

There are some things to note:

1. Windows 2000 and XP do not suffer the same problems Windows 95 and
98 had with corrupting registries. The size constraints are just about
gone and features like journalling have been added to keep the
registry from corrupting.

2. Due to the way the registry is stored on disk, deleting keys does
not free space immediately.

You might still want to remove obsolete or just plain bad dll
registration entries though. I don't know the programs listed in the
answer but I suppose they can do that.